From the Desk of Asif Nawaz

Well, you could say that’s because London is London and New York is New York.  Let’s be honest: in the last few years I’ve heard and read various things like London stealing the financial business from New York City, London seeing more growth, London becoming a better all over exprience due to immigration and America’s terrorist obsession, etc. etc.  But, lets face it, London does not give you the experience New York does, and it never will.  Why?  Let’s see why.

Filth / Garbage

Well, I’ve been to New York City several times, and I’m not saying it’s like Singapore, but hey, it’s relatively clean, especially when compared to London.  Have you seen the trash on the streets of London lately?  What’s with all the chewing gum stains on the pavements and the roads?  I don’t think New York has that kind of a stain infested issue, does it?

Then, how come people aren’t supposed to clean their dog poo and pee?  What in the world is that about?  I know this is the land of royalty, but can we please tell people to clean up after their pets?  It’s only polite.

Mind you, I’m not saying New York is immaculate, but unless it has become filthier the last few years, I certainly don’t remember it being this dirty.  I mean have you been to Marble Arch, Edgware, or Edgware Road lately?  I’m sorry, but Edgware reminded me of Karachi for a minute!

Customer Service, you say?

Okay, call me spoilt, but the American saying “the customer is always right” does have its treats.  It is so frustrating when you walk into a store in London that no one really gives a damn.  The quality of service is horrible.  Have you ever been to a bank in London?  No one is at the counter, and you have to wait for more than 5 minutes before someone will come to attend to you.  It’s the same everywhere you go.  Cell phone stores, grocery stores, restaurants, banks, offices, etc., the service is nothing short of horrible.

Customer Service staff, that takes less interest in their lives than probably anyone does, try and lecture you on things like the Data Protection Act and other laws, when they really have no idea what they are talking about.  Everyone has an excuse for doing something the wrong way, and no one needs an excuse for not doing anything!  It’s a privilege to to get any kind of service in London when you are paying for it.  Be it NatWest, Barclays, HSBC, Orange, O2 or any other business, their customer service sucks, which makes for a very unpleasant shopping or service experience.

The US is great at this.  I don’t know if it’s because of the out-of-whack US liability laws or simply because they’re smart enough to know that happy customers make good customers, but they do everything it takes to get the job done right.  I’m not saying that the level of customer service competence is better in the US, but New York makes for a much more pleasant shopping experience than London.  Ask any Brit who’s been to New York.  They only have good things to say about it.  So many of them want to move there, despite what they think of George Bush and US foreign policy.  Well, who can blame them, right?

Ofcourse, outsourcing of customer service over the phone is a problem in both cities/countries.  But given the fact that the liability of bad service in the US is greater than it is in the UK, US outsourced customer service is much better.  I guess this strings from the fact that no major corporations in the US are government owned or government vested, as British Telecom is, say, in the UK.

Who’s more friendly?  New Yorkers or Londoners?

Everyone in London is upset most of the time.  This may be due to traffic, poverty, expenditure, tourists, or whatever.  But hey, New Yorkers are just as fed up of the crap at their end.  But my experience is that Americans are generally much more friendly than the British.  In school, we used to read of British Hospitality and all that good stuff.  Well, most of it has apparently faded, at least in the working class.  Who knows why that is.  I guess life in London is more difficult than in New York City, which makes for crankier Londoners than New Yorkers.

If you’ve seen the phrase “Welcome to New York” used in movies when something goes wrong with someone in New York, well, it is just as suitable for London, if not more.  But maybe Londoners don’t share the same sense of humour!

 Rowdy Kids

Okay, this has a lot to do with the low drinking age and the excessive use of drugs.  That’s just not cool, because kids get rowdy and rude and puke all over the place in London, which ads more to the existing dirt, which isn’t cool either.  I’m not going say too much about this, except that this needs to stop, and infusion of drugs into London teenagers needs to be controlled urgently, because this is not only a hassle for us who live here, but even for those who are visiting for fun.

The Fascination Factor

This may be subjective, but I clearly remember the first time I visited NYC (let’s not count Brooklyn or Queens, shall we?).  I stepped out of the Subway Station o 5th Avemue and I stood in awe at skyscraper after skyscraper.  The impression that New York makes on a new or first time visitor is far superior to the one that London makes, and Londoners will tell you that.  New York is a City that’s built to look like a Metropolis, and it certainly feels like one.  London may have big city life, but I think it fails to make that impression that adds to the initial buzz of being in one of the world’s most dynamic cities.

Food

Oh my!  New York City has more variety in food than London does.  New York City’s portion size is much larger (as is the rest of America’s), and the cost is far less.  Also, since I think Americans are far more passionate about eating (compare the obesity rate between the US and UK at 38% and 33 %, respectively), the overall taste and experience of dining and food in New York City is better than in London.

And for those of you who say Americans pig out and don’t enjoy their food, well, the obesity gap isn’t that much, and here is news for some of you:  New York City is the world’s first city to ban trans fat in restaurants.  That’s right.  I think the law kicks in in June, but now who cares more about the health of tourists and residents?

Bloomberg Vs. Livingstone

Come on now, there’s no comparison.  The New York Mayor (Michael Bloomberg) is much cooler than London Mayor Ken Livingstone.  Bloomberg, that just sounds much cooler than Livingstone.  Need I say more?

The Experience (Corporate, mostly)

After having lived in the US for several years (and not really having lived in New York), I think that London, and forgive me for saying this, is like an American village.  I’ve already mentioned that London doesn’t feel as Metropolitan as New York; but even Denver or Dallas feel more metropolitan than London.  Well, maybe I’ll discount Dallas from that.

There are many reasons for that, but I think a lot of it has to do with British mentality and culture.

The Corporate Culture of London is, at best, outdated, compared to the corporate culture anywhere in the US.  The technology in use, the ideology, the methodology all is about 20-25 years behind the US.  I think the reason for that is the traditional approach of British Businessmen.  They like to stick to what they’re comfortable with, and then British pride knows no end.  Since the UK isn’t exactly the pioneer of new technology or British methodologies, British business is hesitant about adapting to it, with the result say, if the CEO or Managing Director of a major corporation has been in charge for 10 years, he technology in place is 10 years old.  Until a younger crowd comes to manage the company, the technology won’t change, because each generation, I think, in this country, brings an update to technology and methodologies.

That’s not the case in the US, which is a dynamic environment that thrives on new processes, technologies, and methodologies.  Things are always being improved, with the ultimate goal to weed out inefficiencies in the business processes.

When I was in the US, I used to hear how much ahead of the US Europe was in the cell phone market.  Well, not really.  Just because the US has a different release schedule for mobile phones and they use different cell phone networks doesn’t make their service or technology inferior.  London has more mobile/cell phone signal problems than I ever had in the US driving from Colorado to New York.  So, you shouldn’t really believe every such thing you hear.

In addition, the US, to this day, and even NYC, provides a positive corporate culture for new entrants.  It is an environment where you can get a job or thrive on merit alone, at least upto a comfortable level, if not a super rich level.  In London, merit doesn’t really count; you have to know people to get to even very junior places, and that kind of stuff is just not cool.  But I think, again, it is something that comes out of the culture of royalty, and although it may be a bad thing, it has become a way of life that the locals are used to.  More power to them!  I guess as long as you know who you know, what you know is not really important.

Let’s just say that I’m trying to say that the Business Acumen of London is nowhere close to that of New York, or any other major US city.  That doesn’t mean the London economy is very small, we’re just talking about business acumen and business intelligence.

Price

In a few words, New York provides MUCH BETTER value for money than London does.  Living, shopping, partying, everything in New York City is half price of what it is in London.  Throw in the other factors mentioned, and New York makes for a far superior experience.

Okay, this may not have been the most comprehensive guide to London and New York, but it’s just my opinion, which means it may be prejudiced, biased,or simply ill founded.  But nonetheless, it is my opinion.  Personally, I preferred Denver.  It had most of the advantages of a big city without the rutt and problems.  But then, it’s neither London nor New York.

What do you think?

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Here are the download keys for HP QuickPlay.  Please, use the instructions provided on http://www.asifism.com/installing-hp-quickplay-on-your-laptopnotebook-vista-xp/ for installing QuickPlay Direct before posting questions and queries already answered.

To download QuickPlay, visit http://downloads.asifism.com and use one the following appropriate keys.  Also, DO USE the download of Winrar provided to extract the zipped version of QuickPlay Direct (HPQPDP.rar), otherwise you may get errors while trying to extract it.

Hp QuickPlay Direct 2.3 (HPQPDP):  d9b411a6f62397122eb6c05ad29e39a8

HP QuickPlay for Windows XP & Vista:  5a208136c8a657aeb4cc604a5fb37029

HP QuickPlay TV Play:  9bfa760a467ca2668876dd05e0b71704

WinRar 3.6.2:   f880cf3e67a29a0af09d3d5975ffd049

The first part of this article discussed the things that needed to be a part of a small business accounting package, and what help the existing software in the market typically needs, and whether or not a small business can actually do without the help of an accountant or book-keeper.  Let’s put all of that aside, and now simply talk about the accounting software available in the market as is.  The packages I have used, and most of my clients use, and ones that are available almost globally will be the subject of discussion here.
Of the four packages mentioned here, QuickBooks and SAGE are scalable from small business to medium business.  So before I dwell into which is superior and which is not, if you think you have a business that will grow or develop at a rapid pace, and will outgrow the circa definition of a Small Business, maybe you’ll have to stick to one of these.  That’s not to say that Peachtree or Microsoft Office accounting cannot support medium size business.  It can, with intelligent, creative (but legal) accounting.

QuickBooks – The Good

In my opinion, QuickBooks is probably the most comprehensive of out of the four packages (QuickBooks, Peachtree, Sage & Microsoft Office Accounting).  It provides relatively efficient functionality, with a standard interface, customizable reporting, and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.  Feature-wise, it probably contains more than any of the other three pieces of software; it will do the basic accounting, invoicing, payroll subscriptions, credit card transactions, GL, PL & SL, prepaid (well, sort of), customer statements, financial reporting, etc. etc. etc.  Quickbooks ALSO has some concept of drill down functionality, which can be relatively insightful at the click of a button.

Another area that QuickBooks has a big plus in its wide market area and availability of support.  It is relatively easy to find QuickBooks consultants (certified or not).  The support network is out there, and their own web site can guide you on where and how to find support.  Plus, if you’re in the US, QuickBooks is the software of choice for many US Universities, making most accounting graduates QuickBooks literate, if not experts.
In addition to the friendly interface, QuickBooks is relatively self explanatory.  The titles in the menus, the screens, the interface, the ease of use, all makes it a very efficient piece of software, especially if you’re a computer literate accountant.  Even if you’re not, the learning curve is not too high.

QuickBooks – The Bad

From my position, I really don’t have much bad to say about QuickBooks.  I’ve been using it for several years, and functionality wise, there’s really not much wrong with it (in comparison with other accounting / bookkeeping software in the market).  The only possible drawback is that it’s ultra feature richness may make it confusing for the not so computer literate accountant/bookkeeper.

Technically, QuickBooks has one pitfall.  From year to year, newer versions come out, and compatibility has been an issue in the past.  If you upgrade, you have to convert data, and although it’s not that tedious with the new version, it would be much simpler if Intuit simply made Quickbooks backward compatible, which it probably doesn’t for reasons of profitability.

Sage – The Good

Really, I don’t have much to say here.  In the near future, you will see me as both a QuickBooks Pro Advisor and a member of the Sage Accountancy Club, and that’s because it is good for business, and the UK is infested with Sage Line 50.  It’s an okay piece of software.  The interface is relatively standard, and it can pass off as a bookkeeping / accounting software, although all the others will give it a run for the money, and probably beat it.

Sage – The Bad

There’s a lot to say here, but I won’t bad mouth them too much.  No drill down functionality, unfriendly interface, unfriendly usability, restrictive, poor layout, etc. etc.  Clearly, you can tell that this is my least favourite software, so I’m going to stop talking about it now.

Peachtree – The Good

Peachtree is a fantastic piece of software.  Although I trained on QuickBooks Pro in university, the first piece of accounting software I used on the job was Peachtree Accounting 2006.  I was pretty reluctant about it first, but as it turns out, Peachtree  is a wonderful piece of software.

It’s a less dull, less serious looking version of Quickbooks, and offers virtually all the functionality of QuickBooks.  There’s less gray (unlike Quickbooks & Sage); the interface and layout are very clean, the different templates are customizable (as they are in QuickBooks), and it offers all the supplementary functionality (credit cards, good journal layouts, invoicing, POs, SOs, etc. etc.) .  All in all, this is a great piece of software, and is a wonderful place to start for any small business.  It’s not to heavy on the pocket, and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how it works.  Oh, and Peachtree offers some drill down functionality like QuickBooks (unlike Sage).

Peachtree – The Bad

Peachtree is only US compliant.  The software is not available for purchase or use outside the United States, and it doesn’t support multi-currency.  What’s worse is that Sage has bought Peachtree from Best Software, and it has become Sage’s way into the US market.  As long as they don’t make drastic changes to Peachtree, it is a fantastic piece of small business accounting software.

Microsoft Office Accounting – The Good

Okay, this is Microsoft’s first step into the Accounting domain.  Originally termed Microsoft Small Business Accounting 2006, the software was renamed to Microsoft Office Accounting, and rightly so.  It’s a sharp mixture of QuickBooks and Peachtree functionality the Microsoft Way.  What’s good here is that this is one of the very few small business Accounting Packages on the market that will support multi currency without any issues, and it can probably pass off as a software that doesn’t necessarily require you to be very accounting literate.  Why, you ask?  It shares a striking resemblance to Microsoft Office, hence the name Microsoft Accounting.  The idea here is that if anyone can use Microsoft Office Products, they should be able to use Microsoft Accounting.

Frankly, I have been impressed with Microsoft’s first try at Accounting Software.  It may need some bug weeding, but all in all, this is a good starting point for Microsoft, and after months and years of using QuickBooks, Peachtree & Sage, it didn’t make much for me to get comfortable with Microsoft Office Accounting; just a couple of  hours.  This is a very affordable software for most small businesses, and provides the BASIC functionality of Quickbooks & Peachtree, without passing off as a complex, confusing or difficult to use accounting/bookkeeping package.

Microsoft office Accounting – The Bad

At this point, since this is something that is actively being developed my Microsoft, credit card processing, payroll etc., though existent, are slightly limited.  Although most small businesses don’t use these features from within the software, they are useful considerations, as a small business truly sees the use and efficiency of the software if functions like payroll are managed from within the software.  This software is certainly scalable, but at this point it’s a very good basic package for small business, and scalability is yet to be seen.

I’m sorry I’ve had to cut this article short.  I had intended to write very detailed reviews, but I just haven’t been able to find the time to do it.

If you’re in the UK and looking for help with any of the above products, feel free to contact me or VAFTA Solutions Limited.  Ultimately, what’s best for you depends on your  business habits, practice, requirements, and your accountant/bookkeeper.

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Okay folks, as those of you who’ve been regular visitors know I’m hosting with InnoDomains (http://www.innodomains.com), this is just a quick update to let you know that I’ve upgraded hosting to a premium package, that, well, COSTS me twice as much.  So, what does this mean for you?

- Downloads shouldn’t time out as much.  I’ve had multiple complaints from people complaining about downloads timing out.  This should help that.  How, I’ll explain here shortly.
- Fewer 503 Server down errors.  I wasn’t using up all of the bandwidth, just about 200 GB a month max.  But the consecutive number of users connecting to download QP direct along with other visitors (exceeding 450 uniques a day with over 1500 hits/pageviews) meant that if at any time there were simultaneous connections in excess of 25, well, you’d get that error.
- Now, that is also one of the reasons the downloads could be timing out.  So, please try and let me know what the results are.
- If you have been able to download and install quickplay, please consider donating.  I’m only asking for USD 2.00 per successful download & installation as a donation.

Lastly, InnoDomains service has been good.  With the Premium Package, I’m getting much better server and database response time, and I haven’t had any server maintenance or overload errors, which I was getting before.

If you’re looking to host a web site that doesn’t require a dedicated server, I would definitely suggest InnoDomains.  It’s good.  It’s not Rackspace, but then you pay for what you get.  As long as the service stays consistent, I think @ USD 20.00 per month, the Premium Hosting package is actually worth.

Check it out.

Picking a mobile phone carrier in London has been difficult.  None of them have good reviews, and apparently, all of them provide the same service.

I finally decided last week that I was going to make the move to O2.  I had seen their simplicity package advertised, where you could simply buy a SIM for free, and pay GBP 30 per month for 1200 anytime minutes, 500 or 1000 texts (if ordered instore or online), and a free additonal bolt on, which in my case, is the Unlimited Web Bolt On.  I decided to go for this because I do not want a new phone.  I’m happy with Sony Ericsson p990; the firmware upgrade has made the phone much more stable, and it almost every feature you’ll need:  Web, GPRS, 3G, WiFi, Browser, Email Client, Media, etc. etc.

O2s mobile phone service has been good.  I don’t get any unusual signal outage, and the internet speed on the phone is also pretty good.  But their Customer Service is nothing short of horrid!

Since the day I got my SIM from O2, I cannot view my bill or allowance online.  Over the last week, I’ve had luck with viewing my billing/allowance only once on the web site.  I have exchanged about 5 emails with customer service, and oh my, they are as incompetent as they come.  I thought HP (hewlett packard) had everyone beat when it came to bad customer service, but O2 is quickly surpassing HP to new, unknown levels of incompetence and customer dissatisfaction.

When I try to view my bill, I get an EBPP_1102 error.  When I try to view my allowance, I get the same EBPP error code with a different number.  Now I’m not sure what kind of a programming glitch their web development team has made, but their customer service has absolutely no idea about what’s going on.  They’ve come up with the wildest suggestions, like deleting my temporary internet files, having a corrupt cookie, having an old browser that doesn’t support 128-bit SSL encryption, or having an ISP that needs to be contacted because the problem is at their end.  They should really try telling that to Virgin & BT, and I’d want to see how either of them reacted to that.  I’d want to see the size of the hole in O2s tushi when BT is done responding to that (not that BT is a blessing in any way either).

First rule of thumb, train your god damn customer service representatives, and please, train them to be honest.  If they don’t know what’s going on or have NO idea about what the problem is, they DO NOT need to make incorrect suggestions or accusations about our PCs, cookies, or ISPs.  They should say that they don’t know what’s wrong, and that they will try to find out.

Second, why the fuck does every person who responds to my email an Indian, who has no fucking idea about how O2 works, secure socket layers or web browsers work, or how ISPs work?  I’m going to assume that O2 is being cheap over here, and they’re outsourcing customer service to India.  I’m sorry, is there any shortages of Indians in the UK?  There are lots of competent ones here, please hire them.  They’re educated (in real, for the most part, not by University of Kerala which prints PHDs only), and they’re less prone to lying and giving ludacris suggestions.

And your web development team?  Are you outsourcing this to Pakistan or India too?  And exactly how much money is O2 saving on it is unfathomable.  The website is pathetic.  They’ve tried to use AJAX without getting the basic functionality right.  Does O2 really think I’m impressed with AJAX when I get an error every time I try to access my billing or allowance?  Here’s a hot tip for O2:  NO!  I want it work, and I DO NOT want to speak to low IQ, incompetent, customer service who doesn’t the difference between a client side and server side error and tries to talk IT.

Here’s a little tip for O2 Tech Support:  The error is server side.  You’re running a script that’s trying to access my bill & related details from a database (I hope & not a text file), but it fails to do so, either because it cannot connect to your server or because their’s a coding error.  Either way, I CANNOT fix it at my end.  You need to do it.  Browse the internet and see how many other people have the same problem.  What are you, stupid? 

If you can’t get the service right, don’t offer it.

To top it all off, I get a call from O2 Customer Service today saying they don’t have the right billing address?  Well now, who in the hell changed it.  Not only was the woman who called UNABLE to communicate properly in English, but she told ME to call customer service and get my address updated because she could NOT take down the address.  I mean what the fuck is this, a fish market?  And how in the hell did my address get changed on the web site?  Why does customer service fidget with our account information when they don’t need to?  And, WHY the hell does the update my details feature NOT work on the web site?!

I’m this close to writing to the head office and asking them if they need help with their web site and customer service training, because clearly, a monkey could do a better job than O2 is doing right now!

Over the past 7 years, I’ve served in various accounting-related positions, and I have seen all different kinds of people throw around different kinds of words pertaining to accountants and bookkeeprs.  The three most common ones are bookkeepers, accountants, and beancounters.  Well, some might say nobody really gives a damn what people say, but in a world where corporations rely solely on image to get business and ruin the economy, classifications in your field followed by the right subsequent designation/job title can be very important to the success of an accountant.

So, what is a Bookkeeper?

Let’s start off by saying that all accountants need to know how to do bookkeeping.  Bookkeeping, without getting into too much of the history, is simply the act of keeping books using the Double Entry System.  As a bookkeeper, you maintain ledger accounts in all the different ledgers, and maintain all subsidiary documents like the cash book, etc.  Sounds similar to what an accountant might do, right?  Well, yes, it is.  However, the role of a bookkeeper ends at the Trial Balance.  Once your accounting period ends and the ledger accounts are closed to produce a trial balance, and once the trial balance is produced, it is ideally handed over to an accountant to generate the statements or reports.

So, what is an Accountant?

An accountant is an advanced bookkeeper, who is familiar the typical financial statements: i.e., Profit & Loss Account / Income Statement, Trading Account, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, etc. etc.  But keep in mind that being an accountant does not mean that you are familiar with the statement.  The key is to know what goes into producing such a statement.  Income Statements and Balance Sheets are relatively simple and standard, but then the cash flow is a statement most accountants struggle with, and its not their fault.  The typical cash flow statement isn’t exactly designed for efficiency, and that’s where the roles of different accountants come in.

So, to sum it up, an accountant uses the information produced by a bookkeeper to generate meaningful financial statements and reports.  An accountant MUST have comprehensive bookkeeping knowledge, and must continue to practice his/her double entry/ T-Accounts skills, or really, he/she won’t make for a very good accountant.

Public Accountants will NOT be covered in this discussion.  They are also known as auditors.  We all know they don’t warrant much discusson.

Financial Accountant vs. Management Accountant

Okay, this is an unusually fancy difference between Accountants, and I think it exists primarily because of the politicization and commercialization of institutions like CIMA and IMA. 

Financial Accountant is basically classified as someone who prepares financial statements and reports, i.e., your standard P & L, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, Aged Receivables, Aged Payables, etc. 

A Management Accountant is supposed to be someone who converts these financial statements into reports that management needs for their analysis, which should ideally make a management accountant a mix of a corporate finance expert and a financial accountant.  As interesting as it is, almost ALL good financial accounts have the knowledge needed to for the role of the Management Accountant, if you are an Accountant who can’t understand what the needs and requirements of management are reporting-wise and you cannot deliver them, well, then you should rethink your career.

Let’s be clear on one thing: Bookkeeping and Accounting are complimentary work; one cannot exist without the other.  In Small Businesses, you typically only have one person doing everything (as unwise as that may be for a multitude of other reasons).

I’m going to write another article on typical job titles / designations very soon, because in the Accounting field these have become extremely diverse and confusing.  It’s more fancy work, ultimately the commercializtion of the profession, but then that’s what the world loves most.

Here are the download keys for HP QuickPlay.  Please, use the instructions provided on http://www.asifism.com/installing-hp-quickplay-on-your-laptopnotebook-vista-xp/ for installing QuickPlay Direct before posting questions and queries already answered.

To download, visit http://downloads.asifism.com and use one the following appropriate keys.  Also, DO USE the download of Winrar provided to extract the zipped version of QuickPlay Direct (HPQPDP.rar), otherwise you may get errors while trying to extract it.

HP QuickPlay Direct 2.3:  a15d2a58d86dd1a5e0d81d3b6a6da507

HP QuickPlay for Windows (version 2.3 - 3.6):  f17037f62712c2f977772e6e567fa19e

HP QuickPlay TV: b5c183527d42bf61f81a21a59ccf4546

Winrar 3.6:  a179758a565e86b63ff550be6c89f562

Happy downloading & installing!

Here are the download keys for HP QuickPlay.  Please, use the instructions provided on http://www.asifism.com/installing-hp-quickplay-on-your-laptopnotebook-vista-xp/ for installing QuickPlay Direct before posting questions and queries already answered.

To download, visit http://downloads.asifism.com and use one the following appropriate keys.  Also, DO USE the download of Winrar provided to extract the zipped version of QuickPlay Direct (HPQPDP.rar), otherwise you may get errors while trying to extract it.

HP QuickPlay Direct 2.3:  b9d3e775556c1d2721428c78a90cc41e

HP QuickPlay for Windows (version 2.3 - 3.6):  e7a5f845d1779ea2edbd4535eb7b0f10

HP QuickPlay TV:  da09a4f2808a29a601cb0e02c7090d44

Winrar 3.6:  d96060947db4de7d504770ef4ebb402d

Happy downloading & installing!

With the plethora of accounting certifications and qualifications out there today, no matter what country you are in, it can be a daunting task to choose which certification is right for you.  Gone are the days when if you were a young fellow who aimed toward getting the Certified Public Accountant Certification (CPA) issued by the AICPA in the US; gone are the days when you could just become a Chartered Accountant (CA) in the UK, or for that matter anywhere else in the world.

The typical certified public or chartered accountant today is just one of the many recognized, approved and qualified accounting certifications today.  There are numerous others, irrespective of where you are: the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA, International) Certification, the Association of Accounting Technicians Certification (AAT, UK), the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) & the Certified Financial Manager (CFM) Certifications issued by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA, USA), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Certification (CIMA, UK & International) which is totally a tier based certification, starting with entry, managerial, strategic and TOPCIMA.  If you dig deeper into the US & UK Markets, you’ll see many others, and each of them has their own following.  I recently found out that there was an Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA) in the UK, and it’s a pretty major organization.  Interestingly enough, I’ve never seen ANY job advertised asking for a certification from the IFA.  Questionable?  Who in the hell knows.

But here is what I can tell you.  Accounting has become a diversified field.  The certifications mentioned above are only some of the management/financial/public accountant type, and there are other new accountant types, which come with some fascinating certifications of there own.  The upcoming accountant job titles you will come across now are forensic accountants, environmental accountants, project accountants, systems accountants, etc. etc.  The list is never ending.  Gone are the days when you trained to be a Director of Finance/CFO, Financial Controller, or simply strived to become an auditor in a public accountancy firm.  However, in today’s competitive world, no matter what country you are in, it is VERY important to pick the accountancy field that you want to go into.  Since each of these fields/job titles in accounting has its own relevant certification or qualification, it can sometimes be difficult to trespass from one into the other.  Also note that some of these are not multinational certifications, and when going cross border, especially between 2 first world countries (the US & UK, for instance), having one kind of a background or certification can cause you quite the grief.

Take, for instance, the simple line of Financial & Management Accounting.  There are people out there, and particularly recruitment consultant characters, who will try to convince you that there is a LOT of difference between Financial & Management Accountants.  Well, I’m here to tell you: bull-fecking shit.  Management Accountants are for incompetent business owners; financial accountants are for compliance.  That statement is true, but what good is a financial accountant who can only comply?  That’s no accountant; he’s a simple instruction taker.

Back to the topic at hand.  If management or financial accounting is the field you want to pursue, well, CIMA is your certification for Europe and most parts of Asia.  If you are in the US, CMA or CFM from the IMA is the direction you should be headed in; and despite the common ground between the two, do NOT be confused or deceived.  One will not co-operate with the other.  The two are essentially competitors, with the IMA fighting for international recognition alongside CIMA.  But get this, the AICPA feels so threatened by the IMA in the US, primarily because they are rightly carving our a different role/job description for financial managers in firms (a very niche position that CPA/CA types aren’t meant for), that they went out of the way to cut a deal with CIMA, saying that CIMA is indeed a decent certification, and that CIMA is an institution they recognize.  There was an entire article in the IMA Magazine regarding the issue, and the problem is, the AICPA cannot risk losing the value of its members within the US, so it refuses to accept the separate role or importance of Financial & Management Accountants.

But the US is not a country where all is lost.  Quality matters.  America is probably the only place in the world where at some level, it’s not who you know, but what you know, with the result that even today, you can succeed in industry/private sector in the US without any certifications, but only if you know what the hell it is that you’re doing.  Ideally, if you are going into industry, stick to the IMA Certifications: CMA & CFM.  They are relevant!  AICPA has become bloated and extremely political, and let’s face it, most Certified Public Accounants really can get dull.  It’s not their fault.  If you sole purpose in life is to assure the work of others, your existence falls into the misery of being second for good!  AND, due to the tactics and acts of Certified Public Accountants, today, if we creative financal & management accounting types get creative with our work, we get penalized.  Way to go, AICPA!

Now, if you’re in the UK, CIMA is the way to go.  I have seen, with my exposure to this market, and some Asian & Middle East ones, that being a Chartered Accountant always helps.  It looks good, no matter what job you apply for, but it is not always relevant.  Being a CA does by no means make you good at management or financial accounting; it just means you can dig yourself in papers for hours and hours and not get fed up, which, on a whole different level, is something admirable since I myself have difficulty with that.  Certifications for Private/Industry Accountants in the UK with value are the ACCA, the AAT, and CIMA.  Note that if you come to the UK with other certifications from other countries (other than a CA which is issed by an Institute which is authorized/accredited by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales [ICAEW]), like the ICMA you can get in India and Pakistan, which is the Istitute of Cost & Management Accountants, you won’t get too far over here.

For some reason, the ACCA is considered a medium level certification over here.  I’m not sure why; maybe they haven’t advertised or marketed enough, but ACCAs are for some reason not given executive treatment, especially not to the level of the CIMA qualified personnel.  CIMA, in the UK, is considered an executive level certification, and passing it in this country means that you have stood the accounting test of time, and deserve salary, whether or not you know anything is irrelevant.  Although the basic content in ACCA & CIMA is comparable, as is the basic content of the CMA and CFM in the US (with an exception ot the differences between US GAAP, UK GAAP & IFRS/IASB), CIMA has marketed themselves well, and has forged business alliances that have given them the executive reputation.  So, if you want to make it big in industry as a Controller, Director of Finance, VP of Finance, or a CFO, CIMA is the Certification you should be looking that.  Correct me if I am wrong, but I think you will get there with the ACCA too.  It will just take longer than with CIMA.  AAT, on the other hand, has been coming up with all the positive marketing they’ve been doing lately.  However, I think AAT is still considered an entry level professional certification for non-accounting degree holders, and it makes you familiar with some of the technical aspects of accounting in the UK: VAT, PAYE, NI, etc. etc.  Hence, the name Accounting Technician.

Let’s be honest, interesting or not, right or wrong, there is a big following that goes with the CPA and CA Certifications.  So you’re always playing it safe by aiming for one of those.  They may not be relevant for industry, but they will and have always held their importance, since auditing has become a vital part of big corporate money.  Of course, if it has been your lifelong dream to become a public accountant, to project your affairs into other people’s business, and spend the rest of your professional life assuring others that their work is upto par, well, what can I say, by all means, go ahead.  No offence meant.  I have nothing against Certified Public Accountants or Chartered Accountants.  I just think the role of Auditor is boring.  I could never do it.  I barely got through Auditing Class.  Unto each his own, eh!

This article is written courtesy of VAFTA Solutions Limited.

Since the previous QuickPlay download keys are expired, here are the latest download keys.  Please note that from now on keys posted will be valid for FIVE days only, after which time you will probably have to leave a comment to let me know new keys are needed.  The download link for QuickPlay is http://downloads.asifism.com.  Products available for download and their respective keys are:

HP QuickPlay Direct 2.3 (sliced):  23fe5b0b32490c403a67af82bfbc28d4

HP QuickPlay for Windows (2.3 to 3.6):  e37437845d6425fa89e4f74a5f1af41f

WinRar 3.6.2 to extract the QuickPlay Direct Download:  19fab90cdb097516815e24e5f74bda65

HP QuickPlay TV:  319350ff0f835d4897e858532566f6be

Any problems?  Let me know.  Please also kindly vote on the polls and let me know if there are any problems.