Judge by the standards you wish to be judged

I teach fairly small groups of students and tend to get to know my students quite well. However at the beginning of each term I meet a new group- I’m faced with a sea of faces and an inability to remember names. I ask them each to tell me their names and something interesting about themselves. I start..

 My name is Storm and in the last year I’ve read all of the Famous Five books (to my 7 year old) – its affected my language so excuse the exclamations of golly…Last week he was particularly happy and said …oh I do feel gay today.

 Occasionally somebody says something that really surprises me, when this happens I usually find my preconceptions have been challenged in some way. Often preconceptions I was completely unaware of.

 This term I was taken by surprise when a female student said; my main interest outside work is eastern European military history…I found it hard to respond knowing remarkably little about this topic or how one persuade it as an interest.

 I mentioned later to another tutor that this had happened and he said…you’re just picturing her in a uniform now aren’t you….

 I wasn’t but every time I say her now I think of it and the Chumbawamba song Add Me starts to go round in my head…

Here’s a picture of me in my Nazi uniform
doing a trick with an egg that I like to perform
at a monster truck rally that my Mum and me attend
Would you like to add me as a friend?

 

Obviously, the more I get to know her, and she proves to be a likeable intelligent individual, the more I question my own preconceptions.

More poor financial reporting…

I wouldn’t expect it of the Economist but in an article about PFI transactions they suggested that the government were doing something ‘dodgy’ when in fact they are not.  The article implied that the UK were being forced to bring these transactions into line with international accounting standards and that government are producing 2 sets of accounts 9one that complies and one that doesn’t).

 At the moment the treatment of PFI projects is covered by FRS5 which is a UK accounting standard. It tells UK companies how to account for things and through the writing of the standard and the writing of the PFI transactions most PFI projects are ‘off balance sheet’.  From 2009-10 UK Central Goverment is adopting internationl reporting standards. This year is the first year that they will be using international standards and international standards will bring PFI projects on ‘balance sheet’. At present government is producing 2 sets of accounts- one using international standards and one using UK to aid comparability. This is good practice and will also allow for the whole of government accounts to be completed as other parts of the public sector are not yet using international reporting standards. 

Moreover UK government decision to adopt international accounting standards is a bold move designed to make UK government accounts comparable with other organisations. Organisations such as the Accounting Standards Board are set up with the private sector in mind and it is broadly accepted that public sector accounting is a ‘matter for government’. The UK is the first country to adopt international accounting standards for central government accounts and they have selected to adopt the full standards rather than those designed for the public sector. International Public Sector standards are all together less rigourous.

Poor Financial Reporting

Let me explain tax to you…..I said in a sultry voice. Oh good said my husband.

 

So here goes. We each have a personal allowance. No tax is charged on our personal allowance. This year the tax free allowance is £6,475. Tax is the charged according to a series of bands- the first band is £0 to £37,400. Income within this band is charged at 20% tax. However these bands only apply to taxable income so kick in after the personal allowance. So on earnings under £6,475 you pay no tax, you pay 20% tax on the next £37,400. The next tax band (40%) doesn’t actually apply until you earn £43,875.

 

I mention this as I was incandescent with rage on Saturday after reading an article in the Money section of the Guardian that claimed to ‘explain the budget, what do these changes mean to you? It claimed that people paid 20% tax on amounts from £6,475 to £37,400. This is incorrect and shows a basic misunderstanding of tax by ‘so called experts’.

 

No wonder people don’t understand finance.

Why are you here?

Most of my students are adults. They come on the course on day release and study at home. Its challenging and takes 3 and a half years. At the moment some of my students are studying for a 7 hour exam….those with dyslexia get extra time. This could be considered cruel and unusual torture.

They are studying accountancy; which to be frank is not that interesting. Some of the things you can do with it are interesting but studying it…no.

Occasionally my students say things that make me wonder why they are here;

‘I used to be an astronomer in Hawai’

‘I grew up in the circus’

‘I’ve only got a year to live and I want to complete this before I die’*

I have dyscalculia

‘I have a 4 month old baby and I’m still on maternity leave’

Ah…The last one makes me very uncomfortable; I’m not sure I’m happy with a thought process that flags this up.  When I had a baby I still wanted to be a professional; yes it probably is more challenging if you have family commitments but I wouldn’t be so suprised if it was a guy with a 4 month old baby.

And why? Because I still after everything tend to asume that she’ll be caring for the baby.

*Unfortunately although he sat his exams prior to dying the qualification had to be awarded after he died.

Tears

Today I was teaching financial accounting; one student ran out in tears….3 times. I assumed (wrongly) that she must have personal problems….but no its the financial accounting thats the problem. Teaching a professional qualification I’m often surprised by the number of students I reduce to tears. She feels that she just isn’t getting it….she isn’t. I don’t know what to say…there is still time.

My partially sighted student had a support assistant today- that was interesting as I’ve taught somebody with a support assistant before. I think it might have worked better if the support assistant had been that at the begining of the course as he seemed to struggle to write down what was required….If he had been for it to help now he would have had to learn accountancy to some degree. which then lead me to an interesting question…should I be trying to teach the support assistant?

The support assistant and the student talked in another language; I couldn’t tell what they were saying and therefore found it hard to offer appropriate assistance. They may have been discussing the football!!

My eye..I lied

I am currently taking a week off work due to an eye injury. My son poked me in the eye with his finger nail. It hurt like hell…then hurt some more…This is the closest I’ve come to taking time off work for child related reasons…and I’ve lied about how the injury occurred. In my workplace parents with children are allowed 2 days special leave to cover breakdown of childcare arrangements etc. I have never taken this…  I feel it would undermine my position as a career focused women…the person who sits opposite me seems to have a child who often makes her late, absent or leave early…  Anyway I have yet again been completely impressed by the NHS- the injury occurred whilst away for the weekend (Blackpool, staying with friends not doing the tacky kiss me quick thing). I spent all day convincing myself that surely the problem would disappear but no such luck- so I ended up in A+E on bank holiday Sunday…where I was seen and treated within an hour. It was efficient polite and effective. Today I went to the eye clinic for a follow up; it was similarly quick, efficient, pleasant etc. The only thing I would change are the chairs- they are arranged in a kind of maze which makes it difficult to find a seat without volting over a row of chairs…tricky to negotiate with an eye injury..