12 Days of IRIS Christmas: “On the 4th day of Christmas, I fear I must confess…

By Adam Deakin | 8th December 2016 | 16 min read

...I've not a clue about the new F-R-S."

Are you on the 'Nice list'?

There’s not a lot that Father Christmas doesn’t hear about in the process of sifting through the mountains of letters he receives. 

One that caught his eye this year had come from an accountant insisting that he’d been good enough to earn a spot on 2016’s ‘Nice list’.

He’d made numerous digital enhancements in preparation for HMRC’s incoming Making Tax Digital initiative, used IRIS Anti-Money Laundering software to ensure all his clients are compliant with the latest rules and regs, and educated himself on the new changes to FRS (Financial Reporting Standards).

This last bit piqued Santa’s interest. He’d heard his own accountant, Patrick at Red Nose & Associates, make reference to the first two points in conversation before, but he’d never heard him refer to Financial Reporting Standards or their changes.

He pulled an iPhone out of his beard and gave Patrick a call.

Patrick was caught by surprise. Being in the North Pole, where the day/night cycle is highly irregular, Santa doesn’t pay much heed to the time. That’s why it took 12 rings before Patrick eventually picked up - it was 4AM.

(“4-bleedin’-AM,” according to Patrick.)

Santa immediately began grilling him about why the new FRS were only now coming to his attention via a third party when the changes had clearly been in place, or planned, for a good while, but Patrick could only yawn and offer his apologies - he hadn’t sufficiently looked into the subject himself.

Banter Claus

Santa had a field day with this. Patrick was usually on the ball with that kind of thing, so Santa couldn’t let this moment pass without having his fun.

I’m disappointed in you, Paddy,” he said. “This could result in your first ever appearance on the Naughty list.”

Patrick, who had by now tiptoed into his quaint little office to avoid waking his wife, and was surrounded by his hard-earned qualifications, certifications and a picture of his daughter with Bublé the gerbil, was distraught by the judgment.

Santa stifled a laugh. He felt a little guilty for the ribbing, but couldn’t resist a final dig:

How are you fixed for coal these days?”

Read about the transformation of the accountant-client relationship in our FRS guide

Fairytale of New UK GAAP

Patrick woke up the next morning determined to figure out exactly what the new FRS meant for UK GAAP, and as a longstanding IRIS customer he came straight to us to enquire as to the best way to go about it.

We were pleased to inform him that, over at our FRS Hub, we provide a free-to-use New UK GAAP Transition Impact tool that can assess the additional time needed to transition clients to the new frameworks, allowing Red Nose to plan accordingly.

Next, Red Nose identified the employees who needed training up on the subject - in their case it was Patrick and the other senior practitioners at the firm.

We showed them the range of training options at their disposal, from online to classroom training and even bespoke courses that could be tailored to their individual needs.

They booked in for a full-day course in the comfort of their own office and haven’t looked back since; Patrick now fields Santa’s FRS questions with consummate ease, and there’ll be no coal under his tree come December 25th.

Are you FRS-savvy? Find the right course to suit your circumstances

If you feel you’re ready to become an FRS master like Patrick, visit our FRS microsite today, or read our in-depth guide on the changes and their implications:

VISIT THE HUB

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If you'd like to read more in our ‘The 12 Days of IRIS Christmas’ series, click on the links below:

Day 1: “On the 1st day of Christmas a client gave to me, a shoebox full of receipts…”

Day 2: “On the 2nd day of Christmas I looked back at what I'd seen, at IRIS World 2016…”

Day 3: “On the 3rd day of Christmas a client questioned me, about my A-M-L philosophy…”

Day 5: “On the 5th day of Christmas a client said to me, what on earth is M-T-D?”

Day 6: “On the 6th day of Christmas I saw how efficient my elves are, using brand new IRIS HR...”

Day 7: “On the 7th day of Christmas my clients profits saw a lift, thanks to forecasting from GearShift...”

Day 8: “On the 8th day of Christmas we looked back at all the ways, we'd spent our IRIS 'Giving Back' days...”

Day 9: “On the 9th day of Christmas as we sipped on our eggnog, we took a look at this year's popular blogs...”

Day 10: “On the 10th day of Christmas I slept peacefully at night, after upgrading to an OpenWebsite...”

Day 11: “On the 11th day of Christmas we travelled overseas, to see what life is like at Claus Industries... (Part I)”

Day 12: “On the 12th day of Christmas we travelled overseas, to see what life is like at Claus Industries... (Part II)”