8 August 2013 Charlie Balding - Face to Face

Ticking off the years

"A good accountant doesn't necessarily need to be a whizz at maths but he needs lots of common sense and use of English," was the advice given by a careers teacher to club member Charlie Balding, when he was considering what profession to take up.

            Forty-seven years on, and within a few weeks of retiring, Charlie told fellow members at the meeting on Thursday evening, when he was guest speaker, that the advice was sound. "Although I didn't realise that my entire business life would be measured in quarter-hour units on a time sheet, not to mention ticking off thousands and thousands of entries," he said. "Those are two aspects I shan't miss from the beginning of October!"

           Keen to dispel the idea that accountancy is a boring job, he recounted a number of amusing anecdotes about his career from working with Price Waterhouse in London helping to audit the books of multi-national companies to running his own accountancy practice when some sole trader clients have been known to bring in their paper work in tatty carrier bags.

          He recalled confirming that a client had received a tax refund to be told that he'd never seen it. Further probing revealed that on receiving a brown envelope through the post with the words Inland Revenue stamped on it, the client's father had immediately thrown it into the AGA without opening it as it always indicated bad news!

            Eliciting relevant information to produce accounts has always been a challenge whatever the size of business. One of his clients - an architect-turned-novelist - once told Mr Balding he could never do his job. "I'm creative you see and an ideas person and your job must be so boring." To which Mr Balding joked, "Considering the lack of information you have provided me with, I can definitely tell you that this balance sheet really is a work of art!"

Claire Reid gave the vote of thanks.