“The activity of accountants is often erroneously perceived as that of accomplices in tax evasion, money laundering and other forms of economic crime. All this discourages young people from opening their own professional studio and demotivates older colleagues”. These are the words of the President of the Order of Accountants of Palermo, Fabrizio Escheri, who underlines the need for greater recognition of the professional identity of the category.
The third stage between the territorial Orders of accountants of the boot sees Palermo as the protagonist, in the figure of President Fabrizio Escheri, who addresses the various problems related to the category and explains how in the Sicily region the number of colleagues engaged in professional collaborations with firms in the countries of North Africa, in order to support Sicilian companies operating in that market.
What do you think of the equivalence between auditors and accountants?
“The auditing activity is traditionally the prerogative of accountants who, among other things, have determined its principles for a long time. It is therefore a professional function that fully falls within those performed by accountants. Therefore I think we must speak of one-way equivalence, in the sense that all accountants are certainly auditors, while not all auditors can be considered accountants. Obviously, I believe that specific training can and should be provided for accountants also involved in this delicate function, with targeted courses and activities, as is already the case for accountants-auditors of local authorities".
We are witnessing a decrease in professional firms due to the crisis and the fear of the crisis, therefore, respectively, the closure of professional firms and the difficulty or fear of opening new ones. What is going on?
“The general and widespread economic crisis that our country has been going through for over five years has hit the heart of the reference market for accountants, causing a drop in turnover and, above all, in studio receipts. Being among the categories with the highest value of structural costs (personnel, software, general costs) this often led to the closure of professional studios. However, I believe that the real reason for the decrease in the number of accountants does not depend only on the crisis but, above all, on the lack of recognition of the significant role played by this professional category in the many areas in which it operates. Without accountants, the state would largely fail to effectively collect taxes from businesses and taxpayers, would not be able to efficiently administer companies subject to preventive measures, would not be able to keep the accounts of local public bodies under control, would not be able to guaranteeing the correct performance of judicial functions and insolvency procedures, which make use of the precious work of many colleagues. Yet, despite this, in common feeling, in the media or in public opinion, the role of accountants is often relegated to that of accomplices in tax evasion, money laundering and other forms of economic crime, not to mention the wild legislation in which we are forced to extricate ourselves, with continuous deadlines and little certainty about procedures. All this discourages young people from opening their own professional studio and demotivates older colleagues. Furthermore, the effect of those so-called "non-ordinary" professions that have taken root only in our professional field is not insignificant, producing very strong and sometimes unfair competition. I believe that greater recognition of the professional identity of accountants is needed to reverse this trend, for example through the recognition of exclusive skills in some pertinent areas”.
The market is increasingly globalised. What are the new opportunities for accountants in foreign markets? And in Italy?
“Our profession is still not very globalized due to the regulatory complexity that still characterizes each country in the tax, corporate and commercial fields. However, there is great room for growth as companies, which are increasingly entering foreign markets to compensate for the crisis on the internal market, need to be "accompanied" by their trusted professional. I therefore think that demand will guide the offer of professional services that are increasingly open to internationalization. In particular, in our region, it is known that the number of colleagues who have started professional collaborations with firms in North African countries is growing, in order to support Sicilian companies operating in that market".
How will the Order of Accountants of Palermo present itself in view of the next elections? What do you expect?
“After more than a year of commissioning it is necessary and urgent to equip the category with a national political government. Indeed, the meritorious activity carried out by Professor Laurini did not prevent a series of "attacks" from being carried out by lobbies interested in the professional field of Italian accountants. The action limits of the commissioner's management have, in fact, prevented us from fully defending our prerogatives, allowing legislative and/or administrative measures to be adopted which, in my opinion, are harmful to our category. For this reason, we were immediately in favor of the hypothesis of new elections which would allow for the choice of the new National Council. We are aware that the dross of the long confrontation between the various parties involved is not entirely overcome, but at the same time we believe that the formation of a list which involves most of the protagonists of the previous alignments will allow us to find the right balance to identify the lines of action of the new Council. We have publicly taken a strong position, even threatening the eventual abstention of our Order, on the identification of candidates and programmatic themes. In this sense, we had also hoped for the identification of a third-party leadership, with respect to the previous presidential candidates, which would guarantee all the parties involved. However, we trust in Gerardo Longobardi's ability to be guarantor and representative of all Italian accountants and, in this sense, we have resolved to support his candidacy by voting for the list that identifies him as future president. We firmly believe that, having passed the date of 16 July, it is necessary to move on to the relevant topics for the category, also involving the territorial Orders which, being connected to the base, can represent a significant force of pressure on politics, institutions and all those which directly affect the operating conditions of accountants".
Are you in favor of introducing the POS in professional studios?
“Like all innovations, I am aware that this one too will find a lot of resistance. I am convinced that changes are necessary and that, at times, "imposing" regulations serve to accelerate them. As a category we are highly "technological" and, therefore, I believe that the problem will not be so much ours as that of our customers who, at times, may have difficulties in this regard. We live in a period in which electronic money is now widespread in all economic activities. However, we must consider that there are strata of society which, due to age or socio-economic conditions, may be outside these circuits. Furthermore, there will be an increase in the already significant structural costs that accountant firms have to bear. I would like that, from time to time, considering how many costs we are forced to bear to favor the work of public administrations (treasury, chambers of commerce, municipalities, etc.) we would be awarded compensation, even symbolic. But this, perhaps, is a dream that I will be able to put away in the drawer”.
