No Accounting for Taste ep170: James Brackley on Birmingham City Council’s financial crisis

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James Brackley, lecturer in accounting at the University of Sheffield and lead author of the Audit Reform Lab report on Birmingham City Council’s bankruptcy joins this week’s episode. Brackley chats about how behind the audits are for local governments, how it was allowed to get to this point and whether they can catch up. He takes a look at Birmingham City Council’s financial crisis, sharing what happened and the next steps. Richard Hattersley speaks about HMRC’s generic nudge letter campaigns. However, due to the generic nature of these letters, it is becoming increasingly hard to tell them apart from scams. The team talk about what HMRC should do to prevent taxpayers getting scammed. Finally, with GCSE and A-Level results day, Matthew Ord looks at the importance of apprenticeships and how they can be a vital piece of the puzzle to help firms with the recruitment crisis and skills gap.