A great night was had at the second year of the Indirect Tax Awards on 15th October, which BLT were delighted to sponsor once again. The event was held at the Glaziers Hall in London, and thanks to everyone for their support in making the event such a success – an amazing turn out this year from all walks of the Indirect Tax world allowed for a perfect opportunity for the Indirect Tax community to catch up with old friends, familiar faces and new contacts.

Our congratulations to all the nominees; and the winners were:

Outstanding Contribution to Indirect Tax
Ray Sidders

The Tax Journal Indirect Tax Writer
David Southern

Best Indirect Tax Team - Winner
The Morgan Stanley Indirect Taxes Team

Indirect Tax Team - Highly Commended
The CIOT Indirect Tax Sub-Committee

Lifetime Achievement Award
Peter Jenkins

I believe the photographic evidence will be going up over the next few days – keep an eye on the website for more details.

Barclays are expected to post profits of £10 billion, the Goldman Sachs bankers have that tricky problem of how to spend their bonuses and even RBS, now 70% owned by UK taxpayers is paying out £4 billion in pay and rewards to its investment banking arm!

What does this mean for the Financial Services consulting sector?

Clients are telling us that there are some signs of recovery from a relatively recent low base, which translates into an increase in career opportunities. As an illustration of this, I currently have opportunities in Finance Transformation with a Big 4 firm, an opportunity in a boutique consulting firm for marketing led change and transformation, opportunities in risk consulting, a Head of FS for a niche consulting firm and the opportunity to join a start up consultancy in the UK which has the backing and stability of an established consulting business. View the full list of our roles here.

So, if you would like to discuss options in Financial Services Consulting, please contact Catriona Cookson on 020 7419 0909 or email her on cec@blt.co.uk

See and hear more from our YouTube channel:

Parliament’s back in session. The Government will have to reveal where spending cuts will be made in the Public Sector, and the public sector consultancies await the news. But the public sector will still need consultants to help it deliver business-as-usual, no matter how deep those cuts, and that is making those firms involved with central government departments and local authorities, the NHS and the education sector press on with recruitment. We’ve noticed a rise in public sector consulting recruitment – and not just for experienced consultants, but first-timers too.

See what Tribal say in a short YouTube video below.

And if you’d like to get involved, give BLT a call on 020 7419 0909.

We loved it so much first time, we’re back for more….another great day was had by the BLT team on 29th September as we made our second trip to a school to assist pupils with preparing themselves for future interviews and the world of work. This time Don, Sheila, Angela, Nicola and Lorraine visited George Green’s School in Tower Hamlets – thanks to the all the staff and pupils for their warm welcome, and to David Burgess at the Education Business Partnership for organising it.

8th October 2009

Re: Year 11 Head to Head practice interviews at George Green's School

Dear BLT

Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership organised another excellent event for Year 11 pupils this year for which the Economic Wellbeing Team and staff at George Green's would like to express their thanks.

We are very grateful for the time that the business volunteers gave to the programme last Tuesday, not just for the 7 hours of interviewing but for the care, thought and effort that goes into reassuring some very nervous students and giving constructive feedback that gave them so much confidence ready for their next interviews.

Feedback from pupils about their interviewers and the actual interviews were very positive. There were many comments about how nice the interviewer was and what good feedback the interviewer gave following the interview. Pupils found it very useful to know that their eye contact was good and that they answered the questions fully.

We would like to express our thanks to David Burgess at the Education Business Partnership and all of the volunteers that gave their time and energy to help our pupils prepare for their futures.

Shirley Duncan
George Green's School

Forbes.com published their annual list of The 400 Richest Americans 2009 at the end of September and this year they decided it was time to search through their database of wealthy individuals in search of bona fide trends. Although they admit this was an unscientific study, it does make interesting reading.

Mathematical prowess is typically a key to becoming a billionaire and this is often hereditary. Some of the most common professions among the parents of American billionaires were engineer, accountant and small-business owner.

More self-made American tycoons were born in September than in any other month – 42 out of the 380.

It would appear that you don’t need to complete college if you want to make a fortune in technology. Close to 15% of the self-made American moguls on the Forbes 400 never finished college including Bill Gates who heads this year’s list with a net worth of $50,000 million.

Not surprisingly however Forbes 400 members who derive their fortunes from finance make up one of the most highly educated sub-groups: half of them have graduate degrees. Roughly 70% of those with M.B.A.s obtained their master's degrees from one of three Ivy League schools: Harvard, Columbia or the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

And for those who want to further their career in finance a stint at Goldman Sachs doesn’t hurt. At least 11 current and recent billionaire financiers worked at Goldman or one of its subsidiaries early in their careers.

So do any of these traits fit UK based billionaires? Well Ernesto Bertarelli, who ranked 4th on this year’s Sunday Times Rich List was born in September and earned an MBA at Harvard Business School whilst Philip Green, who came in at No. 6, left boarding school when he was 15 and worked for a shoe importer before travelling to the US, Europe and the Far East.

Should we take any notice of these findings? Will the statement about mathematics being a key to success encourage more students to study this subject that is currently in decline? Or will we see a rush of people eager to take an M.B.A. as a route to riches?

Oxford University has slipped in the international league table of the world's top universities - in a study which shows the advance of academia in Asia that will soon pose a challenge to the Ivy League and Oxbridge. - Shows Guardian's research.

The study, from Times Higher Education and QS Top Universities shows that overall the UK still punches above its weight, second only to the US. The UK has four out of the top 10 slots and 18 in the top 100. But there has been a significant fall in the number of North American universities in the top 100, from 42 in 2008 to 36 in 2009.
Harvard remains in the number one spot, followed by the University of Cambridge who have jumped up a place from last year’s rankings. Oxford slips down one position to joint 5th with Imperial College, London.

UK University/College (Rank 2009/ Rank 2008)
- University of Cambridge (2 / 3)
- University College, London (4 / 7)
- Imperial College, London (5 / 6)
- University of Oxford (5 / 4)
- University of Edinburgh (20 / 23)
- Kings College, London (23 / 22)
- University of Manchester (26 / 29)
- University of Bristol (34 / 32)
- University of Warwick (58 / 69)
- University of Birmingham (66 / 75)
- London School of Economics (67 / 66)
- University of York (70 / 81)
- University of Glasgow (79 / 73)
- University of Sheffield (82 / 76)
- University of St. Andrews (87 / 83)
- University of Nottingham (91 / 86)
- University of Southampton (95 / 99)
- University of Leeds (99 / 104)

There’s no place in the top 100 for the ancient institutions of Durham (=103) or Aberdeen. (=129) and out of the 6 Red Bricks, Liverpool comes in place 137.
You can view the full list of 400 rankings here.

However, one has to question exactly how much value can be put on these rankings. Earlier this year the Guardian published their university league table and Oxford came out top scoring highly on teaching quality, student satisfaction and career prospects. Oxford's traditional rival, Cambridge University, retained its second-place ranking, with St Andrews University moving up from fifth spot last year to third place in the 2010 tables

Britain's oldest universities still dominated the Guardian high rankings, with the London School of Economics fifth, Edinburgh seventh and Imperial College London eighth.
Should we be putting any weight on these tables? What happens if you take the degree course studied into account? The Times has published a good University guide for 2010. If you followed their guide, budding accountants would avoid Oxford and Cambridge and set their sights on Bath.

It might be that all these tables could confuse students who need to decide which University will be best for their chosen field of study.

At BLT we know our clients expect good academic achievement, but the particular university is usually less important (to all but the top tier consultancies and bluest of blue-chip companies) than the grade. And then there are university entrance exam results (A levels, Highers, Leaving Certificate) to be considered, and postgraduate academic and professional studies…. And we mustn’t ignore Attitude and Aptitude.

So studying hard and doing well at university is important: but it’s just one factor in selection criteria.

There’s no doubt that the graduating class of 2009 had it tough but the outlook for next year does look a little better.

Research from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) states that a third of graduate recruiters are planning to recruit more graduates next year than in 2009.

Its poll of members also shows that most employers have either met or expect to meet their graduate recruitment targets for 2009, while 76.4% expect their graduate recruitment targets to increase or at least stay the same in 2010.

Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the AGR, says: “The results of the latest snapshot poll are not only encouraging for graduates but might also suggest that British business is seeing the light at the end of this economic downturn. The fact that most employers expect to have an active presence on campuses this year and are maintaining or raising their graduate recruitment targets shows an understanding of how important investment in attracting new talent is to the future of their businesses, even during tougher times economic times.”

Cautious optimism seems to be the name of the game according to the Confederation of British Industry who predict that the UK economy will enter into a period of modest growth, in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

The CBI says that UK GDP will post quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.3% in 2009 Q3, increasing by 0.4% into Q4 as consumers bring spending forward ahead of the VAT increase in January.

Richard Lambert, director-general at CBI, says: “The outlook is improving as the UK draws strength from quantitative easing, a weak pound and a recovering global economy. Although growth this quarter should mark the end of the recession, conditions in the UK will remain tough for some time yet, and it is difficult to see where demand growth will come from.


A new university year is starting and for final year students, seeking employment will become a priority. The news that graduate recruitment is set to increase should fill them with hope.

Are you set to graduate in 2010? What impact has the recession had on your first choice profession? Are you feeling optimistic about your future career prospects or do you think there’s still a long road ahead before graduate recruitment fully recovers?

The Private Finance Initiative (PFI), born some 17 years ago, has become one of the Labour government’s favourite children. However, since the fall of Lehman, things have looked increasingly shaky for PFI. Many accountants have been worrying that the switch to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) would threaten the policy, and by association, the increasing numbers of project finance consultants. However, Treasury advice on capital budgeting, which includes PFI projects, has said that the European System of Accounts (ESA) will be used. Although this will complicate public sector accounting, it does mean that investments related to PFI projects will remain invisible to capital expenditure measurements, thus shaving a few billion pounds a year off public sector debt figures. This is clearly something that politicians across the board are keen to retain; the PFI is safe.

Well what does all this mean? Obviously it’s a good thing for project and corporate finance consultants across the board. Furthermore, with an impending change of government, whatever the colour, even better times could be ahead - following the year that has just passed, you would be allowed a small sigh of relief. The Tories, and to a lesser extent Labour, have said they will want to amend and improve the PFI. Change is always a good thing for consultants. New PFI models will need to be created, and with new projects proposed, such as the Conservatives’ high-speed rail scheme, the public sector will be calling in specialist knowledge to assist in implementation. Some predict a return to the PFI boom of the late nineties, which is likely to begin in the coming months, and continue through the first few years of the next parliamentary term. As systems become normalised, the demand for consultants will reduce again; but in the interim, firms need to take advantage, and they will need the human capital to do so.

So, consulting on infrastructure implementation is a good place to be at the moment, but decision making may not be. Big public consulting bills, such as those for the NHS’s ‘Connecting for Health’ project, have been slammed in the press. It has been argued that the off loading of decision making by public sector managers to external consultants is not simply a poor use of tax payer’s money, but bad practice. Although the public sector will always want to blame their consultants for bad decisions, under this heavy political pressure, that is likely to change. Public sector strategy is a much more vulnerable market to be in.

In conclusion, the public sector does not have the corporate finance necessary for PFI projects and the like, and never will. Furthermore, in a period of change following a new government, many consultants will be needed to implement policy decisions from Westminster, and this will not be restricted to finance. However, the Treasury is keen to see public sector decision makers making decisions; removing that privilege, and therefore revenue, from consultants.
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For more information, or to enquire about public sector consulting roles, please email Stephen Humphreys at srh@blt.co.uk, or call him on 0207 419 0909.

The recruitment industry has often suffered from bad press. Some question the ability that external firms have to add value to the human capital sourcing process; and others claim that for recruiters the job is just about the money. Today in particular, you would be forgiven for holding that opinion.

On Wednesday the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) used the full force of its powers, and fined six companies just under £40million for price fixing and anti-competitive behaviour. Hays, who are one of the largest recruiters in the UK, bore the brunt as they received a fine of £30m. A further two companies were given exemption from prosecution, for revealing the cartel. The OFT said that these companies, had they not acted as whistle-blowers, would have been fined more than the others. This could have brought the collective total to £173m in fines. Where does that leave our confidence in the recruitment industry?

This comes at a time when the country is still reeling from the MPs expenses scandal, the mass fines given to the construction industry last week and the potential £1billion fine for BAE following the bribery scandal. The repulsion that we feel against these crimes comes from our innate desire for integrity. It is at times like these that we must remember not to tarnish all with the same brush. Not all MPs toyed with the system, not all construction firms are price fixers, and not all recruiters are crooked. Although I am new to the industry, all the recruiters I have met, both inside and outside BLT, have a real desire to add value to the growth of the knowledge economy. It is now the responsibility of the wider recruiter network to demonstrate the value that the industry does offer, and we hope to play a part in that. To find out more about, BLT, our passion for recruitment, current market information to discuss your career options, then visit our website at www.blt.co.uk or call us on 020 7405 3404.