Too technical

A delightful but dim and technically inept Senior Manager has been tasked with arranging lunchtime technical update sessions for the executive group and has asked me to discuss the provisions in the tax ordinance on tax losses and their utilisation.

Being an unwanted gweilo this  attention stirs me and I take to the task with relish. Half way through my discussion on how the legislation should be interpreted, one of the partners pipes up that only interpretation we should give this piece of legislation is that followed by the Inland Revenue. When I ask why, said partner responds (you don't always get answers from them on tricky questions) BECAUSE THE I.R.D. IS ALWAYS RIGHT.

So there we have it, no need for us tax professionals, the revenue know it all and are always right.

Technical ability and tools are absent

I have decided that none of the partners have any technical ability. Sure they know what the law is but they certainly do not understand it.

Honk Kong has a a pretty simple tax system - based on a post-war 1946 Act introduced by the British it is unusual in the modern world as it only taxes profits sourced in Hong Kong. The act is puny, a number of pages, nothing compared to the 3 yellow books one has to deal with in the UK. The act itself is fairly straight-forward, but it does require a degree of interpretative skills as there are certainly gaps that need to be filled. Furthermore, many of the gaps in the legislation will be filled by court decisions.

I popped into the library the other day, I think it is a converted toilet cubicle, it is so small. Amazingly, there are no recent tax books on Hong Kong tax, and the tax cases are way out of date. Basically there is nothing current.

I have asked my secretary to get me a copy of the tax ordinance and a basic Hong Kong tax text book. I'm informed that I have to buy these myself - can you believe, the most critical tool and you have to buy it out of your own pocket. I take a wander around the office and find that many staff have there own text book and a copy of the tax legislation. Problem is most of these are about 3 years out of date. The most current act I could find was year out of date. This has to be a joke!

Even the partners have out of date text books and legislation, as I find out later in the day while visiting the partner who controls the departmental budget. I ask her why there are no sets of current and past tax cases available for general use. Her answer absolutely shocks me: "We are too busy to read tax cases".

I really am beginning to feel that this is no more than a compliance practice and the partners are really inadequate, not only for client work but also to develop people in the firm

How to become a Partner - Part 1

Was asked by a local Snr. Manager what the route to partner is? I felt obliged to give the party line but I was talking bull**** and that the end of the day, it didn't matter whether he met the requirements broadly outlined by the global firm and championed by the tax and people leaderships. 

I have seen a new partners come through and without exception they would be lucky to be be Snr. Managers in any of the other practices globally.  

The only reason they were promoted is that our glorious China tax leader had factored new partners into his so-called glorious "business plan" and his unflinching dedication to ticking the "Barxes" meant that somebody had to go through if it is in the business plan. So, having dispensed with the need for a proper business case we are now left with..... Partner Idol! 

Partner Idol is the perennial jousting among the existing local partners in Hong Kong to get their "running-dog" through! Now this is serious stuff as the partners generally can's stand each other and so really is a bit of one-upmanship as to who get through - lots of face involved!

The more streetwise Snr Managers/Directors who have been with the firm for 12 years or longer know the drill - get your neck as far up your chosen partners backside, work until 2 am every night (including weekends) -while still only charging 8 hrs a day - be so subservient and deferring to your partner god/goddess and worship the air they pass wind on.

So it is quite a contest. But lets get one thing straight, it is not a contest among prospective partners, it is a contest among the existing partners.

The result is predictable, the partners that have come through  are dire, uninspiring, technically inept, socially deficient yes-people who remain dependent and beholden to those that put them there.