Offline or Online Tax Returns – Which One Is Right?

With the advent of e-commerce and the digital age in the domain of finances and taxes, everyone can now avail the option of filing tax returns online. However, whether it is better over the offline mode of filing such tax returns is still a raging debate in most parts of the world. So what pros and cons do each have, and what should you weigh in favor of each before opting for one? Come, let’s discuss!



Offline tax returns are the traditional way to do things – right from paperwork to physically going into office to mail or file the tax returns yourself. Apart from this, physical filing of tax returns with the help from chartered accountants (in London or elsewhere) is completely secure. Unless you have hired a scammer or a fraudulent firm, offline filing of tax returns can be safe as well as assuredly completed.

However, offline tax returns are slow, and can take up a large amount of your time. From being caught up in bureaucratic red tape to taking time in choosing a personal chartered accountant, offline filing of taxes can be a major headache – from the perspective of time.

Online tax returns capitalize on this issue effectively. Although you still would need to hire a veteran chartered accountant, the time consumed in the process is brought down dramatically. In fact, online filing of taxes can actually save you a truckload of time – which you can actually invest in getting a better chartered accountant and engage allied business purposes.

So while both of them are right in their places, you need to choose the option which suits you and your budget best!

When Caught in a Tax Hike, Catch Your Chartered Accountant!

Tax hikes are round the corner with the November elections in the US, and you better be looking around for your trusted chartered accountant! Why? Simple – because most of the firms will turn topsy-turvy with each tax policy change and most of us wouldn’t know how and what to do with our finances till long after the tax damage has been done.



In 2001, Bush’s tax cuts did it. And in 2010, new changes in tax policy, possibly hikes, are going to ruin the finances again. Since the revenue from the tax dividends had dwindled over the years to the recent recession-inflicted downfall, the tax rates are bound to shoot upwards.

However, what is the most terrifying of threats in the financial industry of late – is the increasing expenditure in the wars being led by the US government in Iraq and Afghanistan. Add to this the costs incurred in planning and executing military exercises with countries like South Korea and also strategic intelligence and covert operations in rogue nations – and you have much on the taxpayers’ hand to stare at in disbelief!

So while most of the firms have already started hiring the best of chartered accountants from London and elsewhere, chartered accountancy agencies are also in good business terms as of now. All that may change for them come November elections in 2010, but only for the better!

And if you are still worried on how much tax you are going to pay, try engineering a research and analysis onto the recent tax policy trends form the government. And hire a veteran chartered accountant right now!

Chartered Accountants are on Top of the Salary Ladder

Chartered accountancy has managed to stay put on top of all other professions, as far as remuneration is concerned. This time, the survey of around 10,000 chartered accountants in New Zealand was made, which proved that the average earning capacity for these professionals was around $140,000!

With the recession and the unstable economy notwithstanding, the attrition and layoff percentage for chartered accountants around the world was one of the lowest in the industry – a big initiating point for people wishing to carve out a career from this niche profession.



The trend is similar for chartered accountants in London or New York, as they were the top gainers as far as salary increase is concerned – almost 14% over the year. With the fact that the unstable economy has been slowly coming off its hinges of late, the need for chartered accountants to set financial records straight and find a way out of the monetary chaos has only rocketed in the last couple of years. Companies like PriceWaterHouse Coopers and allied firms have made the most profits, although some have come under the scanner for being inconsistent with their audits.

So while chartered accountants bask in the glory of high pay, job security and corporate stability, it is time that smaller firms realized the potential importance of these professionals. Only a year or two ago, people thought of honest audits as a sign of a fallen firm. The scenario has turned 1800 of late, and you can’t really blame the chartered accountants to ask for the pay they deserve!

South African Company Laws Allowing An Option for Audit/Review Can Be Dangerous!

South African Institute of Chartered Accountants has been on its tiptoes as far as the new company laws are concerned. The new laws, if passed, will allow the companies in the southernmost African nation to bypass a formal audit in favor of an independent review from a body of regulators and executive auditors.




The Institute has warned directors and owners of firms across South Africa, that a review may not be cheaper or the safer mode of handling accounts, especially with the punishment of such offenses becoming stricter in the near future. This warning has not gone unnoticed, as almost 125 of 200 firms surveyed have affirmed their trust on audits, even if they are self-initiated, as against relying on independent reviews as per the new law.

Chartered accountants in London or New York or elsewhere have been a crucial keg in the financial machinery of the companies worldwide. One of the main factors that bolstered this claim was the fact that bad audits, especially of the Lehman Brothers had actually snowballed into the dreaded economic crisis of 2008-09.

If South African firms happen to be wiser, they would opt for a robust regulating pattern, rather than taking it easy with the option of independent reviews and not opting for audits at all.

Your opinions please……

The Big 4 Auditors Hire Independent Directors to Deal With Regulators

While the economic recession and the slide snowballed from the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, a number of accountancy firms were to blame for the same. These included the chartered accountancy bigwig Ernst & Young, who had been accused of providing an executive watershed to the Lehman Brothers’ bad finances.

Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Ernst & Young and KPMG have all decided to induct independent directors to help answer the critics and showcase an unbiased and transparent audit process while looking into the accounts of the biggest of their clients (which, incidentally, also includes some of their scathing opponents).



This move might outpace some of their strictest critics, who have been calling for regulatory bodies to monitor the work done by these audit firms of late. PWC, one of the household names in the domain in chartered accountancy worldwide, has also come for heavy criticism for its handling of ‘Satyam’ accounts, a software corporate major in India. The fake profits shown by Satyam CEO Ramalinga Raju had been allowed to go unnoticed and unaccounted for by the Indian branch of PWC, and has hence taken a dent on its authenticity and transparency among the CA fraternity globally.

The employment of these independent executives and directors may however, only bring peace to the critics till that long. For, one misstep by the same, and the whip might come lashing down on these firms again.

Do you think it was a wise move by these auditing giants? Let us know through the comments section!

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