“Instant conversation-killer, that. Polite people say, ‘Oh . . . that must be very interesting,’ and hastily change the subject. Less polite ones snigger, or mutter ‘Get a life’ and dredge up the punchline of some ancient Monty Python sketch. Either way, the reaction’s much the same: accountancy equals grey, boring and duller than a wet Sunday in Grimsby. Right? Well, as it happens, no. Wrong. Dead wrong. OK, if you work for one of the big traditional firms, it must be pretty monotonous, stuck i...n the same old office day after day. I’m more by way of a troubleshooter: a travelling freelance who firms call in to vet their books when annual meetings are due. And some of them aren’t above cutting a few corners. That’s when the job really grips – when you first sense that someone’s trying to con you, and that somewhere in those sober columns of figures there lurks, like a wily old fish in a deep dark pool, the scam they’ve hidden so carefully. Then you get all the joy of the chase, the blind alleys, the battle of wits – and at last, as you catch the first glimpse of a telltale glitch, the sheer adrenalin rush: got you, you bugger!MoreLessRead More Read Less
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