The Devastating British Post Office's đź“® Point of Sale Scandal| Tom Herbert

In this episode, Tom Herbert, technology editor at Accounting Web, shares his insights on the British Post Office scandal, which has been ongoing for decades, ruining the lives of many subpostmasters. Heather and Tom discussed the problems with the Post Office's Fujitsu Horizon point of sale system implementation, leading to unbalanced reconciliations and accusations of theft against subpostmasters. The Post Office used its prosecution powers and prosecuted 700 subpostmasters between 1989 and 2015, resulting in jail time, financial ruin, relationship breakdown, lost homes, living in cars, and sadly much much worse. The scandal is discussed from the perspective of an accountant, the POS implementation, the forensic accountant who aided in uncovering the issues, the suspense account, the high tax hitting the subpostmasters when they received any compensation. The story behind this scandal, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, was broadcast on ITV in January 2024. We talk about the importance of storytelling in bringing this story into the narrative of the general public. Contact details: Tom Herbert  Contact details: Tom Herbert https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomherbert/  AccountingWeb https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/  Accounting Apps newsletter: http://HeatherSmithAU.COM Accounting Apps Mastermind: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting  X: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU

Om Podcasten

Exploring the intersections of accounting, technology and modern practice methodologies. Hosted by Heather Smith, an award winning Chartered Accountant with a flair for storytelling. Heather is obsessed with how effective automation and integration can produce timely clean data, to surface information for brave, fast data-informed decision making. Better data, better decisions, better business. She explores this topic with her guests, uncovering insights that offer you a competitive edge. Delve deeper into the Accounting Apps landscape and enhance your understanding. The podcast promises enlightening discussions in the fields of accounting, technology and artificial intelligence. Hit that subscribe button now! Subscribe to the Accounting Apps newsletter: http://AccountingApps.io Join the free Accounting Apps community to continue the conversations. https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind Brilliant guests include entrepreneurs, founders, business consultants, accountants, bookkeepers, small business owners, cloud advisors, developers, cloud integrators and solution providers. Each month guests share how they built their business and how your business or clients can use technology to be more effective and efficient. This may include exploring: *How you can implement and integrate business tools with your online accounting software to automate processes, improve productivity, and profitability; *How to build a business developing business apps; or *How to build a tech stack that meets your business needs or introduce your clients to them. Contact details: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/