We, licensed trade stocktakers, have an industry body; The Institute Of Licensed Trade Stock Auditors. I have so many issues with this organisation I don’t know where to start, but in the interests of venting I will give it a go
1 – I have a major problem with the word ‘auditor’. Auditors, to my mind, are accountants with an extra qualification. It’s wrong of us to give ourselves grand titles without earning the right to.
2 – The ILTSA, according to themselves, is ( are? ) ‘the only qualifying body for stock takers within the Licensed Trade’. Now, this is true but is their qualification worth having?
For instance:
Venners, the biggest stocktaking company in the UK do not have any ILTSA recognition on their website; they are not ILTSA members. Does this mean all the stocktakers working for Venners are not fit for purpose? Hmm, how about Capcon? A national company operating to ISO 9001 Gold Award standards and part of Capcon Holdings PLC? All their stocktakers are not qualified either according to ILTSA.
Me
After a 25 year plus industry career, the last 15 as a stocktaker, ILTSA will tell you I’m not qualified to do the job. In fact, their ‘qualified’ stocktakers may well telephone my clients ( again ) and point out my shortcomings.
Their ‘qualification’ is a three hour exam consisting of some 20 questions, 18 of which are compulsory. There is no compulsion to carry out any training prior to taking the exam though, you can download the form, book the exam ( sorry, pay your fee when you book the exam ) and assuming you pass you are qualified.
The training course deserves special comment. The ILTSA will take around £600 off somebody, put them through a 3 day training course, charge them another few quid ( can’t be bothered looking ) for an examination fee and, assuming they pass, give them some letters after their name to prove that they are a qualified ‘stock auditor’. This, to me, seems a pretty dangerous way to introduce someone to the inner sanctum of your business but, of course, the guys that have the qualifications know best right?
I realise that my rantings could be interpreted as just another dis-gruntled moaner having a pop and that ILTSA are nothing but a bunch of splendid chaps trying to educate the ignorant and control an industry ripe for exploitation of the vulnerable and susceptible, so why not have a look at their website?
ILTSA Exam Booking Form
To reserve tour place on an ILTSA Exam, please use the link below to download and booking form and once completed, please post this back to ILTSA sending a cheque payable to “The ILTSA” with it. All rates exclude VAT @ 17.5% and a receipt will be sent once payment has cleared.
This is the best laugh I’ve had in a while. I think they may have subbed their copy writing out to an Eastern European call centre…
Minimum Pricing
March 25th, 2012It looks like minimum pricing for alcohol will be with us very soon. Whilst I want a solution to the rivers of vomit and blood polluting our town centres as much as anyone else, I can’t help thinking that the industry should be careful what it wishes for.
The last piece of government interference in the pub trade is still there for all to see. The beer orders created the conditions for pubcos to exist and, although I would not necessarily wish them away personally, it’s very difficult to see them as any sort of force for good in our industry.
The current piece of government interference, minimum pricing, looks fairly benign on the face of it and strikes the right chord with the public. People want an end to ‘binge drinking’ and the industry is not afraid of the numbers; 40p per unit of alcohol seems to be where the pricing will land. The pubs are ok with that, they are not threatened by it and the legislation seems to to aimed primarily at the big bad supermarkets who will be forced to put their prices up and allow the pubs a little breathing space.
Once the legislation is in place though, it’s a simple matter of changing the number if the government of the day decides that 40p is too low; for whatever reason.
I may be paranoid, but in my opinion the clamour from within the industry for minimum pricing is akin to turkeys voting for Christmas.
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