Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Aircrew Forums > Military Aviation
Reload this Page >

RAF Spends more on Accountants than Jets

Wikiposts
Search
Military Aviation A forum for the professionals who fly military hardware. Also for the backroom boys and girls who support the flying and maintain the equipment, and without whom nothing would ever leave the ground. All armies, navies and air forces of the world equally welcome here.

RAF Spends more on Accountants than Jets

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 25th Aug 2016, 14:09
  #1 (permalink)  
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Peripatetic
Posts: 17,367
Received 1,568 Likes on 714 Posts
RAF Spends more on Accountants than Jets

MoD Spends More on Accountants Than Fighter Jets
ORAC is offline  
Old 25th Aug 2016, 14:48
  #2 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: London
Age: 44
Posts: 752
Likes: 0
Received 8 Likes on 3 Posts
To cut a long story short, no it doesnt.
This is a classic bit of spin, as if you look at the areas covered under that heading, its all the test and evaluation and other categories too. Essentially its the 'everything but capital cost of the kit itself' bit of the budget which covers a very diverse set of issues, and isnt just about management accountants.

So yes, its a typical august silly season story made up by someone who saw accounts in the title, didnt understand what the totality of the area was and came up with a totally misleading conclusion.
Jimlad1 is offline  
Old 25th Aug 2016, 14:56
  #3 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Downeast
Age: 75
Posts: 18,285
Received 500 Likes on 208 Posts
Almost sounds like an Accountant's Mission Statement don't it?

its a typical august silly season story made up by someone who saw accounts in the title, didnt understand what the totality of the area was and came up with a totally misleading conclusion.
SASless is offline  
Old 25th Aug 2016, 15:11
  #4 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: London
Age: 44
Posts: 752
Likes: 0
Received 8 Likes on 3 Posts
Oh for gods sake. No its not, I'm not an accountant but i am fed up of bull**** stories like this which are completely misleading. people moan about the lack of understanding of airpower, and stories like this go a long way to helping contribute to it.

The actual report is here - https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...cts_2016-a.pdf

Essentially its a breakdown of how spending falls into various National Statistics derived classifications of different industry, including car hire, T&S, utility bills and the like. Its a non entity of a story in the middle of a very silly season.

Last edited by Jimlad1; 25th Aug 2016 at 16:04.
Jimlad1 is offline  
Old 25th Aug 2016, 16:34
  #5 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: France
Age: 80
Posts: 6,379
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Oi, no anti-accountant jokes - I are one! (Well a Chartered Management Accountant, courtesy of the RAF and the then RAPC at Worthy Down)
Wander00 is offline  
Old 25th Aug 2016, 18:11
  #6 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Southampton
Posts: 859
Received 40 Likes on 19 Posts
Was it an accountant who decided many moons ago, to replace the toilet rolls with single ply because they would be cheaper (after the days of shine paper of course)?

Then because fingers tended to break through the paper, people doubled up and just to be sure, doubled up again. Result - twice as much bog roll used than before...
Saintsman is offline  
Old 25th Aug 2016, 18:21
  #7 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: France
Age: 80
Posts: 6,379
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
That's not "accountants" - that's the "law of unintended consequences", or "sh1tty finger syndrome"
Wander00 is offline  
Old 25th Aug 2016, 21:39
  #8 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Posts: 26,795
Received 270 Likes on 109 Posts
Saintsman wrote:
Was it an accountant who decided many moons ago, to replace the toilet rolls with single ply because they would be cheaper (after the days of shiny paper of course)?
Rather like the wonderful idea of Kelvin Rucksack when he became Stn Cdr of a certain Oxonian aerodrome....

"We will use recycled paper in the station's photocopiers / printers", he decided, "it will save money". But failed to do any research first.

So after a few weeks, or probably days, of using that awful grey paper on which the printing faded after a couple of months in a file (remember those?), most of the printers and photocopiers stopped working.... The cost in getting them repaired outweighed the cost saving of the wretched grey paper several times over. 'Different budget', no doubt...

I once asked one of the Xerox folk who was unbuggering the large, rather gucci printer in Ops why it kept failing... "Because you've been using this cheap recycled paper and the fibres clog up the machine as it wasn't designed to use such rubbish", he replied.

So Kelvin decided to use normal paper once more. Which was a bit of a shame as half a hangar full of the grey stuff had just been delivered....

It's probably still there....
BEagle is offline  
Old 26th Aug 2016, 05:58
  #9 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: N/A
Posts: 5,926
Received 391 Likes on 206 Posts
'Different budget'
Our hard standing was bitumen, and with time would break up, thus requiring repair, not to mention FOD. We asked if it could not be made concrete, thus avoiding problems. Answer: Concrete would be a capital cost with no tax relief, but bitumen maintenance was a full tax deduction. Oh, well.
megan is offline  
Old 26th Aug 2016, 13:00
  #10 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Sussex
Age: 82
Posts: 4,758
Received 219 Likes on 68 Posts
Beagle:-
"We will use recycled paper in the station's photocopiers / printers", ....half a hangar full of the grey stuff had just been delivered....
Why the delivery of any grey stuff? I took the first bit to mean that the "recycling" would all be in house, ie Formal Official Letters printed on the back of yesterday's flying programme etc. No jamming of printer/copiers (if it didn't jam first time round why should it now?) and a nice warm smug pudding-basin haircut/open toed sandals feeling for all to share in. Seems to me a golden opportunity to raise Station morale was sadly missed here.

Last edited by Chugalug2; 26th Aug 2016 at 13:11. Reason: Morale not morals (latter N/A)
Chugalug2 is offline  
Old 26th Aug 2016, 14:45
  #11 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: France
Age: 80
Posts: 6,379
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
"Different budget" reminds me - Wyton was trial budget station early 90s - staish and I cooked up a plan to use the variation in oil price to pay for double glazing and heating in AMQ - all entirely legal but a certain AOC was VERY unhappy. Worked the first year so year 2 we did the officers' patch. AOC incandescent, but happy bunnies on station.
Wander00 is offline  
Old 26th Aug 2016, 16:13
  #12 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: South East of Penge
Age: 74
Posts: 1,792
Received 8 Likes on 8 Posts
Late 80's and just up the road from Wander00 in a certain almost windowlesss building opposite HQ RAF Support Command it became obvious that a moratorium was brewing. (You know the HQSC that had burned down earlier and a certain Air Officer interviewed then stated that the destruction of the HQ would have " absolutely no impact " on the RAF's capabilty).
Come the day and a large portion of HQ Support Command's construction and improvement projects were canned overnight. To the AOC's displeasure JARIC came through absolutely unscathed and our O.C. was carpeted as to how we had escaped.
It just so happened that I had been acting OC GD for a few months in the run up and so, not being a scribbly, had naturally made my face well known to the Wonders and Blunders team over the road
They" just happened to let it slip" that the moratorium would not be imposed on projects that were already let and running. So I had simply pushed ahead with DoE and got the whole lot started almost simultaneously.


Ah well, JARIC and most of the station is being demolished now anyway........

Last edited by Haraka; 26th Aug 2016 at 18:55.
Haraka is offline  
Old 26th Aug 2016, 17:03
  #13 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: France
Age: 80
Posts: 6,379
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Well done, Haraka
Wander00 is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.