I confess, it's IMPOSSIBLE. In my line of work there are 5 basic (sic) pieces of legislation that have to be adhered to: The Income Tax Assessment Act (1936), (1997), The Corporations Act (2000), The Goods And Services Tax Act (2001), and the Australian Accounting Standards Act (2002). Add to that the Financial Reporting Services Act (1998), The Banking Act (1959) and the State Revenues Act (NSW) (1901).
What we have are 8 acts spanning 19 volumes, occupying 1.4m of shelf space, weighing approximately 12 kilo. To sit down and learn how these work requires 3 years at Uni, and at least 2 years of practical experience, and even then that will only give you a snapshot. Within those 5 years, they would have changed again and you have to learn about the changes.
Accountants by nature are immensly boring. Is it little wonder why when you look at the information that has to be absorbed? Then look at the raw bones of the job and you find that most of it is dealing with numbers and how they work within the laws. It's very much a mechanical occupation. All of this requires a lot of logos, a tinker of ethos and almost no pathos.
From my window I can peer into the town square and see people going about their daily lives, rushing from store to store and then think to myself that I'll never be able to connect with any of them from up here. Most of the time the world is like a painting, except that the subjects move about; I wonder what life in the real world is like. The closest I come is when I have to extract money from them and even that becomes emotionless when it is reduced to being a series of numbers and laws.
Ignorantia legis neminem excusat et nulla regula sine exceptione!
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