According to Monitorul, a new bill (not yet a law) put forward by “tens” of legislators is being opposed by accountants. I might not agree with the motivation of the accountants, but I think more people should have the power to do paperwork.
“So, this proposed law … will drive inflation up even more…. and it will hurt Romania’s competitiveness, [making] Romania a less competitive place to do business.”
Full disclosure, I am taking accounting courses. To become an accountant? Well, more like, to not be so dependent. But yes, I do see becoming an accountant as a possible career path. However, that’s not the reason I oppose the new law. I don’t want to personally do that kind of paperwork. There are other things I’d rather focus on than writing contracts.
In fact, I think things should go the other way. I think more professions, not just lawyers and accountants, should be able to do any necessasary paperwork. When I had a business in the UK, (or a few businesses if you could self employed as a business,) I did all my own paperwork. Why? It was economically prohibitive to hire an accountant or lawyer for most things.
I had ready-made contracts. You can buy these in the USA and UK in book form, or online. In fact, we used to see them at the book and stationery store “WH Smith.” In any town, no matter how small, you could buy ready-made employment contracts, forms to start businesses, contracts to rent out appartments, and even divorce contracts. In fact, our landlord used these without modifying a single word. (Not the professional estate agent, but another landlord).
Of course, you might have to adjust the ready-made contract. There were blank lines for the amount of rent, or the salary, and other numbers, as well as names of the parties involved. If you were renting out your place, you might change your mind about whether or not pets were allowed, so you might cross out a line of the ready-made contract.
If you went ot a music store, you could find more complex contracts that involved world-wide intellectual property, working with entertainment unions, and more.
I had a fat book of contracts for all business occasions, and another fat book of entertainment contracts, as well as thinner books of forms and contracts for different occasions. These had hundreds of ready made contracts, which could easily be adjusted.
And how did I start a business? I simply filled out an online form, and before I knew it, I was ready to go. The hardest part was making a call to the insurance company, and answering whether or not I’d have cameras near water or at great heights. (I lived by the sea, and by the mountains… so going to interesting locations would make the insurance cost more.) But by the time I had talked to anyone, the business had already started.
I never had to engage an accountant or a lawyer. In fact, lawyers sold many of the ready-made contracts we used. And, because of this, despite weak leaders and poor investment and punishments from Brexit, the British economy is still more dinamic than most European ones. If you don’t believe me, tell me how many Brits (or Americans) you know lining up to take French, German, or Romanian classes so they can seek out a better life. No, a Brit (or American) who learns Romanian does so because of an interest in Romanian culture, or the Romanian people, not because of any economic benefit.
In fact, it is difficult for us to get a job that requires Romanian, it’s easier to find work just using English. But if you learn Dutch, now that could have economic benefits.
It is a good thing that in America or Britain you don’t need a third party to make a contract. (The accountants and lawyers of Romania may disagree with me, so be it.) I like writing my own contracts. (Not your contracts, but my own contracts.)
However, we don’t have that freedom in Romania, so what’s the problem with giving contracts exclusively to lawyers?
One, lawyers cost more than accountants. Not always, the top accountants get paid a lot, but if you’re talking about the average small business lawyer and average small business accountant, the hourly fee of a lawyer is more. So, this will involve higher fees for businesses, which will drive inflation up even more. Two, in some areas there are far fewer lawyers than accountants. This will create a backlog of work which will stop other paperwork getting done, and it will hurt Romania’s competitiveness. Both of these things will make Romania a less competitive place to do business, and hurt the economy.
When Peugoet is asking for operating costs to go down, some in Romanian government are making that even more difficult.
“…some in the Romanian government are making [life] more difficult.”
But, what’s the problem? Why the need for legislation in the first place? Apparently, the “danger” comes from automatically generated contracts. You know, the kinds made by large-language models that plaigarise existing work, then use little algorithms to hide that plagiarism, and people call it “intelligence.”
The problem with AI, SI, CGI, EIEIO generated contracts? No one is responsible for mistakes made in them.
So, let’s get back to my experience, writing my own contracts for my small businesses. I was responsible for any miswording. If I hired an entertainment lawyer at 300 euros an hour, then I could sue the lawyer if the contract did not meet my specifications. For what damages? I don’t know, the lawyer would have probably tried to trick me into signing those away.
There were cases of people suing their lawyers and accountants in the UK. Who would you sue with computer generated contracts? The computer? Well, you might sue the computer company that hosts the generations. Why not sue big tech companies (or so called “charities” or “foundations”) for the errors they make? It’s not like no one is responsible. The robots didn’t build themselves. They didn’t code themselves. They aren’t self-employed robots operating independently. Just as you sue a man when his dog is out of control, you can sue the computer companies when their robots are out of control. Just as you can sue a food company for making faulty food that makes you sick, you can sue the tech companies that make faulty tech that makes mistakes.
But if you do have to regulate these things, at least allow accountants to have a go. Don’t hurt the economy any more than you need to in order to meet your objectives.