Financial Management (UK) articles from April 2006

Financial Management (UK) archives from April 2006

My visit to Africa reinforced our global success at meeting the needs of employers and members.(IN BUSINESS)
April 1, 2006... One of CIMA's most important functions is to ensure that our qualifications and other products and services anticipate and meet the needs of businesses for financial and, increasingly, non-financial stale Unfortunately, I was unable to attend...

CIMA will be touring the UK this summer to provide information on the new code of ethics.(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants )(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... CIMA will be touring the UK this summer to provide information on the new code of ethics. Its free roadshow events will guide members and students through the principles of the code and its application to specific ethical challenges. The...

The revised CIMA certificate in business accounting was unveiled at the institute's recent annual lecturers' conference.(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants conferences)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... The revised CIMA certificate in business accounting was unveiled at the institute's recent annual lecturers' conference. New computer-based syllabus assessments will be available from September 30. The new-look qualification includes...

CIMA member Adam Joelson is swapping spreadsheets for jib sheets in a bid to raise money for charity.(services of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... CIMA member Adam Joelson is swapping spreadsheets for jib sheets in a bid to raise money for charity. The ACMA, who has no sailing experience, will go on a crash course to get his sea legs before helping to crew a yacht in a race around the...

Hidden levies on top of corporation tax double FTSE 100's total burden.(methods of business taxes)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... PricewaterhouseCoopers is calling for a standardised method of calculating the true amount of business taxes paid by individual companies. A recent study that it conducted with members of the Hundred Group of FTSE-100 finance directors revealed...

Fund managers welcome IFRS reports' transparency.(International financial reporting standards)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... International financial reporting standards are already having a significant effect on investor behaviour across the EU, according to a recent survey. More than half of the 187 fund managers questioned in the poll said that the IFRS...

Shareholder advisory body accuses boards of flouting Combined Code.(Pensions Investment Research Consultants reports)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Three-quarters of the UK's listed companies are failing to comply fully with the revised Combined Code on corporate governance. According to a report by Pensions Investment Research Consultants (Pirc), there needs to be a significant change in...

The profits of almost half of all SMEs in the UK will fall significantly if compulsory pension contributions are introduced.(Small and medium sized companies)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... The profits of almost half of all SMEs in the UK will fall significantly if compulsory pension contributions are introduced, new research has found. Under the government's proposed national pension savings scheme (NPSS), firms that don't...

Firms are still favouring "male, pale and stale" candidates for top jobs, according to recruitment agency Executives Online.(analysis of the executive recruitment market )(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Firms are still favouring "male, pale and stale" candidates for top jobs, according to recruitment agency Executives Online. Its latest analysis of the executive recruitment market found that haft of employers were seeking "culture" more than...

NHS part-qualifieds triumph.(sponsorships of National Health Service )(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Four CIMA students have been recognised for achieving the best results of all NHS-sponsored candidates in November's exams. Debbie Adair, from the South of Tyne & Wearside Mental Health Trust, won the NHS Student Excellence Award at...

Paula Downey ACMA managing director, added advantage.(ONE2ONE)(Interview)
April 1, 2006... You've just spent over a year in the voluntary sector, having worked all your career at big companies such as EMI, Honda and Coca-Cola. Why the change in direction? It happened by chance. At Coca-Cola I took part in a six-month leadership...

Death and taxes: England has become the Latest in a series of countries to vote for restrictions on smoking in public places. While this is clearly a healthy development, writes Steve Adams, what are the wider economic implications of giving up on the tobacco industry?(World Health Organisation reports)
April 1, 2006... I here's no doubt about the scale of the health problem caused by smoking. It accounts for four million deaths a year globally, according to the World Health Organisation, which expects the annual toll to rise to ten million by 2030. In the US...

Can't get distaff: the vast majority of leading UK firms still have no female executive directors. Camilla Berens finds that there are more complex forces behind the continuing lack of women in board-level jobs than old-fashioned sex discrimination.
April 1, 2006... Less than a century ago the idea that a woman could become an MR let alone PM, was inconceivable. Women may have come a long way in their fight for equal standing since achieving full suffrage in 1928, but it's surprising to see how few are...

Pliable and viable: as the final-salary pension becomes a thing of the past, firms are realising that flexible benefits are a practical and affordable way to reward their staff. Ruth Prickett explains why financial managers cannot afford to leave such schemes in HR's hands.
April 1, 2006... What do you think of when someone mentions employee benefits? Happy staff who fully appreciate their medical insurance, company cars and share options? Or long, tedious pay negotiations with union representatives and nasty shocks when...

Accounting for pensions: Chris O'Brien and Margaret Woods explain why boards should see the arrival of FRS17 as a sign that they should get more actively involved in fund management.(TECHNICAL MATTERS)
April 1, 2006... A survey reported in the Independent on May 10 last year revealed that 14 companies in the FTSE 100 had recognised deficits of more than 1bn [pounds sterling] in their pension funds. BT recorded the largest of these at 5.1bn [pounds sterling],...

Pension scheme selection: there's a wide range of defined-contribution products, providers and advisers on the market. David Barker offers his guide to finding the right ones for your firm.(TECHNICAL MATTERS)
April 1, 2006... The stakeholder pension, introduced in the UK in 2001, has been called a flop rather than a flagship of the Labour government. Part of the blame has been attributed to its cap on charges, but the biggest success of the stakeholder legislation...

Value-based management: UK football clubs are facing the financial equivalent of a drubbing at home. Could value-based management help them? Steve Cant goes in search of an equaliser.(TECHNICAL MATTERS)
April 1, 2006... The financial plight of many British football clubs, especially those in the Championship, has been well publicised over the past few years. The situation was aptly put by The Daily Telegraph: "Some clubs have become Great Gatsby parodies:...

Value management: Stephanie Clackworthy describes the origins and applications of the VM method of analysis.(TECHNICAL MATTERS)
April 1, 2006... We in the west spend most of our careers being set problems with apparently only one solution and we are rewarded for implementing this as quickly and/or cheaply as possible. Value management (VM), on the other hand, focuses on defining the...

Relationship capital: Raymond McHale draws on an Australian case study to show how companies can use the "strength of relationship index" to improve their shareholder value.(TECHNICAL MATTERS)
April 1, 2006... If you look at any business publication you're likely to find that it's dominated by accounting terms such as P/E ratios, earnings per share and free cash flow. But it seems that, while accounting may be the universal language of business,...

Meena Anandalingam, senior accountant, Citigroup finance division, product control.(STUDENT ONE2ONE)(Interview)
April 1, 2006... Describe an average day in your office. Working for an investment bank with a global reach, the first thing I have to do is liaise with colleagues in Tokyo and New York. I need to check from a P&L reporting viewpoint if there are any issues...

Test of professional competence in management accounting: Adrian Sims analyses the pre-seen material for next month's exam and finds that it's time for the directors of Zubinos to wake up and smell the coffee.
April 1, 2006... The TOPCIMA paper is like no CIMA exam you have taken before. This is because it has been designed to assess the full range of skills required of a chartered management accountant. There's a lot more to the job than counting and checking...

Management accounting--risk and control strategy: David Laws offers his guide to the balanced scorecard and explains why a sound understanding of non-financial controls is important for both P3 and P6 students.
April 1, 2006... All businesses can be thought of as a system. A system takes some inputs (materials, labour, finance etc) and processes them in some way to produce outputs (goods and services). A system will also monitor what's going on. For example, the...

Clarification.(Paper P3 (also P6))(Correction notice)
April 1, 2006... Although the article on decision analysis on page 53 of the March issue is of general relevance to students taking managerial level papers in the management accounting and business management pillars and provides background information for P2,...

Exam notice.
April 1, 2006... Visit www.cimaglobal.com regularly for updates * May 2006 exam entry The May exams take place on Tuesday 23, Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25. Online entry for these exams closed on March 21. In extreme cases CIMA will consider a very...

ID crime: hang on to your ego.(identity theft)
April 1, 2006... Identity fraud and identity theft are terms often applied to any case in which personal details are misused. According to the Credit Information Fraud Avoidance System, identity theft is "the misappropriation of the identity of another person...

Jan Hendrik Kool (registered student).(registraion was cancelled by Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Jan Hendrik Kool had caused his company to trade to the detriment of the Inland Revenue by paying himself and his wife dividends in excess of profits without regard to the advanced corporation tax due on payment of the dividends and the...

Setting a good example.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Although qualified, I worked through the process costing questions in Tim Thompson's exam tips for paper P2 (Study notes, February). It may be worthwhile for students to note that both the new material cost and the process M conversion costs...

Root causes?(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... I was disappointed to read the comments by Jim Pulley of the Chiltern branch ("Your branch needs you", February), because it seemed that the branch rationalisation some years ago would move things forward. Perhaps this is not the case. ...

Presidential engagements.(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)(Table)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... PRESIDENTIAL ENGAGEMENTS April 1 Membership assessment, Dublin April 4 Opening of Sri Lanka office April 7 Coventry branch dinner April 27 Honorary officers' meeting, CIMA head office, London April 27...

2006 member survey.(INSTITUTE UPDATE)
April 1, 2006... CIMA needs to know that it provides the support you need to maintain your professional competence and develop your career. Your feedback is essential, so we want all our members to fill in the 2006 member survey, either online or on paper. ...

World Congress goes to Turkey.(INSTITUTE UPDATE)
April 1, 2006... The 17th World Congress of Accountants will be held in Istanbul on November 13-16. This year's theme is "Generating economic growth and stability worldwide". For more details, visit www.wcoa2006istanbul.org.tr.

Choose your branch online.(INSTITUTE UPDATE)
April 1, 2006... Members and students are allocated to a branch based on their home address, but this may not be the most convenient one for you to attend. If you'd like to receive information on another branch, you can choose one from a list online. Log into...

Diary.(Calendar)
April 1, 2006... Visit www.cimaglobal.com/events for updates and a full list of events (all branch events are free unless otherwise stated).To book places, get in touch with the contact for the relevant area (see panels). To book on a CIMA Biz.Net event, e-mail...

Subcontinental selection: as India becomes a destination of choice for foreign firms, Sanjeevan Valanju offers his guide to recruiting the right person to head your new venture there.(JOBS & CAREERS)
April 1, 2006... Driven by the nation's great economic success story, several foreign companies are planning to set up new operations in India. Whether these are one-man liaison offices or full-scale manufacturing units, most firms tend to focus more on aspects...

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council.(appointed John Brookes)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... John Brookes FCMA has joined Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council as finance manager, training, having spent 20 years in the motor industry in a variety of finance and training roles.

Bullock Construction.(appointed Paul Hooper-Keeley)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Paul Hooper-Keeley FCMA has joined Bullock Construction as finance director. The Walsall-based company recently underwent an management buy-out from the Montpellier Group. Hooper-Keeley was previously with Eurotel and was also president of...

Nucare.(appointed Matthew Dreaper )(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Matthew Dreaper ACMA has been appointed finance director of pharmacy company Nucare. For the past four and a half years he has been director of finance and personnel at Enigma Health.

Secret diary.(accountants)(Diary entry)
April 1, 2006... You realty can't get the staff these days--at least not in the internal audit department. Which means that Piers Pommeroy is back in the fold again, with little chance of an early release. Week 1 I absolutely, definitely, 100 per cent...