Financial Management (UK) articles from December 2002

Financial Management (UK) archives from December 2002

Editorial comment.(Financial Management)(Editorial)
December 1, 2002... Merry Christmas and a happy new year--yet again, every paper and TV show will be obsessively showing the highlights (and lowlights) of the past 12 months and every consumer magazine will be telling you how to get the perfect job, house,...

FASB and IASB seek harmony. (News Round-Up).(Financial Accounting Standards Board and International Accounting Standards Board)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have agreed to co-operate to achieve a convergence of global accounting standards. The two boards will first draw up proposed changes to US and...

Public bodies face reforms. (News Round-Up).(government agencies United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Last-minute amendments to the enterprise bill are expected to lead to a government drive to split the roles of chief executive and chairman in public bodies. The changes, made by Lord Hunt of Wirral, ensure equal governance standards for both...

Brown warned over tax changes. (News Round-Up).(Gordon Brown, United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Business groups have told ministers that the Treasury's proposed changes to capital gains tax are too complex. Gordon Brown plans to configure CGT in the same way that income tax is structured, but the CBI, the British Chambers of Commerce and...

Boots revamps reporting regime. (News Round-Up).(Boots Company PLC finance)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Boots has overhauled its financial reporting practices, having decided that its past results were not transparent enough. Howard Dodd, who has been FD since April, has changed the way the company calculates like-for-like sales, introduced a...

Employee bodies reject IASB plan: but the proposals have been welcomed in other quarters. (Share Options).(International Accounting Standards Board)
December 1, 2002... Proposals issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to charge the value of executive share options against profits have polarised opinion in the financial community. While analysts, big institutions and regulators have...

Multinationals go global on retirement planning. (Pensions).(research)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Market volatility and difficult economic circumstances have prompted multinational companies to take a global approach to managing retirement plan assets, according to a new survey. The research, by Mercer Investment Consulting, has found...

FSA targets split-cap trusts: the watchdog is aiming to close `a gap in the regulation'. (Investment).(United Kingdom Financial Services Authority)
December 1, 2002... The Financial Services Authority is considering changes to its listing rules to force firms dealing in split-capital investment trusts to disclose more financial information. But first the Treasury may have to change the law to bring...

CIMA conference round-up. (News Round-Up).
December 1, 2002... Most businesses believe that they have been trying hard to disclose accurate and relevant corporate information to their stakeholders, but the investment community still complains that current efforts do not go far enough, David Phillips,...

HR issues mar most mergers: senior managers admit to overlooking workforce anxieties. (People Management).(human resource management)
December 1, 2002... Ignoring employees' concerns during mergers and acquisitions wrecks long-term shareholder value, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Senior managers questioned by PwC identified two factors as key to a successful corporate...

UK firms ignore cybercrime risk. (News Round-Up).(United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... UK directors are complacent about cybercrime according to their IT managers, a survey by Learning Tree International has found. A third of firms had suffered from cybercrime, yet over half never discussed IT security at board level.

System failures cost 125m [pounds sterling]. (News Round-Up).(global securites industry)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Failed cross-border trades cost the global securities industry 800 million [pounds sterling] a year, 125 million [pounds sterling] of which is lost on security system failures. These occur when systems cannot provide codes for trades with...

Arts & Business awards 2002. (News Round-Up).(to Classic FM and Yamaha)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The Arts & Business Champion of the Year award 2002 was presented to Classic FM and Yamaha for their work with The Purcell School of Music, the LSO, the Barbican and hundreds of school music departments. Staff from both firms were praised for...

CIMA/Financial Management Awards. (News Round-Up).(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
December 1, 2002... Business Leader of the Year Winner: Richard Bowker Sponsored by REED ACCOUNTANCY PERSONNEL Richard Bowker (right), chief executive of the Strategic Rail Authority (pictured with Richard Post, managing director of Reed Accountancy...

Crucial changes to money-laundering legislation. (Institute News).(United Kingdom and the European Union)
December 1, 2002... "We need to do everything in our power to disrupt crime by preventing the flow of crime-derived cash, and increase the odds that those engaged in money-laundering will be prosecuted and convicted," said Bob Ainsworth, home office minister,...

So you want to know more about risk management? (Institute News).(Risk Management: A Guide to Good Practice)(Book Review)
December 1, 2002... Risk Management: A Guide to Good Practice is a practical introduction to establishing a robust risk management framework in any organisation. It will enable senior executives to keep up with new practices such as enterprise risk management. The...

President's engagements. (Institute News).
December 1, 2002... Presidents's engagements 4 Dec CIMA executive meeting, London 10 Dec ICSA dinner, London 12 Dec CCAB board meeting, London 19 Dec FEE, Brussels 20 Dec CIMA Christmas party, London 24 Jan CIMA council meeting, OMA...

CEO's engagements. (Institute News).
December 1, 2002... CEO's engagements 4 Dec CIMA executive meeting, London 12 Dec CCAB board meeting, London 24 Jan CIMA council meeting, CIMA council chamber 26-29 IFAC 2004 planning, Jan New York (tbc)

CIMA tutors--UK and Ireland. (Institute News).(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)(Brief Article)(Directory)
December 1, 2002... In order to help course providers recruit suitable people, CIMA is seeking to establish a database of potential tutors. If you would like to be added to our e-mail list, send your CV, your e-mail address and details of the subjects for which...

Waste not, want not. (Letters).
December 1, 2002... It's good to see FM addressing the environmental side of corporate social responsibility (October 2002), but some key aspects were missed. A commitment to recycling and, equally importantly, to the use of recycled products is as much a part of...

Making contact. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2002... I completed my CIMA course in May 1972 at the West Bromwich College of Commerce and Technology in Wednesbury, Staffordshire. It was a sandwich course and I attended it with about 20 other students, some of whom were trainees at British Leyland,...

Cash-back deals. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2002... The article "Shelling out" by Merrill Cassell (November 2002) asks the question to what degree does the government take into account, when authorising expenditure, the feedback of monies to the Treasury? For example, a public building such as a...

Hard cell? (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2002... Unlike Cath Glynn (Letters, July/ August 2002) I am a great advocate of cell and range naming. Before the introduction of multi-page spreadsheets they were an essential tool for quickly finding areas of the spreadsheet, presetting print ranges,...

Healthy competition. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2002... Derek Murphy makes a good point about healthcare (Letters, October 2002). There is an ongoing debate about whether health services are a private or a public good. Private medical services are efficient and quick, but costly. Public medicine is...

For patrons only: when it comes to assessing the value of a venture, one of the most important questions that financial managers must ask themselves is `who is the customer?' (Management).
December 1, 2002... As experienced financial managers will know, the increased rate of change in the business world in recent years has prompted a shift of emphasis towards the strategic level of management. Here, the defining task involves balancing the interests...

A global gloss: the big three economies of the world--the US, Japan and Germany--are showing few signs of vigour, writes David Ross. But that hasn't stopped the IMF from making bullish growth forecasts. (Economics).(International Monetary Fund forecasts for US, Japanese economy analyzed)
December 1, 2002... The International Monetary Fund has forecast that the world economy will grow by 3.7 per cent in 2003. This is less than what it had anticipated in April, but still close to the potential growth rate for the global economy. The IMF bases its...

Christmas rush: are you ready for the new taxation regime for derivatives, corporate debt and foreign exchange? Mohammed Amin poses key questions that many firms should already have asked themselves. (Tax).
December 1, 2002... It has been nearly two years since the Inland Revenue announced its fundamental review of the UK tax regulations governing foreign exchange, corporate debt and derivatives. Since then we have had several consultation documents, draft...

As easy as ABF: Robin Petley describes how one of Europe's largest food groups moved from managing its financial reporting with a complex Lotus spreadsheet system to using an off-the-shelf package. (Technology).
December 1, 2002... Associated British Foods (ABF) may not be a household name but, with 140 subsidiaries worldwide, annual sales of 4.4 billion [pounds sterling] and 34,000 staff, it is one of one of Europe's largest food groups. Its wide range of concerns...

O2: oxygen of publicity: the accountancy profession has been the subject of especially intense public scrutiny over the past 12 months--for all the wrong reasons. Ruth Prickett delivers her financial review of the year and asks the experts what the prospects are for global economic thaw in 2003. (Cover Feature Annual Review).
December 1, 2002... It's hard to think of any industry which could argue convincingly that the past year has been the best of times--in fact, many could complain that it's been the worst of times. One thing that 2002 has not been, however, is dull. On the...

Stars and gripes: as investors in the US move from irrational exuberance to irrational despondency, is history repeating itself? Ted Stone analyses past performance and argues that there are reasons to be confident in the future of America's equities market. (Business US Economy).
December 1, 2002... The bear market of the past couple of years has been a grisly one for stockholders. From the peak of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index of 1,527 in March 2000 to the low of 798 in July 2002, stocks have fallen almost 48 per cent--just shy of the...

Equal helpings: the desire for cost-efficiency is the principal reason why business units decide to share non-core services, but managing the cost of shared services creates a number of accounting and administrative challenges. Ernest Glad explains the intricacies of transfer pricing and its effect on the general ledger. (How To Shared Services).
December 1, 2002... The concept of shared services has surfaced recently as a way for business units to pool their resources and infrastructures in order to cut costs and improve the level of delivery. Shared services are not central to a unit's operations, but...

Tried and tested: most people would find it stressful enough managing a company that's facing bankruptcy. Louisa Roberts finds out why that was the least of Brian Cass's worries when he was brought in to turn around the fortunes of medical research firm Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Interview Brian Cass).(turnaround of Huntingdon Life Sciences Group PLC despite animal rights protester violence against company)
December 1, 2002... What would it take for you to leave your job? A new position with a generous remuneration package? Your partner's work moving to another location? Or, as in the case of Brian Cass FCMA, being attacked by a gang of animal rights activists...

Mental arithmetic: most elements of a business's intellectual capital don't find their way on to its balance sheet, but the lack of a standard evaluation method shouldn't prevent companies from trying to gauge their worth. Tony Wall reports on research into how firms in Ireland are measuring their intangibles. (Finance Intellectual Capital).
December 1, 2002... Financial accounting professionals have spent the past decade debating how companies should report their intellectual capital (IC). Some people argue that many more of these intangible assets--beyond those associated with intellectual property...

For whom the bells toll: America is a global laboratory for telecoms strategy and policy analysis. Sumit Majumdar explains the evolving structure of the industry and highlights research on the effect that inter-network access pricing has on US telecoms companies' investment strategies. (Business Telecoms).
December 1, 2002... The emergence of new networks has been a critical element in the growth of the telecoms industry. At the same time, the willingness of new firms to enter the market has been based on the potential custom of entire populations. The use of...