Financial Management (UK) articles from February 2004

Financial Management (UK) archives from February 2004

Editorial comment.
February 1, 2004... Swashbuckling adventures on the high seas may have provided Disney with one of its biggest hits of 2003, but the company, in common with other video, DVD and CD manufacturers, is about as tolerant of modern-day pirates as Her Majesty's Navy was...

Firms warned to hurry up on IAS.(News Round-Up )(international accounting standards)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The Financial Services Authority is urging listed companies to press on with their plans for the next year's implementation of international accounting standards. Although the new regime does not come into force until 2005, EU-listed firms will...

Price of SOX to run into millions.(News Round-Up)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... European companies listed on the US stock exchange could face a 35 per cent increase in audit fees as a result of having to comply with the forthcoming Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), a new survey has found. According to software provider HandySoft,...

Big expansion in contract work.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... A growing number of mid-level accountants are swapping job security for potentially greater financial rewards by taking contract work, according to recruitment consultancy Morgan McKinley. Current market conditions are driving up demand for...

Football clubs shown yellow card: a survey has found flaws in their corporate governance.(Risk Management)
February 1, 2004... Fewer than half of England's Premiership and Football League clubs have a three-year business plan in place and only a quarter have conducted specific risk assessments, according to a survey on corporate governance in the industry. The...

Companies launch charm offensive to avoid trouble at AGMs.(News Round-Up)(annual general meetings, corporate social responsibility)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The combined effects of the "rewards for failure" controversy and the rise in shareholder activism have had a significant impact on the way that firms communicate with investors at AGMs. According to Robert Blanks, deputy director of the...

Late law change causes 'mess': the treasury has been criticised for its lack of guidance.(amendements to Money-Laundering Regulations 2003)
February 1, 2004... An eleventh-hour amendment to the Money-Laundering Regulations 2003 has raised fears that the scope of the legislation could be much wider than first anticipated. The revised wording widens the law's remit to cover any firm involved in the...

Institute takes the lead on enterprise governance.(Money-Laundering)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... CIMA is playing a key role in improving corporate performance by joining forces with the International Federation of Accountants to release a report on the emerging concept of enterprise governance, writes Tim Cooper. Most analyses of...

Stop press.(News Round-Up)
February 1, 2004... It's official: the new-generation CIMA professional chartered management accounting qualification is about to be launched. Don't miss the next issue of Financial Management for a full review of the new syllabus.

Software detects 'inside jobs'.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Up to three-quarters of all frauds are committed by staff, either acting alone or with an outside accomplice, according to Manchester-based accountants PKF. "Employees know the business and the way it works--and that the risk of discovery is...

Softworld puts IAS on the map.(News Round-Up)
February 1, 2004... If you are in danger of losing your way with IAS, Basle II and Sarbanes-Oxley, next month's Softworld Accounting & Finance 2004 exhibition is promising to offer a "simple, step-by-step road map". "Regulatory conformance and the run-up to the...

Awards deadline approaches.(News Round-Up)
February 1, 2004... The closing date for entries to the 2004 Business Enterprise Awards is 25 February. The competition, organised by the International Association of Book-Keepers (IAB), is designed to celebrate enterprise and encourage best practice in...

FRC names Boyle as CEO.(News Round-Up)(Financial Reporting Council)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The restructuring of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is now complete following the appointment of a new chief executive and two key directors. The FSA's chief operating officer, Paul Boyle, will be moving over to head the FRC from 1...

Audit threshold raised to 5.6m [pounds sterling]: the change is expected to save SMEs 94 million [pounds sterling], while an increased turnover threshold should help more to gain from tax incentives.(Audit Exemption)
February 1, 2004... The new regulation increasing the audit exemption threshold for small and medium-sized businesses is set to be approved by Parliament as FM goes to press. Barring any last-minute hitches, the change is expected to ease the burden on an...

Charity calls on CIMA expertise to fund mine-clearances in Angola.(News Round-Up)
February 1, 2004... CIMA member Hugh Anderson is busy challenging the common perception that all accountants are male, pale and stale. Anderson (pictured) is taking a major salary cut to spend six months working as finance manager for the Mines Advisory Group...

Markets 'optimistic' for share revival.(Equities)
February 1, 2004... A survey of investment managers has revealed cautious optimism for a continuing equities recovery in 2004. Although expectations for the coming year are relatively subdued after last year's stock market gain, the survey shows a trend towards a...

Student membership growth highest in five years.(Institute news)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... CIMA's growing reputation among employers as the qualification of choice for accountants in business has been reinforced by a sharp increase in the number of new student registrations for 2003. Marking the biggest rise in student numbers for...

President's diary.(News Round-Up)
February 1, 2004... 18 Feb CIMA executive meeting 20 Feb CIMA president's Scottish annual dinner 26 Feb CIPFA annual dinner, London 26 Feb Association of Taxation Technicians. Deputy president...

Sri Lanka gets quality partner.(News Round-Up)(Academy of Business Studies)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The Academy of Business Studies (ABS) has become the first tuition provider in Sri Lanka to receive the CIMA Quality Partner accreditation. It is only the fourth college outside the UK and Republic of Ireland to be awarded the certification....

Disciplinary case.(News Round-UP)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Peter Enyan ACMA (8613202) In February 2002 Peter Enyan was convicted of obtaining property by deception, contrary to section 15(1) of the Theft Act 1968. He was sentenced to a community punishment order and ordered to pay costs. The...

Allied powers.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... The recent announcement of CIMA's agreement with CMA Canada (CMA) was touted as a "groundbreaking alliance" that would benefit CIMA accountants worldwide, according to the news section of CIMA's website. I think that this is more hype than...

Keeping the seats up.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... Thanks for the interesting article on the financial management of the new Wembley Stadium (November 2003). The stadium might be the largest in Europe, but it pales in comparison to Rio's Maracana Stadium, which has a capacity of 120,000...

What IS IT worth?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... I was intrigued by "Key IT systems fail to deliver" (News, November 2003). While the headline may be correct, the reasoning in the article gave me deja vu. Many years ago attempts to justify IT spending by return on investment (ROI) were...

Abolition man.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... The statutory annual audit should be abolished for quoted companies because it belongs to a bygone age. It was created before management accountants, monthly accounts with budgetary control and computers, and it has failed to protect investors...

Less is more.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... It's no surprise that Tony Blair ignores the critics on university fees. The worrying thing is that nobody, including all the politicians and experts, has the answer. The quality of education for future accountants, our families and the economy...

Reversing the charges.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... Many companies are increasing their earnings by putting accounting into reverse gear. One high-tech firm in America gained a pure profit equivalent to 350,000 [pounds sterling] by selling inventory that it had written down in a previous period....

A decent proposal? Encouraging tribunal applicants to accept an out-of-court settlement by threatening a costs claim is a tactic that employers sometimes use, writes Sue Nickson, but it's not without its risks.(Legal)(Kopel v. Safeway Stores Ltd.)
February 1, 2004... An employment tribunal's powers to award costs against a party are set out in rule 14 of its rules of procedure. This states that costs maybe awarded where a party's conduct in bringing a case is vexatious, abusive, disruptive or otherwise...

Questions & Answers.(evaluation of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
February 1, 2004... CARTESIS[R] It's taken US legislation in the form of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) to get British boardrooms to pull their socks up on corporate governance. To what extent should they turn to IT for help? Jonny Cheetham answers your...

Silicon tally: a largely ignored tax break in the Finance Act 1999 was all the inspiration that Fraser Graham needed to start up his new enterprise. He tells Esther Boateng some home-computing truths.(Entrepreneur)(United Kingdom. Finance Act 1999 (Draft), Information Technology Through Work)
February 1, 2004... Bill Gates once said that his dream was to have a PC on every office desk and in every home. It looks as though this is becoming more than just a dream in the UK with schemes such as the government's Home Computing Initiative, which aims to...

Invoice-activated software: securitisation funding is far cheaper than bilateral finance, although such deals have tended to be more trouble than they're worth. But a technological solution is here.(Technology)
February 1, 2004... Securitisation transactions have a reputation among corporate treasurers that is probably deserved. Typical feedback from those who have completed such deals generally includes the following criticisms: * the transactions are too...

Upright citizens: one of the main attributes that CIMA members can offer employers is their professional probity. Martin Nimmo explains why the institute is giving its ethical guidelines a much-needed facelift.(Ethics)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
February 1, 2004... CIMA's crest includes the motto "probitas, accuratio, justitia": core values of the institute and its members. Management accountants certainly spend lots of time ensuring the accuracy of their work, and they know they must be aware of the...

Backhanded complementaries: the higher you go up the career ladder, the more likely you are to encounter corruption, according to Martin Cunningham. The temptations may well be great, but they must be resisted at all costs.(People Management)(corruption control )
February 1, 2004... It's a dilemma that all honest business people hope will never happen to them: a key client takes you for a quiet drink and asks for a kickback. Perhaps the request comes from someone who controls a big contract--the future of half your firm's...

Accept no imitations: 'hooky street' of only fools and horses fame has become a six-lane autobahn--no laughing matter for the firms struggling to protect their brands against the massive influx of pirated products. Ruth Prickett investigates this billion-dollar trade and asks what legitimate businesses can do to combat it.(Cover Feature Piracy)
February 1, 2004... Ever since Sir Francis Drake claimed to have singed the King of Spain's beard by setting fire to his fleet, piracy has been an emotive subject. It makes for controversial definitions--just as Drake was both national hero and pirate, so...

Conversion kick-start.(forecasts and trends of international accounting standards)
February 1, 2004... The adoption deadline for international accounting standards is now looming large. Preparing or the change will be a major undertaking for financial managers in many EU-listed companies that have been slow to act so far. Simon Rydings raises...

Tension seekers: the law requires employers to do what is reasonable when it comes to managing stress at work. This includes regular risk assessments, employee consultation and the implementation of agreed action plans. Ross Maynard explains the legal obligations and how best to meet them.(Business Risk Assessment)(United Kingdom. Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999)
February 1, 2004... When the Health and Safety at Work Act came into force back in 1974 the UK economy was dominated by heavy industry, so it's little wonder that this law is aimed primarily at manual workers and focuses entirely on the physical risks to health...

King of the return: finance directors may be instrumental in determining corporate strategy and exercising cost control, but it's well worth focusing more closely on the revenue side of the profit equation. Steve Marchant explains why.(How To Achieve Effective Revenue Management)
February 1, 2004... Many sectors, including transport, travel and telecoms, are concerned mainly with the sale of perishable goods and services. Firms in these industries can increase their profits significantly by applying the principles of revenue management....

Unileverage: consumer goods groups have lagged behind their industrial equivalents when it comes to harmonising their processes. Graham Hibbert explains how Unilever bit the bullet and ran a tightly controlled programme to simplify its European processes and release fuel for growth.(Case Study Unilever)
February 1, 2004... Two key drivers of shareholder value creation are growth and margin improvement. To deliver these, consumer goods companies are ramping up their innovation programmes, cutting the time to market of new innovations, and increasing their...

A timely reminder: the chronic practice of late payment continues unabated in the UK, in spite of the legislation that was designed to prevent it. Peter Rowe explains why long-suffering creditors should make a stand.(Finance Late Payment)
February 1, 2004... A poll conducted by the Better Payment Practice Group (BPPG) recently revealed that 10 per cent of firms would continue paying their suppliers late even if all of their customers paid them on time. Furthermore, various surveys have shown that...