Financial Management (UK) articles from February 2008

Financial Management (UK) archives from February 2008

As the banks tighten their belts, it's time for the rest of us to tighten up on our reporting practices.(in business)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Finance professionals around the world are facing up to the challenges of the credit crunch. As banks pull back from lending, many of us are dealing with the immediate ripple effect arising from restricted credit...

Give us all a break.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
February 1, 2008... How refreshing it was to read the opinion piece ("Ad nauseam", December/January 2007/08) by Ruth Prickett about the awfulness of many TV adverts. As a former finance director, I had the dubious privilege of pointing out this unwelcome...

Reduction induction.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
February 1, 2008... Congratulations on your most informative and interesting "Carbon dating" feature (December/January 2007/8). The article would be an ideal introduction to the carbon reduction commitment for some and, at the same time, it was also a useful,...

Under the hammers.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
February 1, 2008... There was always a shroud of secrecy hanging over what happened with the contracts of Argentinian footballers Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano at West Ham United FC, with the club being fined 5.5m [pounds sterling] for breaking the Premier...

Liquid asset.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
February 1, 2008... Thank you for including a news item in the November 2007 issue about my cross-Channel swim My children were less than respectful, asking what on Earth it was doing in an accountants' magazine. I told them that it ensured that CIMA's membership...

What you're worth.(first in ...: All the latest news affecting accountants in business, including regulations updates)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The average CIMA member in the UK earns 55,600 [pounds sterling] a year, according to an online survey conducted by CIMA and Robert Half Finance & Accounting last summer. This figure does not include other benefits...

Tax blow for UK a firms in China.(first in ...: All the latest news affecting accountants in business, including regulations updates)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... British companies operating in China will face bigger tax bills when the Chinese government introduces its planned corporate tax reforms. The measures are intended to treat domestic and foreign businesses equally and to encourage high-tech and...

IFAC announced the results of its 2007 global leadership survey during World Accountancy Week in December.(first in ...: All the latest news affecting accountants in business, including regulations updates)(International Federation of Accountants)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IFAC announced the results of its 2007 global leadership survey during World Accountancy Week in December. Despite the credit crunch, most respondents were optimistic about prospects for 2008 and believed that the...

APB audit warning.(first in ...: : All the latest news affecting accountants in business, including regulations updates)
February 1, 2008... Companies need to be alert to the knock-on effects from the international credit crunch on financial reporting in 2008. Preparers of financial statements should also be thinking about the possible impact on their own company. While the...

The Charities Statement of Recommended Practice Committee has issued a new information sheet offering technical guidance for auditors and preparers of charity accounts.(first in ...: All the latest news affecting accountants in business, including regulations updates)
February 1, 2008... The Charities Statement of Recommended Practice Committee has issued a new information sheet offering technical guidance for auditors and preparers of charity accounts. This is intended as the first of several guides tackling different areas of...

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's working group on bribery is inviting public comments on its consultation paper.(first in ...: All the latest news affecting accountants in business, including regulations updates)
February 1, 2008... The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's working group on bribery is inviting public comments on its consultation paper, Review of the OECD Instruments on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International...

Reports: why more is less.(first in ...: All the latest news affecting accountants in business, including regulations updates)
February 1, 2008... Annual reports are growing longer and losing their individuality, according to a survey by Deloitte. This may be because companies are increasingly using model narrative reports to ensure that they comply with complex rules and meet tight...

Howard Orme FCMA: deputy finance director-general, The Department for Work and Pensions.(ONE 2 ONE)(Cover story)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The DWP is one the biggest financial organisations in Europe: we have over 100,000 employees, with about 8,500 involved in the finance process" Although you're a senior civil servant, you'll be working at the...

A contracting loophole: James Fairchild explains how the law on implied employment status has created risks for companies that use agency workers.(legal briefing)
February 1, 2008... Recruitment agencies have existed for many years, but it's only in the past two decades that they've become a multi-billion-pound industry. Their traditional role of finding candidates for permanent jobs and placing short-term temps has been...

Oil and troubled waters: Lt Commander Julian Titmuss explains how he is using h s CIMA skills to boost the capabilities of the Iraq navy.
February 1, 2008... "Welcome to Umm Qasr naval base!" I had just jumped out of a RAF Merlin helicopter on to a dazzlingly bright concrete landing zone, blasted by a wind that seemed to be emanating from a maniacal giant's hairdryer, and I wasn't sure that...

Bloom and bust: thinking of buying a St Valentine's day bouquet? Charles Orton-Jones examines the global trade in cut flowers and finds an industry struggling with emergent "super-growers", complex logistics and concerns about human and environmental costs.
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The media never write about the flower industry," says Andrea Caldecourt, head of the Flowers & Plants Association (FPA). "Yet flowers are as important as the music industry or diet products to the UK economy. We...

Continental drift: Sundarraju Srinath analyses developments at December's EU-Africa summit and considers whether Europe is underestimating the increasing influence of China on Africa's developing economies.
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The second EU-Africa summit in Lisbon at the end of 2007 was attended by the leaders of 53 African and 24 European countries. The aim of this conference was to achieve meaningful agreements on: * Peace and...

Happy new networker: Will Kintish explains how to make networking work for you.(career development)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Networking is vital to our career and commercial success, but few of us do it naturally. Being a confident and effective networker will, therefore, set you apart from the crowd. It will raise your profile, help you...

Strategic global management: in the previous issue Louise Ross identified the ingredients of "Business 2.0", In the concluding part of her article she discusses the last two of these: "new competitive paradigms" and "acting globally".(technical matters)(supermarkets uses information technology )
February 1, 2008... "It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail." Gore Vidal. It seems counterintuitive to contemplate collaborating with your rivals--not to mention somewhat suspect, with its connotations of cartel tactics such as fixing prices,...

Customer profitability: Liz Murby introduces a method to help companies extract the most value possible from consumers: the customer profitability management cycle.(technical matters)
February 1, 2008... "Managing customer value" is the title of a new Management Accounting Guideline published by CIMA, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Society of Management Accountants of Canada. Acknowledging that the value...

Online reporting: new rules and IT are changing the way we publish key data on the web, Nick Topazio explains the Report Leadership group's new proposals.(technical matters)(Report)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Gone are the days when it was enough simply to upload a hard-copy annual report on to the internet as a PDE The number of people using the web to access financial data is increasing, while legislative changes are...

The WEEE directive: Keith Dolby explains why UK firms will find that the costs of asset disposal fall on them, not on the provider, unless they improve their records.(technical matters)
February 1, 2008... The implications of the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) directive seem to have passed unnoticed by most UK businesses. And why not? The legislation states firmly that the responsibility for disposal rests with suppliers and...

The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good.(Book review)(Brief review)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much III and So Little Good Author: William Easterly Publisher: Oxford University Press Price: 8.99 [pounds sterling] ISBN: 978 019922611...

The Effective Measurement and Management of ICT Costs and Benefits (third edition).(Book review)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Effective Measurement and Management of ICT Costs and Benefits (third edition) Authors: Dan Remenyi, Frank Bannister and Arthur Money Publisher: CIMA Publishing/Elsevier Price: 29.99 [pounds sterling] ISBN: 978 0...

Tora Bridell, office manager, Alecta Investment Management.(student: ONE 2 ONE)(Interview)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You're from Sweden, you studied media there and then went travelling. How did you end up as a CIMA student in London? I was looking for a job and posted my CV on the Monster web site. I wasn't searching only in...

Management accounting--risk and control strategy: the examiner for paper P3 examines the crisis at Northern Rock and considers whether it was caused by a failure of risk management: PAPER P3.(study notes: PAPER CO4)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Perhaps the most interesting case study of risk and control strategy last year was that of Northern Rock. In September 2007 the bank was one of the top five UK mortgage lenders and was listed on the FTSE 100 with...

Fundamentals of business economics: Stephen Adams traces the development of theory on the principal-agent problem--an issue that companies have yet to solve satisfactorily.(study notes)
February 1, 2008... The inclusion of the principal-agent problem in the CO4 syllabus can be taken as evidence of growing concerns about the nature of organisations, corporate governance and the possibility of conflict among stakeholders. But the issue is not new:...

Tributes for Sir George Vallings.(institute update)(Obituary)
February 1, 2008... Vice-Admiral Sir George Vallings KCB, secretary of the institute from 1987 to 1995, died in his sleep on Christmas day after a long illness. He was 75. Gordon Grant, CIMA's president, said: "Sir George was one of the rocks upon which the...

Members get new year's honours.(institute update)(Claire Ighodaro)(Helen Weir)(David Cook )(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Past CIMA president Claire Ighodaro FCMA (pictured), Helen Weir FCMA and David Cook ACMA have all been named in the new year's honours list. Ighodaro, who was president from 2003 to 2004, was awarded a CBE for...

Report leadership group campaigns on executive pay.(institute update)
February 1, 2008... The Report Leadership group has launched an initiative aimed at reducing the furore surrounding executive pay reporting. The group, which includes representatives from CIMA, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Radley Yeldar, has developed ideas to...

Diary.(Forthcoming local events in the UK)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants )(Calendar)
February 1, 2008... 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, unless otherwise stated. To book on CIMA CPD...

Commercial management accountant: Ben Barribal explains what experience and qualities it takes to move into a senior decision-making role.(so you want to be ...)
February 1, 2008... One of the real attractions of taking the management accounting route in your finance career is the genuine opportunity it can offer you to branch out into wider management. And this is exactly the sort of role that will allow you to bridge the...

Waterford Wedgwood.(On the move)
February 1, 2008... Antony Jones FCMA has been appointed chief financial officer at crystal and ceramics company Waterford Wedgwood, He had been CFO at electrical goods firm Thorn for five years.

Conrico International.(On the move)
February 1, 2008... Raakesh Patel ACMA has become FD at Conrico International, an exporter of vehicles and capital goods to international organisations with interests in developing countries. He was previously director of finance at the same organisation.

Advanced chivalry.(Mangled metaphors)
February 1, 2008... "A triple-whammy of the credit crunch, threat of UK recession and cautious lending criteria applied by banks is causing businesses to be more promiscuous with their banking arrangements, say experts at Manchester-based Bridging Finance. ...

Leaky scuppers.(Mangled metaphors)(United Kingdom. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... "Francesca Lagerberg, head of Grant Thornton's national tax office, believes that government is right to challenge HMRC departmental costs and look to fight any existing flab. HM Treasury reports reveal that since 2001-02 administration and...

Mathematically challenged.(... last out)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... "The risk of business outage due to weather-related incidents has soared in recent years--and that is before taking into account the summer floods. According to a recent survey by the Chartered Management Institute, while nine per cent of...

Bring me the changes of Barack Obama.(... last out)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The US presidential candidates have evidently decided that Obama won in Iowa because he has captured the word 'change'. Now they all want a piece of it. The presidential debates, which have just finished,...

Tenuous simile of the month,.(... last out)
February 1, 2008... "Like the Village People and the Pet Shop Boys, tax practitioners are going west. Las year saw tax professionals migrating west out of London on a hitherto unknown scale--a trend that is set to continue." The GRS Group.