Financial Management (UK) articles from June 2008

Financial Management (UK) archives from June 2008

A quick fix for the fair-value reporting problem would be counterproductive in the long term.(in business)
June 1, 2008... The evaluation of fair value has never been an easy task and the complexities of this issue were highlighted recently in a flurry of articles in the financial pages of the UK press. The catalyst for the debate was concern in the banking...

Lead indicators.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... It makes moral and business sense for CIMA to help lead the drive to improve education in developing nations (In business, April). Many people who obtain the CIMA qualification not only serve their country well, but also export their services...

Finn romance?(letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... Having just read March's FM, I would like to comment on the article on the first page about the CIMA qualification being a "ticket to a world of opportunities". My husband and I are just packing our bags and selling our newly acquired...

Annuity acuity.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... I am well into my retirement years now, having qualified in 1963, but still find FM an interesting read. I am registered as a member in practice and have been involved in pension issues for some years, serving as secretary of the Royal Ordnance...

Present company.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... I was disappointed that my name was not listed among those of the past presidents who attended the service of thanksgiving for the life of Vice-Admiral Sir George Vallings KCB at Guildford Cathedral (First in, April). I had the greatest regard...

UK FDs braced for downturn.(first in ...)(Survey)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... British business is in danger of talking the economy into an avoidable recession, according to finance directors at a forum held to discuss the findings of CIMA's quarterly economic survey. Delegates argued that, while financial institutions...

Blue-chip firms look to farm out pension liabilities.(first in ...)
June 1, 2008... The market for transferring pension scheme risk to an insurance company has grown sharply over the past six months--and this trend is expected to continue, according to a research report by actuary Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP). [ILLUSTRATION...

Brazil's blowers get most backing.(first in ...)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Brazilian businesses are the best in the world at supporting whistle-blowers, according to a survey of 33 nations by Grant Thornton, while UK firms rank only 16th. Only 40 per cent of British firms have measures...

Calcutta set for research centre.(first in ...)(Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants teams up)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CIMA and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a centre for the study of management accountancy. It will be based on the IIMC's campus and will...

Professor gives billion-dollar advice.(first in ...)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Accountants should be instrumental in helping to turn financial control systems into strategic actions, according to Wai Fong Chua, who gave the 2008 CIMA visiting professor lecture in April. Chua, senior associate dean of the Australian...

CIMA has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA), the sole professional accountancy body in mainland China.(first in ...)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CIMA has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA), the sole professional accountancy body in mainland China. This means that the institutes will...

The 2008 edition of the Handbook of International Public Sector Accounting Pronouncements.(first in ...)
June 1, 2008... The 2008 edition of the Handbook of International Public Sector Accounting Pronouncements, which includes all the pronouncements of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) up to February 15, is now available from...

Sharon Flood FCMA: Finance director, John Lewis.(Interview)
June 1, 2008... The John Lewis stores are seen as a benchmark for the UK retail industry. Which parts are you responsible for? The John Lewis Partnership has two main divisions: the John Lewis department stores (with John Lewis Direct) and Waitrose. We...

Bittersweet victories: big litigious companies may argue that they're merely protecting their brands, but the costs of their day in court--huge legal fees and terrible PR--sometimes outweigh the satisfaction of crushing their adversaries, Ruth Prickett calls for order.(opinion)
June 1, 2008... Everyone loves a good courtroom battle--particularly lawyers. A juicy divorce case, such as that of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, makes everyone who's not paid megastar megabucks feel happier about their own lives. It's another example,...

Do forget your passport: videoconferencing IT allows cheap and effective face-to-face communication across continents, but that hasn't reduced the mileage clocked up by business travellers, who seem to view jet lag as a badge of honour.(opinion)
June 1, 2008... You have to feel sorry for those whose job it is to forecast long-term trends. Some years ago, Nigel Meade, professor of quantitative finance at Imperial College, London, got it just about right when he observed that "forecasting is not an...

Paper chase: as the world tunes in to the Beijing Olympics, businesses are limbering up for London 2012. The organisers insist that any company can win a lucrative contract, writes Christian Doherty, but do small players have a sporting chance?
June 1, 2008... Ken Livingstone, recently ousted from City Hall, made a candid admission during his ill-fated campaign for re-election as London's mayor. Confessing that he had no interest in the Olympics as a sporting or cultural festival, he said that he'd...

Cap in hand: for the first time in the UK, accounting firms are legally entitled to ask an audit client for a liability-limitation agreement, Nick Gibbon urges businesses to think carefully before accepting such a deal.
June 1, 2008... British companies of all sizes may soon find their auditors knocking on the door--if they haven't already done so--seeking an agreement to limit their liability. Why is this and what is the appropriate response? Accountancy firms and other...

Occupational hazards: some employers hand out fancy job titles as a zero-cost motivational tool, while others use them to attempt a laudable culture change, But, as Charles Orton-Jones explains, the usual outcomes are cynicism and confusion.
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Job titles matter. Sad, but true. They matter to the holders. They matter to status-obsessed metrosexuals who lurk at cocktail parties. And they matter--nay, they are of supreme importance--to companies that want to...

Hold your own: surveys indicate that UK finance teams will soon face a retention crisis, Nick Eaves advises FDs on how to keep their most talented people.(career development)
June 1, 2008... Accountants in the UK are set to become the next career nomads, according to a recent survey. My organisation has found that eight out of ten qualified finance and accounting professionals anticipate changing jobs in the coming 12 months ...

Intangible asset measurement: in order to keep tabs on how your organisation's intellectual capital is performing, you must ask all the right questions.(technical matters)
June 1, 2008... It's impossible to navigate a business to success without the necessary performance information to guide your strategic decisionmaking. It would be a bit like driving a car blindfolded: you can't see where you're going and you can't see your...

Accounting for pensions: a revolution in how post-retirement benefits are reported is coming, but there's time for CIMA members to help shape it.(technical matters)
June 1, 2008... A radical overhaul of the way we account for pensions seems to be on the way. But it's not just around the corner--in fact, a number of us will be more concerned with collecting our pensions than accounting for them by the time the fundamental...

Membership status: are you both a member in business and a member in practice? Martin Nimmo explains why it's extremely important to know.(technical matters)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
June 1, 2008... Some CIMA members seem to believe that they are either a member in practice (Mip) or a member in business when they actually do both sorts of work. Indeed, just to confuse the issue, all members in practice would consider themselves as "in...

Risk Accounting and Risk Management for Accountants.
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Risk Accounting and Risk Management for Accountants Author: Dimitris Chorafas Publisher: CIMA Publishing Price: 39.99 [pounds sterling] ISBN: 978 0 7506 8422 4 Business Risk Management Handbook...

Pareto's 80/20 Rule for Corporate Accountants.
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Pareto's 80/20 Rule for Corporate Accountants Author: David Parmenter Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Price: 26.99 [pounds sterling] ISBN: 978 0 470 12543 4 This book has a number of attractions...

Lahiru Asiri Premarathne, team member, KPMG Ford Rhodes, Thornton & Co, Sri Lanka.(study notes)
June 1, 2008... What do you do and where do you do it? I'm currently working as a team member at audit company KPMG Ford Rhodes, Thornton & Co, Sri Lanka. My role is to gather information about our clients to support audit opinion and to provide...

Management accounting--performance evaluation: Ian Herbert analyses the pros and cons of employee empowerment and discusses the role of the management accounting function.(study notes: PAPER P1 (ALSO OF INTEREST TO P2 AND 95 CANDIDATES))
June 1, 2008... The idea of allowing workers to take more responsibility for operational decisions seems to represent the very essence of the modern, dynamic organisation. Tom Peters, the author of bestselling business book In Search of Excellence, put it this...

Management accounting--risk and control strategy: Martin Corboy discusses frameworks for tackling ethical dilemmas and proposes a five-step approach to answering questions on the subject.(study notes: PAPER P3)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The examiners for paper P3 stress the need for students to appreciate how the various elements of the syllabus interlock. If an organisation's senior managers need to make strategic choices so that it can reach its...

TOPCIMA: from this September's sitting, P10 question papers will no longer contain the full marking matrix. Teresa Jacobs explains the institute's decision.(study notes: PAPER P10)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
June 1, 2008... In response to questions and comments from TOPCIMA candidates and tutors, the CIMA panel that prepares the case studies for the exam has produced guidance on how the assessment criteria should be interpreted. In essence, it explains what you...

Exam notice.(study notes)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
June 1, 2008... Visit www.cimaglobal.com regularly for updates May 2008 exam results The results for strategic level and TOPCIMA will be sent out by first-class post or airmail on July 17, and for managerial level on July 24. [ILLUSTRATION...

CIMA appoints professor.(institute update)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Wim Van der Stede has become CIMA professor of management accounting at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The appointment, announced at the institute's Management Accounting Research Group conference on April 17, is intended...

Time to act on climate change.(institute update)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CIMA has published a short paper setting out the strategic imperatives presented by climate change. It encourages the boards, wider management teams and management accountants to work together to integrate climate...

Disciplinary committee.(institute update)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
June 1, 2008... The disciplinary committee considered a complaint of misconduct against registered student Nasir Shahsuvarov that he had failed to comply with the laws of the institute during a Management Accounting--Decision Management exam in Baku,...

Presidential engagements.(institute update)
June 1, 2008... PRESIDENTIAL ENGAGEMENTS June 4 ICAEW president's lunch, London. June 11 CCAB vice-presidents' dinner, London (vice-president attending). June 12 Honorary officers' meeting, London. June 13 CIMA council induction...

Diary: forthcoming local events in the UK.(Calendar)
June 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...

Group FD in Dubai: Nicola Forde explains what it takes to hold a board-level position in one of the Gulf's new economic powerhouses.(so you want to be ...)
June 1, 2008... Looking for a life of luxury? You may have been to Dubai on holiday, but have you ever thought of staying there for the longer term? More and more financial management professionals are heading to the "Pearl of the Arabian Gulf", but what can...

Lloyds TSB.(On the move)
June 1, 2008... Helen Weir FCMA has been appointed group executive director of UK retail banking at Lloyds TSB. She was the bank's group finance director, having joined from Kingfisher in 2004.

Delta Air Lines.(On the move)
June 1, 2008... Graham Farhall ACMA has been appointed regional finance director for Atlantic and Pacific regions at Delta Air Lines. He joins from British Airways, where he was finance manager.

From glue to gluey.(... last out)
June 1, 2008... "OCG has evolved into a technology provider from a traditional stationery seller because it realised that it needed to change the whole of its structure to enable it to achieve stickiness of customers." OCG.

Surely some mistakes.(... last out)(Resumes have a fundamental error)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... "When it comes to landing an interview for that dream job the CV is still the most important tool but Britain's (sic) appear all too lazy when it comes to presenting themselves in the best light. "A survey of CVs by an online recruitment...

Space cadets.(... last out)
June 1, 2008... "In 2005 the foundation was a rare questioning voice in the development space." The Shell Foundation.

You don't say?(... last out)
June 1, 2008... "Many employees in the UK are so dissatisfied with their current jobs that they are planning to leave them." HR Review.

Do you speak maths?(... last out)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... "A recent quantitative study by Language Line Services, a global interpreting and translation company, showed that an incredible 46 per cent of Poles living in London who were interviewed found it challenging to communicate with their UK banks...

There's mad and then there's EU MAD.(... last out )(market abuse directive)(Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... "The CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity said today that it supports HM Treasury's (HMT) proposal to extend the superequivalent provisions of the UK market-abuse regime until the review of the EU market-abuse directive (MAD) is...

Additionally challenged.(... last out)(Statistical table)(Survey)
June 1, 2008... In a press release about a survey asking 1,287 people how they perceived various occupations, research firm CCB fast.MAP provided the following data. We think that if you're going to send a user-unfriendly spreadsheet telling an accountancy...