Financial Management (UK) articles from March 2005

Financial Management (UK) archives from March 2005

A consolidated institute would need to preserve the unique attributes of all of its constituents.
March 1, 2005... As FM goes to press, CIMA is still in consolidation talks with CIPFA and the ICAEW. Goodwill remains on all sides, but complex issues still need to be resolved. Alter its December meeting, council decided that the proposals presented to it at...

Pirc ups ante on combined code.(Pensions Investment Research Consultants)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... New guidelines on shareholder voting have been issued by activist investor group Pensions Investment Research Consultants (Pirc). "Good corporate governance needs to be embedded in the listed companies that are important to this country's...

CIPFA issues guide for governors.(Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... A new standard designed to improve the governance of public services has been published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). it is aimed at the 500,000 people who serve on public-sector governing bodies in the...

Firms selective on code compliance.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The updated Combined Code is already having a positive effect on the relationship between companies and their investors, according to the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). Investors report that the amount of dialogue with firms Ms...

Vicious circle of short-termism threatens pensions.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Short-sighted investment strategies are putting pension funds at risk from the effects of future social and environmental upheaval, a new report has claimed. Fund managers say that they are often prevented from making ethical investments...

Big business awaits European court decision on M&S's 30m [pounds sterling] test case.(Marks and Spencer )
March 1, 2005... A court battle between Marks and Spencer and the UK government could open the floodgates for tax relief claims worth more than 1bn [pounds sterling]. Some of the world's largest companies, including Coca-Cola, IBM and Heinz, are hoping that a...

Merger and acquisition activity.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Merger and acquisition activity in the European IT industry reached an all-time high in 2004, a recent review has found. Last year 2,405 M&A deals were signed--a 69 per cent increase on 2003, according to Regent Associates, which conducted the...

Demand for interim managers.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Demand for interim managers is at its highest since 2001, according to new research. Engineering and manufacturing are the leading sectors to use interim managers, followed by the civil service and banking. "Contrary to the common view that...

Firms affected by the Sarbanes-Oxley.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Firms affected by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 (Sox) have been warned not to slacken their efforts now that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is thinking of giving them more time to comply with the requirements of section 404. ...

Institute fund aims to rebuild schools in Sri Lanka.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... CIMA's Sri Lanka Division has set up a relief fund for the victims of the tsunami. The division's president, Claude Perera, said CIMA's contribution to the relief effort would focus on the rebuilding of schools in those areas of the...

Andrew Higginson: finance and strategy director, Tesco.(Interview)
March 1, 2005... It's pretty unusual for an FD to be director of strategy as well. I'm not sure whether other companies do it or not, but my role is a broad-based business one rather than that of a technical specialist who just keeps the score. Obviously,...

Will you still feed me? E.ON UK is paying 420m [pounds sterling] into its pension fund deficit--which leaves only another 308m [pounds sterling] to go. If black holes are here to stay, what is the future for corporate pension provision, asks Ruth Prickett.(Cover Story)
March 1, 2005... When you hear the word "pension", do you reach for your HR director's phone number, your calculator or a large bottle of whisky? It's hard to believe that even the most conscientious FD hasn't felt like taking the last option a few times...

Body of evidence: conventional competitor analysis is no longer enough, argues Mike Brooks, who explains why financial managers can become key agents in the mission to gather competitive intelligence.
March 1, 2005... Humankind is a competitive species. To observe this, you need look no further than your nearest nursery school, where even the most mild-mannered of toddlers will happily elbow each other out of the way in pursuit of the best toy. Our methods...

Comply & demand: businesses are pinning their hopes on financial technology to ease their ever-increasing regulatory burden. Camilla Berens finds out how the IT providers are warming to this and other lucrative challenges.
March 1, 2005... For those companies struggling to fulfil their compliance requirements, the regulations they have to abide by must sometimes feel like a corporate corset. Although they are designed to keep the big players in good financial shape and free of...

Activity-based costing: public bodies are finding more and more applications for ABC data. Lana Liu explains a CIMA-sponsored study of its use in the Crown Prosecution Service.
March 1, 2005... The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is a government agency that provides legal justice services relating to criminal offences committed in England and Wales. On its inception in 1986 it employed a large number of permanent stall including...

Budgeting and reforecasting: last year saw a massive rise in the number of profit warnings. This highlights the issues facing firms using traditional budgeting processes.
March 1, 2005... As 2005 gathers momentum, what lessons can we learn from such an unpredictable year for trading as 2004? Quoted companies in the UK issued 40 per cent more profit warnings last year than they did in 2003, according to Ernst & Young's latest...

International payment risk: what are the best ways to ensure that an importer in a territory new to your firm will honour its debts? Anthony Boczko explores the alternative methods.
March 1, 2005... Imagine the scene: you're a newly appointed finance manager at a UK manufacturing plc. Product quality is high, but profits are down. Its market share in the UK is at an all-time low and a recent decline in stock price has led to speculation...

Sara Kearney: trainee accountant, the royal British Legion.(Interview)
March 1, 2005... Sara Kearney was the first CIMA graduate trainee to be employed by the Legion. She tells Camilla Berens how she has benefited from its recent elevation to CIMA Training Quality Partner status. I understand that you played quite a big role...

Global contact details.
March 1, 2005... CIMA Services was relaunched as CIMA Contact from 1 July 2004 to reflect that students and members now contact us via e-mail, from our website, via fax and via telephone, and that we offer information to students, members, organisations and the...

Economics for business: the price of crude oil has oscillated like a bungee-jumper since the turn of the millennium. Perversely, the explanation for this involves a lack of elasticity.
March 1, 2005... In January 2000 the price of crude oil was about $13 a barrel. By the middle of 2001 it had risen past $30, only to drop to $20 in early 2002. The price then went back up to $30 and fluctuated around this level until late 2003 when it rose...

Management accounting--performance evaluation: "McDonaldisation" is the term used to describe how other sectors are adopting ingredients of the fast-food firm's business model. Are they doing the right thing?
March 1, 2005... In 1939 the brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald, who'd suffered a string of failed retail ventures up to that point, noticed that the only businesses that were consistently profitable during the US depression were hot dog stands. In the light...

Exam notice.(Calendar)
March 1, 2005... Visit www.cimaglobal.com/students/index.htm regularly for updates. * May 2005 exam dates The May exams take place on Tuesday 24, Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26. * Exam entry Enter for your exams online at...

The new CIMA professional development framework.(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants )
March 1, 2005... For most CIMA members, continuing professional development is a matter of business as usual. Members are already obliged to undertake CPD and it helps them to maintain their employability. Everyone who applies to become a member must agree to...

Quondam theory.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... It's always interesting to hear about the experiences of CIMA members from an earlier era. James Murray's letter, "No time like the present" (October 2004), caught my attention in particular. As he says, modern IT makes the lives of...

Polls apart.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... As a CIMA student, I found the features in the first issue of the new-look FM very interesting. I'm sure the exam-specific articles will be of great help to me, too. Although the magazine was certainly insightful, I was disappointed with...

Why a simple sketch can make the biggest contribution.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... I was impressed with your feature on contribution per hour ("As easy as CBA?", FM, September 2004), because in all my 40 years of consulting and part-time lecturing I never met anyone who'd heard of such a thing. The most potent weapon in a...

Diary.(Calendar)
March 1, 2005... All events are free unless stated otherwise. To book places, contact the network officer highlighted for the relevant branch unless stated otherwise. Visit www.cimaglobal.com/members/inside/local for updates. For information about CIMA...

Licence to thrill: franchising could be the ideal compromise between the safety of working for an established firm and the excitement of entrepreneurship.
March 1, 2005... Have you ever decided that you've had enough of office politics and the daily battle with traffic jams; resolved to start your own company; done the maths; jotted down a business plan; analysed your personality and then come to the reluctant...

The British Franchise Association.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The British Franchise Association was set up 1977 as a regulatory body. It has members in 257 franchise brands covering 13 sectors. There are three categories of membership: provisional associate and full, plus affiliate members, who include...

The Franchise Alliance.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The Franchise Alliance is a network of ten franchisors co-sponsored by NatWest and dedicated to disseminating information to potential franchisees. It runs about 50 free evening courses throughout the UK. www.whichfranchise.com

Create.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Create is an EU-funded partnership of national business support organisations. It provides impartial advice to anyone considering franchising. It offers seminars for franchisees and franchisors, e-learning courses and a serf-assessment tool to...

Secret diary: having cut himself loose from the apron strings at long last, Piers Pommeroy is giving his pizza predilection free rein. But he isn't the only one with reason to be comfort eating.
March 1, 2005... Week 1 Well, I've finally done it: moved out of the maternal home into a place of my own. Technically, it's still Tariq's flat, but it should be plain sailing now that the trauma over the sub-lease is behind us. I still don't know what the...