Financial Management (UK) articles from May 2004

Financial Management (UK) archives from May 2004

Editorial comment.(Editorial)
May 1, 2004... Summer's nearly here, so it must be time for the Brits to talk about Europe again. This time last year the UK government was announcing that it wouldn't be adopting the euro--at least not yet. Twelve months on, the EU is absorbing another 10...

Reality check for realty funds.(News Round-Up)(property investment funds (PIFs))(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The government's proposals for its new property investment funds (PIFs) system could be unworkable, according to a leading law firm. Eversheds believes that the Treasury's plan to require the new vehicles to distribute all of their capital...

Warning on Basel II conformance: banks have been cautioned against a tick-box approach.(Risk Management)
May 1, 2004... Banks around the world are likely to implode if they fail to take the risk management guidelines in the proposed Basel II regulations seriously, a risk expert has warned. Speaking at a recent briefing in London, Dr Colin Lawrence, a...

Discrimination rampant in finance as female professionals lag far behind on pay.(News Round-Up)
May 1, 2004... Nearly a third of finance professionals believe that they have been the victims of discrimination, according to a new survey by recruitment agency Robert Half. Male respondents were three times more likely than women to think they had been...

CIMA consults on CPD system: 'members' feedback is critical,' says CEO Charles Tilley.(Professional Standards)(continuing professional development)
May 1, 2004... CIMA members around the world are being asked to contribute to a major consultation on how the institute should structure its policy on continuing professional development (CPD). It has made the move as the International Federation of...

CIMA volunteers aid charities to global success.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Ten CIMA members with CIMA, s designated charity, Management Accounting for Non-Governmental Organisations (Mango), contributed to improving the financial management of charities worldwide last year. The volunteers were placed in organisations...

IFAC issues laundering update.(News Round-Up)(International Federation of Accountants' guidelines)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has released new guidelines in response to the increasing pressure on the accountancy profession to prevent and detect money-laundering. Its paper, a revised version of its January 2002...

SMEs given charitable incentive.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Small and medium-sized enterprises are being urged to help their staff donate to charity by setting up payroll giving schemes. In the latest Budget, the chancellor introduced a new grant to encourage smaller firms to use the system. The grant...

Mid-market's star sectors named.(News Round-Up)(investment)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Almost half of all investment opportunities in the 5 million [pounds sterling] to 200 million [pounds sterling] bracket over the next six months are expected to come from only three sectors--business services, healthcare and financial services...

ASB seeks views on convergence.(News Round-Up)(Accounting Standards Board)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has published a discussion paper entitled UK Accounting Standards: a Strategy for Convergence with IFRS in order to obtain opinions on its development of UK accounting standards. Copies of the paper, price 6...

Why non-financials don't add up Camilla Berens reports from CIMA's annual visiting professor lecture at the LSE.(Performance Measurement)
May 1, 2004... Managers need to be much more rigorous when it comes to assessing non-financial performance, according to a leading financial academic. Speaking at this year's CIMA visiting professor lecture, David Larcker, Ernst & Young professor of...

Alternative Investment Market roars back to life with record levels of trading activity.(News Round-Up)
May 1, 2004... A further sign of the UK's economic improvement has come with a significant increase in the number of flotations on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The first quarter of this year saw this market return to levels of activity not seen...

CIMA gains use of Harvard expertise: Nigel Race explains what the ManageMentor Plus tool can offer CIMA members.(Professional Development)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
May 1, 2004... In an effort to help members develop their skills and meet their continuing professional development requirements, CIMA has negotiated access to a resource used by some of the most successful organisations around the world. Harvard...

Firms stand by their pensions.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Most UK employers are making considerable efforts to encourage their employees to opt into a pension scheme, despite the rising costs of provision, a new survey has revealed. The research, conducted by the Confederation of British Industry and...

Start-up firms brave new tax.(Regulations Update)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Despite the threat of a new tax on SMEs, more than 90,000 businesses were started in the first three months of 2004. According to Companies House, 27,100 companies were formed in January, 28,800 in February and 35,900 in March. This brings the...

Opra fines firm 10,000 [pounds sterling].(Regulations Update)(Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra) fined food processor Flowfood 10,000 [pounds sterling] for failing to provide access to a stakeholder pension. Since 2001 Opra has had the power to fine firms with more than five employees...

UK companies hit by new intra-group transfer pricing rules.(Regulations Update)
May 1, 2004... On 1 April a new regime came into effect for transfer pricing in the UK, as set out in the Inland Revenue's Budget briefing note 17. UK groups--even those comprising only UK companies--face the same rules as international groups with overseas...

IASB issues final part of standards package.(Regulations Update)(International Accounting Standards Board)
May 1, 2004... In a burst of hyperactivity at the start of April, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) pushed out three new international standards and three amendments to existing IASs. The six additions complete the package of...

Presidential engagements.(Institute News)(Calendar)
May 1, 2004... Presidential engagements 7 May Sussex branch 50th anniversary dinner, East Sussex 12 May CIMA executive meeting, BT Tower, London 15 May CIMA Republic of Ireland dinner, Dublin 18 May...

Passed finalists face deadline.(Institute News)(for membership of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Passed finalists face deadline Are you a passed finalist who completed your exams in 1999? If you are and have yet to apply for membership, then time is running out. Passed finalists have five years in which to apply for membership. If you...

The benefits of registering as an MIP.(Institute News)(member in practice)
May 1, 2004... There are real advantages to registering as a member in practice and finding out why consultancy can be a rewarding career choice, explains Mark Allen. Many CIMA members are unaware of some of the career choices available--particularly when it...

Fatal reaction.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... In reference to your article on whistle-blowers (April), Satyendra Dubey, an engineer employed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), a government organisation, recently wrote to the prime minister of Indiapointing out various...

Northern exposure.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... I immigrated to Canada in the late 1960s. In the mid-1970s, I was the vice-chairman of the CIMA Toronto branch. During that period, we negotiated with the RIA (now the CMA) to allow CIMA members to join without taking exams in Canadian law and...

Monopoly players.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... "Accept no imitations" (February) did not look at why imitations happen--piracy is profitable. Adam Smith said that high profits trigger competition and profits then drop. The first culprits of piracy are manufacturers who fix high prices to...

Profits and bosses.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... "Up the right tree" (March) stresses the importance of governance and the trade-off between governance and value creation. All crises lead to more controls and a hope that past sins will not be repeated. The self-interested behaviour of...

What about the directors?(Performance Management)
May 1, 2004... "Corporate failure will always be with us," states the Higgs report on the role of non-executive directors. Wealth creation obviously involves risk, but if, like me, yon have a pension entitlement with Equitable Life, Higgs's acquiescent...

Catalytic converter: a predictable career clearly holds little appeal for Adrian Stock. Having quit university early to take a CIMA course and left a blue-chip firm to go it alone, he tells Esther Boateng what makes him tick.(Entrepreneur)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Catalyze)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... Many of us have dreamt about how great it would be to he our own boss--no one to tell us what to do, late starts, long lunches, early finishes--but the reality is usually far less idyllic. Adrian Stock ACMA, thunder of Catalyze, soon realised...

Capital offensives: recent research has shown that capital allowance regulations are affecting companies' choices about leasing equipment. Kirstine Wilson explains the current trends in the UK and Europe.(Tax)
May 1, 2004... Capital allowances, and their possible impact on equipment leasing, are much in the news at the moment. In the UK, the chancellor dropped the 100 per cent capital allowance for IT bought by small business (those with a turnover of 5.6 million...

Tupe or not Tupe? Two cases in the European Court of Justice concerning transfers and early retirement suggest that trouble may be ahead for firms that have been involved in takeovers, warns Sue Nickson.(Legal)
May 1, 2004... Regulation 7 of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 (Tupe) provides an exemption from transfer in respect of provisions for old age, invalidity and survivors' benefits under occupational pension schemes. Its...

Quick, quick, slow: strong growth on both sides of the Atlantic will mean that interest rates should be rising sooner or later. David Ross explains why the US is likely to be far behind the UK in imposing an increase.(Economics)
May 1, 2004... Any excitement that Gordon Brown's eighth Budget might have engendered has long since dissipated. There was less debate than usual over his forecasts for growth and more about the levels of government borrowing he anticipates over the next few...

On the starboard tack: are you a right-thinking business mind, or will you be left far behind by evolution? David Allen contrasts the old and new management styles in terms of how they use the two sides of the brain.(Management)
May 1, 2004... As its inhabitants well know, the world of business is characterised by a competitive struggle for existence. Only those best suited to the prevailing environment can be confident of survival. It's also widely appreciated that the current...

Copies and enlargements.(Intellectual Property)(Cover Story)
May 1, 2004... Unscrupulous operators in the EU's 10 new member states have been applying for trademark rights for well-known brands with a view to selling them back to their legitimate owners. Fortunately, they haven't been successful--at least so far....

Fibre tips: asbestos exposure accounts for 5,000 fatalities a year in the UK, and the rate is forecast to double over the next two decades. This shockingly high death toll has prompted the enactment of stricter asbestos control regulations, which take effect this month. Neil Hodge asks the experts what the new legislation will require of non-domestic property owners.(Business Risk Management)
May 1, 2004... More than a century after it was first found to cause respiratory disease and only five years after its use was outlawed in the UK, asbestos is again a key item on every organisation's risk agenda--or at least it should be. Asbestos has...

As good as your word: the narrative element of the annual report is arguably more crucial than the financial statements, since investors are far more likely to read and understand it than the figures. As the DTI prepares to make narrative reporting compulsory, Brian Henderson offers his guide to connecting with investors, analysts and other stakeholders using plain English.(How To Write Annual Reports)
May 1, 2004... Annual reports are getting longer every year and the ratio of words to numbers is increasing rapidly. The narrative, which takes up more than half of the average annual report, is growing not only in size but also in importance, because it's...

Ahead honchos: number-crunchers need not apply. Camilla Berens talks to people at the top to find out what qualities and experiences count most if you want to move from CFO to CEO.(Business Careers)(Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive Officer)
May 1, 2004... In one of his more modest moments, Salvador Dali once said: "At the age of six I warned to be a cook. At seven I wanted to he Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since." Perhaps someone as prodigiously talented as Dali can...

IC eye: what do businesses in developing countries mean when they talk about intellectual capital? Indra Abeysekera explains the findings of his research into how Sri Lanka's top 30 companies report on their knowledge-based assets.(Finance Reporting Intellectual Capital)
May 1, 2004... Much research has been conducted over the years to determine the status of intellectual capital (IC) reporting in developed economies, but there has been a relative lack of similar studies in the developing world. This was one factor that...

When our chip comes in ... how do venture capitalists make informed decisions when appraising investments in high-tech firms whose inventions are still in the early stages of development? Gavin Reid and Julia Smith report on their CIMA-sponsored project to identify emerging practice in risk management.(Finance High-Tech Investment)
May 1, 2004... Venture capitalists are becoming distinctly jittery, about current proposals to force the consolidation of accounts of all firms within their portfolios. The new procedures will take effect in January, yet many experts believe that...