Financial Management (UK) articles from November 2004

Financial Management (UK) archives from November 2004

Editorial comment.(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... Knowledge is power. What has become clear over the past few months, however, is that the use of power without adequate knowledge can have disastrous consequences and can end up putting that power in jeopardy. The quality of the knowledge behind...

Consolidation update.(News Round-Up)(CIMA)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... CIMA members and students will soon have the chance to give their views on the proposed institute consolidation. The institute's president, Roland Kaye, and chief executive, Charles Tilley, will host a series of meetings to outline the...

Standards bodies at loggerheads: IAS39 has caused a continental rift at the eleventh hour.(Regulation)(international accounting standard)
November 1, 2004... The UK body responsible for accounting standards has fallen out with its European counterpart over one of the most contentious aspects of the transition to international accounting standards (IAS). The clash occurred when the EU's Accounting...

Student endures ordeal at sea: Camilla Berens describes how a shipwreck scuppered one woman's CIMA studies.(News Round-Up)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
November 1, 2004... CIMA student Stephanie Preux hit the national headlines recently after she survived a week adrift in the Atlantic. Among the personal items that she lost when her newly bought converted trawler sank off the coast of Ireland were her revision...

SOX costs UK car maker 10m [pounds sterling].(News Round-Up)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002)
November 1, 2004... The CFO of Jaguar and Land Rover has given a telling insight into the price paid by UK subsidiaries of US companies to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 (SOX). At a recent CIMA event in the West Midlands, David Smith told an audience of...

Seminar preview.(The CIMA Annual Conference 2004)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... One of the major issues for the accountancy profession this year has been how to prepare for the adoption of the new international accounting standards for quoted companies. As a member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB),...

Masterclasses and a martyr's cause: CIMA's main event is the first- and last-word in CPD.(Conference Round-Up)(CIMA)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... From 2006 onwards all member bodies of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) will be required to have in place a full policy on continuing professional development (CPD). Earlier this year CIMA asked its membership worldwide to...

Further conference highlights.(The CIMA Annual Conference 2004)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... * The keynote speaker is Roger Bootie (pictured, left), one of the City's best-known economists. He will review some of the major challenges facing management accountants today. * Eoin McGettigan, executive chairman of Musgrave UK and CEO...

Opposition in ambush on companies bill.(Regulations Update)(Auditor and directors liabilities.)
November 1, 2004... The shadow minister for home affairs, Andrew Mitchell, has proposed late changes to the companies bill concerning investigatory powers and auditors' and directors' liabilities. When the bill was discussed before its report stage by the...

DWP issues advice on maternity pay ruling.(Regulations Update)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The government has published guidance on the European Court of Justice ruling in Alabaster v Woolwich plc. This held that a portion of statutory maternity pay should reflect pay rises awarded throughout an employee's maternity leave. ...

Taxman wins section 660A case.(Regulations Update)(Arctic Systems)(Taxes Act 1988)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The husband-and-wife owners of West Sussex IT firm Arctic Systems nave lost a landmark case against the Inland Revenue before the Special Commissioners. The decision went in the Inland Revenue's favour on the casting vote of the senior...

Report slates SME loan scheme.(Regulations Update)(Small Firms Loans Guarantee Scheme)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The small firms loans guarantee scheme (SFLG) is a bureaucratic nightmare that fails to benefit the businesses it was intended to help according to a review commissioned by the Treasury. The scheme was introduced 23 years ago to support lending...

The power of three: what will consolidation do for us? Roland Kaye explains his vision of a single, influential, global body.(Institute News)
November 1, 2004... To establish one organisation responsible for the appropriate qualification for accountants in all aspects of business and the public sector--in the UK and internationally is not only a reasonable aim but a desirable one. Nobody who understood...

CIMA seeks committee members.(News Round-Up)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants )
November 1, 2004... CIMA audit committee CIMA currently has an opportunity for members who are fellows, but who are not council members, to join the institute's audit committee. The committee, which meets up to four times a year, comprises council and...

Sri Lanka division to host international conference 2005.(News Round-Up)(Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... CIMAs Sri Lankan division is organising an international conference on 26-28 May 2005. The keynote speaker will be Dr Mahathir Mohamed, Malaysia's fourth prime minister. He relinquished his post in October 2003 after 22 years in power...

FCMA becomes mayor of Ealing.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Councillor Ian Potts FCMA has been appointed mayor of the London Borough of Ealing. He has been a councillor for the borough since 1978. Potts passed his CIMA exams in January 1986. He was president of the then Harrow and District branch from...

Presidential engagements.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Calendar)
November 1, 2004... 1 Nov ICAEW dinner, London 4 Nov CIMA consolidation meeting, Bristol 4 Nov National president's lunch, Bristol 8-9 Nov CBI conference, Birmingham 10 Nov Accountancy Age ...

Three into one?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Is it deja vu? Did I read Roland Kaye's letter correctly? Another proposed merger for CIMA? I seem to recall that we have had these discussions before and the proposal was rejected by the membership. I remember that the letters page was filled...

Pink lady.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I have to write to you about the repeated appearance of the pink dominatrix in the Requisoft advertisement on the back cover of FM. Published once, it could have been taken as a one-off zany ad, but there she is, month after month. Given...

Cover her face.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I would like to express my concern about the Requisoft ads that are placed on the back cover of the magazine. I find their suggestive nature offensive. A professional organisation should not allow such material to denigrate its standing. ...

Is there honey still for tea?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I can't help feeling that David Allen is viewing the past through those rose-tinted spectacles that tell us that the sun always shone while we watched cricket when we were young (Letters, October). Yes, the business environment was stable and...

Past masters.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... "Glad to be grey" (September) brought home the point that the experience of older people can be a great resource for an organisation. I would far rather fly with a pilot who has flown many times in diverse conditions than with a pilot who is on...

Supporting evidence.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I was asked to fill in a survey recently and at the bottom it asked: "Would you recommend accountancy as a profession?" I answered: "No". CIMA students in Ireland get no help outside Dublin, so I would recommend ACCA or CPA before CIMA....

Agony columns: for organisations of a certain complexity, the disadvantages of using spreadsheets for budgeting must surely outweigh the benefits. Chris Field explains why BPM systems are a sound alternative.(Technology)(business performance management)
November 1, 2004... Many financial managers are a long way from thinking about Christmas at the moment, as they're busy tackling that corporate nightmare which comes but once a year: the annual budgeting process. Most will be using spreadsheets as their main tool....

Trappist orders: two tribunal decisions concerning the definition of a 'protected disclosure' have made life more difficult for those contemplating such an act in the public interest.(Legal)
November 1, 2004... The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (Pida) amends the Employment Rights Act 1996 to safeguard a worker from dismissal if he makes a "protected disclosure". This must be made in good faith and concern information that in his reasonable...

Safety in numbers: it's important for everyone in your organisation to share a sensible approach to managing risk. While that's clearly easier said than done, writes Neil Hodge, there are a few ways to achieve it.(People Management)
November 1, 2004... Businesses may be able to make long lists of the risks they face and to put controls in place to manage them, but they have so far been unable to instil a culture of risk awareness throughout their organisations. This is despite the best...

A fair cop.(CIMA conference: Ken Farrow)(Cover Story)
November 1, 2004... Detective Chief Superintendent Ken Farrow is working against enormous odds. His under-resourced economic crime unit can only scratch the surface of the huge amount of fraud committed in the City of London. He tells Ruth Prickett why a little...

Statement mission: some companies will soon be obliged to make significant extra disclosures under IAS reporting and should brace themselves accordingly. Nick Topazio and Louise Ross describe the options open to those preparing the statements and advise on a plan for explaining the new figures to all stakeholder groups.(Finance: international accounting standards)(Committee of European Securities Regulators )
November 1, 2004... The introduction of international accounting standards (IAS) for European listed companies is now only a few months away. The affected firms should by now have identified the standards that will have an impact on their reported figures and gone...

Hello, good buys: finance departments tend not to give the purchasing function the attention it deserves, since the potential for cutting costs in this area is substantial. Jeff Gargan offers his guide to sharpening your organisation's procurement through spend category cost management.(How To Optimise Purchasing)
November 1, 2004... All financial managers would accept the idea that their department should play a leading role in reducing costs, yet how many have a strategy in place to measure the effectiveness of their organisation's purchasing activities? How many know...

Mind the gap: whether you're the CEO of a firm with a major project but no one with the time or experience to manage it, or an FD who wants a new challenge, Mike Brooks suggests an interim solution.(Business: interim management)
November 1, 2004... Interim executive management has arrived as a mainstream resourcing technique. It evolved as a response to the accelerating pace of change in business life and is now being applied to a wide range of enterprises in the UK and in other developed...

Action reply: continuing professional development is a major priority for CIMA. Earlier this year the institute conducted a global consultation with members about its proposed CPD policy. This process has been crucial, and the feedback and comments are informing policy development and the formation of guidelines. Lynne Guthrie explains the key findings.(Business: CPD research)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)(center for professional development)
November 1, 2004... The main objectives of the research * to understand members' and employers' views about CPD; * to receive an unbiased view from members and employers about the proposed policy; * to encourage input from members and employers into...

Harvard reviewed: the Harvard ManageMentor Plus is a key source for CIMA members' CPD learning. Nigel Race explains how it works and joins Roland Kaye and David Harris in reviewing some of the modules.(Business: CPD)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
November 1, 2004... Harvard ManageMentor Plus, the new free resource that CIMA is offering its members, is a collection of 35 modules on key topics that today's managers need to understand. The resource is particularly relevant for those holding the CMA...

Floccus of control: will it ever be possible to place a monetary value on intangible assets in a reliable, meaningful way? Well, possibly. Garry Carnegie and Lucia Lima Rodrigues propose a valuation technique that uses fuzzy logic within an enterprise governance framework.(Finance: valuing intangibles)
November 1, 2004... Intangible assets are widely recognised as either the key drivers of commercial value--eg, brand names--or the main generators of new streams of value--eg, R&D. But the meaningful financial reporting of the monetary value of these assets,...