Financial Management (UK) articles from October 2004

Financial Management (UK) archives from October 2004

Editorial comment.(Editorial)
October 1, 2004... What with approaching elections in the US, the ongoing war in Iraq and the recent scenes of chaos in Westminster as pro-hunting protestors invaded Parliament, issues surrounding democracy have dominated recent news. Western countries have a...

Government rethinks fraud law.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Pressure from the accounting profession has forced the Home Office to review the obligation on accountants in practice to report money-laundering activities under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (PCA). The PCA denies accountants the same rights...

Free guides to best practice.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The DTI has published a selection of fact sheets providing case studies of best practice in business. Focusing on areas such as management, operations, marketing and IT, they can be obtained from the DTI's website at www.dti.gov.uk/best...

Survey to shape future of institute: CIMA's member research results have been 'very useful'.(Membership Questionnaire)
October 1, 2004... Ethical issues and the reputation of the accountancy profession are two of the key concerns of CIMA members, according to a survey of the institute's membership. In April, members were asked to help shape the future direction of the...

Merger talks gain momentum: Louisa Roberts reports on the latest steps in the three-way amalgamation bid.(Institute News)(Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales)(Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... A possible consolidation between CIMA, the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has moved one step closer to reality after the governing councils...

CSR benefits lost on UK firms.(News Round-up)(Corporate social responsibility)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Businesses are failing to realise the advantages of supporting the local community, according to a new survey. Interviews with 100 business leaders across the UK by consultancy Hot Cherry found that only 20 said that their firms were actively...

Show ponies need not apply.(News Round-Up)(Horse Rangers Association)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Horse Rangers Association, a charity based at Hampton Court, is seeking more trustees and has suggested that CIMA members would be ideal candidates. The association has 26 horses, which are used for a range of activities, including riding...

CIMA changes rules for MIPs.(News Round-Up)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)(members in practice )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... After a major review of regulation policies for members in practice (MIPs), CIMA council has drawn up a set of policy changes and new regulations. The responsibilities of CIMA staff to MIPs have also been reviewed. The main policy change is the...

Ighodaro to bid BT goodbye.(News Round-Up)(British Telecommunications PLC)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... CIMA's immediate past president, Claire Ighodaro, has announced that she will be moving on from her post as finance director, broadband, after a 20-year career with BT. She joined the company at privatisation and has held senior positions in...

Weapons of maths distraction.(News Round-Up)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Some finance departments spend more than 10 hours a month helping colleagues to do basic arithmetic, according to research by recruitment agency Ajilon Finance. Its survey found that the most common requests for help related to calculating...

Met's fraud unit seeks volunteers: the force wants unpaid help from financial managers.(Financial Crime)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Metropolitan Police is calling on chartered accountants to offer their services for free in the fight against financial crime. A lack of funds has forced the Met to rethink its strategy on the use of forensic accountants in its economic...

US firms rope CIMA professionals into SOX audits.(Financial Crime)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... CIMA members and students working for US-registered companies in the UK are increasingly becoming victims of their own success. A survey of clients and branch offices by an accountancy recruitment agency has found that firms are pressuring...

Government rejects auditor liability cap.(Regulations Update)
October 1, 2004... The secretary of state for trade and industry, Patricia Hewitt, has dashed the hopes of audit firms that have been seeking the introduction of a limit on their liabilities in the companies (audit, investigations and community enterprise) bill...

Mandatory OFR leaves expert 'unconvinced'.(Regulations Update)(operating and financial review)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Department of Trade and Industry has closed its consultation period on proposals to force all companies quoted on the London Stock Exchange to incorporate an operating and financial review (OFR) alongside their annual accounts by January...

Disabled people given web access.(Regulations Update)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Amendments to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 that take effect this month give customers with disabilities the right to unhindered access to websites. The Disability Rights Commission has published advice on how to comply with the law by...

Carrot and stick for PAYE e-filing.(Regulations Update)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Inland Revenue is offering financial incentives to encourage firms to file their year-end PAYE returns on-line--and penalties if they don't. Large employers (with 250 or more staff) will be compelled to file on-line from next year, and...

Guide on disciplinaries published.(Regulations Update)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The government has written to employers about the new rules on disciplinary and grievance procedures that take effect on 1 October. Key points to help employers avoid falling foul of the law include: * Inform staff of the procedures and...

Measured response.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... The letters from David Lynch and Robert Bentley (September) made me nostalgic for the good old days when the business environment was so stable that it was reasonable to assume that tomorrow would be much like yesterday. The chief level of...

Helping us to help ourselves.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Today's business world places many demands on financial professionals. After years of studying and gaining the relevant experience, we will probably feel prepared to meet them. But what about our development needs when it comes to soft, as well...

The muffled majority.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... In response to Peter Shailer's comment (July/August) that the consultation process for CPD was biased, I must admit that I agree with him. But, unlike him, I feel that it was biased against the younger generation, because CIMA students were...

Transatlantic rift.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... As a recent arrival in Canada, I read with interest the letters from Martin Denness (April) and Yoke Tan (July/August) querying the value of the CIMA's recognition agreement with CMA Canada. My experience over the past 18 months supports...

Chaos theory.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Some folk in the office will always look at colleagues who have a cluttered desk and form the worst opinion of their work ethic and performance--how shocking it is for them to see a workstation with piles of documents all over the place when...

Given the brush-off.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... I don't want to brag, but my partner, aged 69, has finished painting our huge kitchen with its 11ft ceiling, the bathroom and the 100. Of course, he washed the walls down twice before filling the holes and cracks. He's now planning to renovate...

No time like the present.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... CIMA students, you have never had it so good. After completing my national service, l started work ms a cost clerk with an electronics company that pioneered the manufacture of printed circuit boards. I was responsible for direct material...

Presidential engagements.(Institute News)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
October 1, 2004... The president will be visiting China and India on CIMA business from 25 September to 9 October. 2 Oct Membership assessment session, London (deputy president attending) 8 Oct CIPFA dinner, London ...

2005 subscriptions facts now on-line.(Institute News)
October 1, 2004... Subscription notices for 2005 will be sent to all members in October and all subscriptions are due on 1 January 2005. If you have registered your e-mail address with CIMA, you will receive your subscription notice by e-mail and this refill also...

Council members required: casual vacancies for Areas 3 and 5.(Institute News)(Public Notice)
October 1, 2004... Area 3 Notice is given of a vacancy to represent Area 3 (east Midlands) on council. The casual vacancy will be until the close of the 2005 AGM, as prescribed by bye-law 39(b). At the close of the 2005 AGM the successful candidate may stand...

Are you at full throttle?(Performance Management)
October 1, 2004... Accountants are caught in a vice, pinched by demands for better and faster information by managers inside the business on the one hand and external investors on the other. It's one of the main factors behind the "real-time enterprise", best...

Super size me: sometimes it's good for financial managers to keep an eye on the really big picture. David Allen explains why the UK pensions crisis is a classic example of the interdependence of 'megatrends'.(Management)
October 1, 2004... Short-term forecasting for tactical decisions focuses on the immediate threats and opportunities facing a business where quick responses are of the essence. From time to time, however, managers need to raise their sights to understand the...

Handicap chase: the US and UK economies are heading for slower growth after interest rate hikes on both sides of the Atlantic. David Ross reports on their progress and checks out the challenge from China.(Economics)
October 1, 2004... The UK economy has been like a racehorse recently. Growth has been galloping along: in the second quarter it reached 0.9 per cent and 3.7 per cent year on year. As the graph below shows, growth is running at its fastest pace in almost four...

The great leap upward: the Chinese economy's take-off has been little short of vertical, but does it represent an industrial revolution based more on low-cost labour than on technological advancement? Ron Matthews and Zhang Yan chart Beijing's economic liberalisation agenda and investigate the effects of foreign direct investment in the country.(China)(Cover Story)
October 1, 2004... China's current economic transformation is without doubt the greatest industrial revolution the world has seen. From nowhere, the nation's economy has become enormous, now accounting for about 12 per cent of global gross domestic product. In...

The Asian equation: prudence plus determination plus family cohesion equals financial success, according to the Asian entrepreneurs who have made it big in British business. Camilla Berens asks some of the leading players how they broke through into the earnings super-league.(Asian Entrepreneurs)
October 1, 2004... The eye-popping wealth listed in the annual Sunday Times survey of the UK's richest citizens always makes good reading. It's entertaining enough to imagine what the 7.5 billion [pounds sterling] attributed to this year's top-ranker, Roman...

Global harmony? Will they save the business world from fraud and scandal, or will they plunge national economies into chaos and confusion? Professor Robert Kirk tells Louisa Roberts about his hopes and fears for the forthcoming international financial reporting standards.(CIMA Conference: Robert Kirk)
October 1, 2004... Robert Kirk likens the speculation concerning the introduction of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) to the rumours about what would happen as a result of the millennium bug. He argues that, as people have become involved with...

For what it's worth ... who is better at predicting the future value of shares: economists or management accountants? Malcolm Howard puts two approaches to the test and invites you to have a punt.(Finance: Investment)
October 1, 2004... Economists tell us that accounting is a mere subsection of economics and forms only one of the tools they need to make decisions about the market. So is there any reason to believe that accounting information is any more relevant than all other...

You can quote us on that: a stock market flotation brings with it a whole raft of new responsibilities for a company's management team, but the technical regulations could turn out to be the least of its worries. Mike Brooks describes the oft-conflicting stakeholder interests that need to be considered before a business goes public.(How To Manage Going Public)
October 1, 2004... In my two previous FM features--"Critical maths" (June) and "Uneasy money" (July/ August)--I explained ways to solve the funding problems of a growing business and the implications of bringing new shareholders into a firm previously owned by...

Call and response.(Case Study Vodafone UK)
October 1, 2004... At the turn of the millennium Vodafone UK's finance function was entrusted with an ambitious change project designed to benefit the entire group. Denys Webb describes, with contributions from Bo Andersen, how the team achieved its goals and how...

Good going: UK firms are becoming ever more willing to outsource more than just their transactional operations, but sending your strategic functions overseas is clearly not without its risks. Peter Barnes reviews the trends and outlines the key management issues.(Business Outsourcing)
October 1, 2004... The outsourcing movement is going from strength to strength. The Management Consulting Association, for example, recently reported that income to its members relating to outsourcing had risen so much in the third quarter of last year that it...