Financial Director articles from August 2006

Financial Director archives from August 2006

IT projects on time and on budget.(information technology)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Chris Kelly & David Thurston IT projects on time and on budget Information technology projects easily go awry because of their complexity and the different groups of people involved in their design, testing and implementation....

careful owner.(used fleet cars)
August 31, 2006... Byline: John Maslen careful owner All cars will lose money over their lifetime, but the amount they will lose can vary dramatically. After a typical fleet lifecycle of three years/60,000 miles, used fleet cars can be worth anything...

Fuelling change.
August 31, 2006... Byline: John Maslen fuelling change Henry Ford is famously quoted as offering cars in "any colour -- so long as it's black". Were he alive today, he would be more likely to offer any colour -- so long as it's green. The...

Tax Brakes.(employee car ownership schemes )
August 31, 2006... Byline: John Maslen tax brakes A storm is brewing over the tax-free utopia currently inhabited by 100,000 business motorists who are part of employee car ownership schemes (ECO) . For years, the schemes have offered the low-cost...

Right direction.(portable satellite navigation systems)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Peter Lawton right direction Portable satellite navigation systems are becoming increasingly popular and more affordable. Here we take a look at the different kinds of systems available, how they work and what you need to bear...

Line managers.(Company overview)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Sarah Perrin line managers Next year, Toyota is expected to overtake General Motors as the world's biggest vehicle manufacturer. In the year to March 2006, Toyota sold almost eight million vehicles around the world, and...

Over exposed?(wire fraud increased, citizens protection removed)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Peter Bartram over exposed? Is the case of the NatWest three, extradited to the US to face charges of 'wire fraud', an isolated case, or should finance directors be concerned about the broader implications? Certainly,...

In the frame.
August 31, 2006... Byline: Peter Williams in the frame Those of us of a certain age can remember the accounting standard SSAP2 Disclosure of Accounting Policies, with its four fundamental principles: going concern, accruals, prudence and consistency....

Ethical burden.
August 31, 2006... Byline: Anastasia Weiner ethical burden The mutiny of The Crimson Permanent Assurance accounts clerks against their tyrannical and unethical corporate employers in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life is unparalleled in the history of...

Markets resilient in face of Middle East crisis.(effect of fuel prices)
August 31, 2006... Byline: David Kern Markets resilient in face of Middle East crisis In spite of the hostilities in the Middle East, the market turmoil that started in May has subsided. Oil prices surged to new peaks of $78/barrel, but the financial...

Civil service overcomes its inertia.
August 31, 2006... Byline: Anthony Harrington civil service overcomes its inertia Politically driven innovation is a constant theme in government. In some senses it is what politicians are elected for, and every political manifesto speaks of the need for...

FTSE report card: must try harder.(Financial Times Stock Exchange Index reports on board reports)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Neil Hodge ftse report card: must try harder The quality of corporate governance reporting in the UK's leading companies is not improving as well as most investors would like, according to corporate governance specialists...

Pass the buck.
August 31, 2006... Byline: Robert Bruce pass the buck Corporate governance is all about having systems, which ensure that disasters and consequent reputational risks are minimised. And it is also about ensuring that the board of directors is sharp...

Crisis, what crisis?(pensions deficits decreased)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Andrew Sawers crisis, what crisis? A recent survey from Deloitte suggested that FTSE-100 companies' pensions deficits have almost halved since the beginning of the year to around [pounds sterling]40bn, while KPMG reported that...

World expected to spin a little more slowly as emerging markets cool.
August 31, 2006... Byline: Andrew Sawers World expected to spin a little more slowly as emerging markets cool Slower growth Global GDP growth is expected to slow down in the second half of 2006 and in 2007, according to the latest half-yearly...

Shed a tier.(auditing firms)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Sarah Perrin Shed a tier Interest in the matter of competition in the audit market has been heightened this year. In April, the Oxera report, Competition and choice in the UK audit market, prepared for the Department of Trade...

injurious to health.
August 31, 2006... Byline: Nicholas Neveling injurious to wealth When Gavin James, FD of healthcare software provider iSoft, concluded an awkward investor briefing in June he must have felt that his year could not get any worse. He was wrong. James,...

No point fussing.(inflation threat in financial market)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Dennis Turner no point fussing Inflation has dominated the summer's economic headlines. Both the old RPI and the new CPI measures are above their respective targets (2.5% and 2.0% respectively), at 3.1% and 2.5%. With GDP...

Trade not aid.
August 31, 2006... Byline: Rachael Singh trade not aid The government is failing to recognise the contribution that business can make to the development of the third world, according to the Confederation of British Industry in its response to a white...

FTSE wastes little energy on emissions reports.
August 31, 2006... Byline: Andrew Sawers FTSE waste little energy on emissions reports Energy issues and climate change are still low on the boardroom agenda, especially in smaller FTSE-350 companies, according to research by The CarbonNeutral Company....

Bull run ensures CEOs stay in the saddle.
August 31, 2006... Byline: Andrew Sawers Bull run ensures CEOs stay in the saddle Despite the incidence of high-profile boardroom departures, research by the online financial broadcaster Cantos revealed that the average tenure of FTSE-100 chief...

Brain drain.
August 31, 2006... Byline: David Rae DRAIN BRAIN It's 11 o'clock on a Friday night and Steve Webster is in his car, frantically trying to contact his team to get them on a 6am flight to Copenhagen. He has just concluded the broader details of a massive...

THeir survey said.(financial survey)(Survey)(Brief article)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Andrew Sawers Their survey said... expensive claims Proportion of men who admit to having filed a 'padded' expenses claim 16% Proportion of women who admit to having filed a 'padded' expenses claim 11% ...

Chinese beancounters' rule of 9.
August 31, 2006... Byline: Andrew Sawers Chinese beancounters' rule of 9 The recent 0.25% interest rate hike may have taken the markets a little by surprise. But in China, interest rates usually move by 27 basis points at a time. Reuters recently...

Doesn't that cap it alla[euro][bar].(Malcolm Gardiner of Capita Hartshead)(Brief article)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Andrew Sawers Doesn't that cap it alla[bar] To the Capita Hartshead/NAPF dinner in London's Vinopolis, and the pleasure of joining FD Malcolm Gardiner at his table. The entertainment on offer was not a long, post-dinner lecture...

Random thoughts department.(report on 'work and worklessness' from Office for National Statistics)(Bank of England raises interest rates)(Amazon.com Inc. slashes a book's price)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Andrew Sawers Random thoughts department l No thanks, Amazon -- for slashing 10% off the price of one particular book from [pounds sterling]15.71 to [pounds sterling]14.13 -- exactly 87 pence less than the [pounds sterling]15...

Does it all add up?(management standards)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Andrew Sawers Does it all add up? Chancellor Gordon Brown neatly summed up the post-war history of British management in a speech to the Confederation of British Industry last year: "In the 1950s we managed decline," he said....

The new OFR rules: say nothing.(operating and financial review)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Anthony Harrington the new ofr rules: say nothing In mid-2005 the government did an astonishing about-turn on its promise to make the Operating and Financial Review (OFR) mandatory. Instead, a somewhat lesser report, rebadged...

Digital spy.
August 31, 2006... Byline: David Rae digital spy The most infuriating person on the planet is a man called David Rae. While people who know me will no doubt be nodding their heads in agreement at this point, I'm actually talking about David Rae of...

the value mission.(financial directors)
August 31, 2006... Byline: Andrew Sawers the value mission For the last 100 issues or so, it has been the explicit mission of Financial Director to provide information, ideas, insight and lots of other words beginning with 'i' to help our readers create...