Financial Director articles from October 2005

Financial Director archives from October 2005

Editor's letter - Incomparable Accounting Standards.(Editorial)
October 13, 2005... Byline: Andrew Sawers, editor, editor@FinancialDirector.co.uk. Listen carefully. That sound you can hear is the sound of the international accounting standards programme unravelling. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration - but certainly the...

On the move - Manchester Games FD off to Olympics.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Rachael Singh. Barclaycard has promoted its director of group finance, Colin Walklin, to finance director. Having been with the company since 2002, he was formerly with Standard Chartered as its group head of finance and member of...

David Leather handed role of interim finance director.(London Development Agency)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2005... David Leather, formerly finance chief of the Manchester Commonwealth Games, has been handed the role of interim finance director of the Olympic Delivery Authority's (ODA) transition team. The London Development Agency (LDA), which is acting as...

Insight - Legacy of trust.(Pensions Regulator, United Kingdom)
October 13, 2005... Byline: Anthony Harrington. Corporate advisers and pensions fund trustees are unaware of the implications of the Pensions Regulator's new powers to inspect any corporate transaction. Corporate M&A and restructuring specialists have...

Insight - Don't bank on it.(Single European Payments Area)
October 13, 2005... Byline: Richard Willsher. The Single European Payments Area was supposed to offer a more efficient payments system. But six years on we have yet to see the benefits. In the run-up to the adoption of the 'virtual euro' in January 1999,...

Insight - Fraud fight fad.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Robert Bruce. A spate of regulations following recent corporate scandals have reached a peak. But far from inspiring confidence the benefits have not justified the cost. Regulation will always be with us, and in recent years it...

Insight - Sir Hugh Collum.(SmithKline Beecham Corp.)(Obituary)
October 13, 2005... Byline: Andrew Sawers. Sir Hugh Collum, former finance director of SmithKline Beecham and recently retired chairman of BNFL, died on 29 August at the age of 65 after an accident at his home. Exactly 12 years ago Financial Director...

Accounting - Looking for a simple life. With a decision over reporting standards for financial instruments due soon, FDs make a subtle, if public, call for a simple solution.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Peter Williams. On 26 August 2004 The Hundred Group of Finance Directors made a rare excursion into the public spotlight. The body representing the chief financial officers of the FTSE-100 companies took the highly unusual step of...

Take a time out.(international financial reporting standards)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2005... ICAEW chief exec Eric Anstee issued a plea for the Accounting Standards Board to have a "significant pause" in its programme of converging UK standards towards IFRS until there was greater clarity on the outcome of the IASB's attempt to create...

Call it quits.
October 13, 2005... Equitable Life has dropped its lawsuit against former auditor Ernst & Young, a legal action that at one point sought to recoup [pounds sterling]2bn from the Big Four firm. Both sides will pay their own costs. Ernst & Young claimed "complete...

SEC seeks value.(Securities and Exchange Commission)
October 13, 2005... The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a report on how companies are valuing employee share options. It says that it remains "committed to the promotion of competition between different approaches" to valuation of options, and it is...

Corporate governance - Lawyers bag the riches. With lawyers exercising even greater influence over corporate decisions, it is not just accountants who stand to lose out.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Robert Bruce. No one much cares for lawyers. Yet, of all the professions, they earn the highest fees, take home the fattest remuneration packages and have increasingly bound their influence over business with inextricable links. If...

Record fine.
October 13, 2005... Gas distribution company Transco has been handed the biggest fine in UK corporate history when the Scottish courts levied a [pounds sterling]15m penalty under health and safety legislation. A gas explosion killed a family of four in Larkhall in...

Raising standards.(investigation of tax shelters)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2005... KPMG's US office has agreed to pay $456m to the US government after the Department of Justice investigated tax shelters developed and sold by the firm to its clients from 1996 to 2002. KPMG said it regretted the past practices and would...

Seasonally affected.(former chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Kmart Holding Corp.)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2005... The former CEO and CFO of US retailer Kmart are being prosecuted by the Securities & Exchange Commission for financial fraud after misleading investors in the company's third-quarter results statement in 2001. The SEC says that increases in...

IT strategy - Big bite to swallow. Oracle's acquisition of Siebel confirms its desire to dominate the CRM applications market, but how will it go down with the sector?
October 13, 2005... Byline: David Rae. The voracious appetite of Larry Ellison, chief executive of global software giant Oracle, knows no bounds. The latest addition to his growing portfolio - 10 acquisitions in the last year - is the $5.85bn ([pounds...

Oracle takes over Siebel.
October 13, 2005... Oracle is to acquire customer relationship management (CRM) software provider Siebel for $5.8bn ([pounds sterling]3.2bn).The deal, which is subject to shareholder approval, is expected to close in early 2006. Oracle will maintain support for...

Microsoft ups R&D spend.
October 13, 2005... Microsoft founder Bill Gates has committed his company to revolutionising financial software after the company recognised the mid-market as its biggest future revenue stream. Speaking at Microsoft's first Business Summit, Gates revealed that...

Economics - Paying their way. Concerns over the influx of migrant workers entering the UK fails to recognise the valuable contribution they make to the economy.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Dennis Turner. The political temperature in Britain was raised several degrees over the summer by the bomb outrages in London. In what subsequently passed for debate, several separate issues were lumped together to explain what had...

China syndrome.(United Kingdom business leaders discuss)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2005... The UK economy is facing up to the challenge posed by China and India according to Sir Digby Jones, director general of the CBI. Speaking at an event attended by more than 40 chairmen and chief executives from companies such as GlaxoSmithKline...

UK no better.(economic performance)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2005... International productivity figures released by the Office for National Statistics last month show that the UK is no more competitive than the rest of Europe, according to John Philpott, chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel...

Cover story - Fantastic voyage. A story told by the poet Homer created a mystery that has taken 3,000 years to solve. Completion of this puzzle could have far-reaching implications for business management.(Cover story)
October 13, 2005... Byline: Andrew Sawers. Mediterranean Sea, c1200BC: Fresh from his exploits in Troy, Odysseus, the hero of Homer's Iliad, heads for home and to his kingdom on the Greek island of Ithaca. But Homer, the greatest story-teller of this...

Corporate recovery - Rover and out. The fallout from the collapse of Rover earlier this year had a significant impact on suppliers. With little prospect of recovering their losses, diversification is the route to survival for many.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Neil Hodge. The date of the announcement may have come as a surprise, but many in the UK automotive sector had suspected that Rover's collapse was going to come sooner rather than later. On 8 April their worst fears were confirmed...

Going to Africa. As the African continent tries to shake off its image of war, famine and corruption, it is time European businesses woke up to the huge investment opportunities.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Richard Willsher. For a short while in the run-up to this summer's G8 meeting in Gleneagles, Africa was news. But although forced off the front pages by subsequent events, moves on debt forgiveness and the eradication of corruption...

Briefing - Whistleblowing - Criticism for DTI over charity case.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Sarah Perrin. A damning report by Ann Abraham, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, has revealed "serious shortcomings" on the part of the Department of Trade and Industry. The report, published on 6 September 2005, strongly criticises the...

Briefing - Employment law - New laws to target ageism ...
October 13, 2005... Byline: Neil Hodge. The UK is expected to bring in age discrimination legislation by October 2006 in order to comply with the European Community's anti-discrimination and employment directive. On 14 July the government issued a...

Briefing - Corporate governance - IT implications of Sarbanes-Oxley.(Information technology)
October 13, 2005... Byline: Robert Jaques. A report by the Business Application Software Developers Association (BASDA) has warned that the implications of Sarbanes-Oxley for IT are sweeping, but under-estimated by many companies. BASDA advises FDs that...

Briefing - European law - New 'se' company structure simplifies - and confuses.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Neil Hodge. On 8 October 2001 European Union ministers gave their seal of approval to the European Company Statute (ECS). This piece of legislation gives pan-European companies the ability to establish themselves as a European...

Financial directions - Volatility rampant in UK stock markets.
October 13, 2005... Companies in the FTSE-250 have more volatile share prices than those in the FTSE-100 and the Morgan Stanley Capital International world index, according to research by Big Four accounting firm, Deloitte, writes David Rae. The firm found...

Financial directions - UK middle market pins hopes on rate cut.(Brief Article)
October 13, 2005... Business confidence has disintegrated among the UK middle market with less than a third of businesses confident about the prospects of their sectors, according to KPMG research. Over half of the 100 businesses surveyed with turnover between...

Financial directions - Communication to blame as City analysts fail to forecast.
October 13, 2005... Great expectations Just 7% of FTSE-100 companies hit analyst forecasts during 2004, with 50% missing EPS forecasts by more than 10%, according to research carried out by Parson Consulting. Up to 64% of companies out-performed analyst...

Financial directions - Financial bites.
October 13, 2005... "Unless stopped, the tax avoidance industry will destroy nation states and the very idea of democracy." Professor Prem Sikka, the maverick professor of accounting at the University of Essex, pulls no punches in a general rant at what he...

Financial directions - Rate cut lifts housing market out of the ashes.
October 13, 2005... Equity markets saw new highs as diverse as the FTSE-250 (highest ever) and the Nikkei-Dow (highest in four years). The UK economy was affected by a suspension of high street shopping post 7/7 and during the Ashes, but the last rate cut has...

Extraordinary items - The penny drops.(pennywise )(Brief Article)
October 13, 2005... The retailers' age-old practice of pricing things at 'something pounds and 99 pence' has long-irritated shoppers - and ruined countless pockets as a result of carrying around too much loose change. There are two theories about why they do this....

Extraordinary items - Not so keen on FDs.(Next to Me )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 13, 2005... A business biography with a bit of a difference arrives on our desk. It is the story of the retailer Next, as told by David Jones, the man who not only was the chief executive credited with rescuing the group in the late '80s (partly by sacking...

Extraordinary items - The best ...(awards to finance directors)(Norman Green of Oracle Corporation UK Ltd.)(Adrian Currie of Active Hotels Ltd.)(Joanna Dennis of Blackwood Distillers)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2005... The shortlist has been announced for the 2005 Accountancy Age Awards, and the hardest-fought contest in many years has seen the judges produce an impressive array of finalists. Here's the run-down, in alphabetical order. FD of the Year...

Extraordinary items - Five? Fore!(Jack Nicklaus commemorative currency notes)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2005... Scotland being the home of golf, you'd expect Scottish bankers to be a bit mad about the game. But this is remarkable: Royal Bank of Scotland has issued a commemorative [pounds sterling]5 note to mark Jack Nicklaus' final appearance at The Open...

Decisions - Sixth Directive - Fuelling anxiety.(European Sixth Directive, fuel costs, taxation)
October 13, 2005... Byline: John Maslen. Many UK companies are unaware of the financial repercussions of the European Sixth Directive, but for those that are prepared, it presents a great opportunity to overhaul their fuel cost systems. The way that...

Decisions - Diesel discount - Drive down tax.
October 13, 2005... Byline: John Maslen. With a hike in tax for diesel car drivers due on 31 December, leasing firms are bracing for an increase in demand for new vehicles. Fleet managers are not so keen to let employees walk away from their cars. ...

Decisions - Oil prices - A crude awakening.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Peter Bartram. Oil prices have reached a record high, and with some economists warning of an uncertain future, FDs need to start to consider the impact of energy costs and procurement on their bottom line. Will the price of oil...

Decisions - Oil and water.
October 13, 2005... RWE Thames Water has cut its diesel fuel consumption by around 10% - 161,000 litres - during the past year. Thames Water was prompted to look more closely at its fuel bills in the light of rising prices. It has made its saving by installing...

Decisions - Alternative fuels - Green fleets.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Anthony Harrington. Aside from the reputational benefits of going green, there are many financial incentives for fleet managers to find alternative fuels. But with so many competing technologies the choice can be confusing. ...

Decisions - Car reviews - Clean and green.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 13, 2005... The green credentials of cars are under scrutiny in a way they have never been before, and with the price of fuel hitting new highs many drivers want to do their bit for the planet and their wallets by opting for greener cars. Abby Luckhurst of...

Decisions - Company car alternatives - Perk and Ride.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Catherine Chetwynd. More and more employees are choosing private healthcare over company cars. But far from coming to the end of the road, new funding schemes mean they are still an attractive part of any salary package. Recent...

Decisions - Company car alternatives - Corporate manslaughter - The road to hell.
October 13, 2005... Byline: Rachael Singh. With the government under increasing pressure to implement corporate killing legislation, directors will need to take measures to ensure safe working practices, or risk facing manslaughter charges. September's...