Financial Director articles from September 2006

Financial Director archives from September 2006

Don't panic.
September 28, 2006... Byline: Jules Stewart don't panic Beneath the rejoicing over a bumper set of half-year results for the top British banks, could be heard -- quite audibly -- a murmur of concern over the threat of rising bad debts, almost an inevitable...

Inflated fears.(economic growth in United Kingdom)
September 28, 2006... Byline: Dennis Turner inflated fears With one recent rate rise under its belt and another virtually promised for later this year, the Monetary Policy Committee re-asserted its low inflation credentials in the summer. While higher...

Ouside the box.(auditing)
September 28, 2006... Byline: Peter Williams outside the box When accounting systems started to transfer from manual to computerised in the 1980s, auditors had a problem. For a time, until it became unfeasible, auditors attempted to audit around the IT,...

Divergent growth trends drive banks' policy.
September 28, 2006... Byline: David Kern Divergent growth trends drive banks' policy US GDP growth has decelerated sharply, from 5.6% annualised in the first quarter of 2006 to 2.9% in the second quarter, below the US long-term trend. US jobs have increased...

In check.(credit management )
September 28, 2006... Byline: Anthony Harrington in check The credit reference check is now an absolutely automatic and ingrained part of corporate procedure when taking on a new business client. However, procedures that no one thinks about are often...

Fraud busters.
September 28, 2006... Byline: Anthony Harrington fraud busters Elsewhere in this supplement we consider the value of credit rating reports and other ways of testing the reality and trustworthiness of third parties -- those on the other side of every...

PAyment's due.(debt payments)
September 28, 2006... Byline: Alex Blyth payment's due Pramod Dhalwani knows all about distressed receivables. He is the finance director of Veritas, a recruitment consultancy for the IT industry, which last Christmas was owed [pounds sterling]2.5m by its...

MiFID: The IT reckoning cometh.(markets in financial instruments directive)
September 28, 2006... Byline: Peter Bartraam MiFID: the it reckoning cometh Firms subject to the new Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) could be facing a collective IT bill of as much as e6bn ([pounds sterling]4bn) in order to change systems...

Scrub up well.(financial cost cutting )
September 28, 2006... Byline: Michelle Perry scrub up well The constant creation of so much new and more sophisticated technology means that certain jobs become defunct overnight. Recently, it was even suggested that, with the near eradication of hedge...

Directors' duties to be clarified.
September 28, 2006... Byline: Neil Hodge Directors' duties to be clarified Over the past few years there has been increased attention on the role, responsibilities and liabilities of shadow directors, those people who are not actual directors, but who...

Friends Provident revies its OFR.(operating and financial review)
September 28, 2006... Byline: Anthony Harrington Friends Provident reviews its OFR The government may have got cold feet over the idea of forcing public companies to produce a full-blown operating and financial review, but political jitters have had little...

Bcakdating comes to the fore.
September 28, 2006... Byline: Adrienne Baker Backdating comes to the fore UK finance directors have never been offered the lucrative mega-million stock option packages that American CFOs regularly rake in, but as a result they've been shielded from the...

Tall stories.(sustainability)
September 28, 2006... Byline: Robert Bruce tall stories Once upon a time, as all good stories used to start, the concept of sustainability was a marginal one on the corporate horizon. Forward-looking papers on environmental reporting would appear from...

FTSE4Good index welcomes new entrants.
September 28, 2006... Byline: David rae FTSE4Good index welcomes new entrants A further 24 companies have been admitted onto the FTSE4Good global index series after they successfully met criteria based on principles of socially responsible investment. Four...

How to get rid of the FD.
September 28, 2006... Byline: Sarah Perrin how to get rid of the CEO Some members of the Labour Party seem keen to give leader Tony Blair the push. But when boards of directors show their chief executives the door, corporate governance and legal issues must...

Breakdown of trusts.(National Health Service suffers financial problem)
September 28, 2006... Byline: David Rae breakdown of trusts Stories of the National Health Service's collapse into financial chaos were being published on an almost daily basis earlier this year. The gravity of the problems soon gained its first scalp when...

The Darling buds of May.(Alistair Darling to be the successor for Gordon Brown)
September 28, 2006... Byline: Anthony Harrington the darling buds of May? Gordon Brown is still the most likely heir to Tony Blair's throne, but the question arises as to whom he would appoint as Chancellor -- and whether that person would actually be...

Going straight.
September 28, 2006... Byline: David Rae going straight Since joining Financial Director more than a year ago, I haven't written a single word about IT security. I actually find this refreshing -- it wasn't that long ago that you couldn't move but for...

FDs, your government needs you.
September 28, 2006... Byline: Michelle Perry FDs, your government needs you Central government has made progress in modernising its finances in the past five years, yet it's still a difficult sell to persuade finance directors with commercial experience to...

Good.(financial reporting)
September 28, 2006... Byline: Andrew Sawers good About nine years ago we highlighted the deficiencies in UK financial reporting -- particularly the bits with words. While British companies with Wall Street share listings were getting well stuck into their...

LSE evades US regulator's reach.
September 28, 2006... Byline: david rae LSE evades us regulator's reach stoyling effort A US watchdog was due to deliver its first full report into a British auditor for its work on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. The Public Company Accounting Oversight...

Technical update.(Brief article)
September 28, 2006... Byline: David Rae technical update audit The Financial Reporting Council has set up the Market Participants Group to look at how to widen competition and choice in the audit market. The announcement followed the second meeting...