corporate finance
Course for finance directors and their pensions responsibilities
A leading UK actuarial company feels there is a gap in the knowledge of board-level directors about pensions' funding and actuarial valuations and launches a new course.
How to inflation-proof your pension
Laith Khalaf, a pensions analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown explains some of the pitfalls associated with setting up a pension and outlines a series of strategies to suit most circumstances. As the recession bites and redundancies loom, understanding how you should manage your pension becomes more important.
Risk management: Getting employees to change behaviour
Management can examine risk and draft all-encompassing and detailed health and safety policies, but what happens when employees' behaviour doesn't reflect the procedures? Jon Crook examines the legal and management problems companies face when attempting to change employee behaviour to reduce the risk. He also offers some solutions.
The battle for business intelligence
CIMA has continued its tradition of advocacy for more sophisticated financial management with the publication of a hefty guide to business intelligence (BI) tools and techniques. John Stokdyk discusses the implications that it raises.
Best practice for correcting your company budget
As more analysts push business intelligence (BI) and dissatisfaction with spreadsheets grows, William Soward, offers a step-by-step guide of moving your company to a better organised budget.
Best-of-breed technology for companies' treasury and cash management named
Research company, Greenwich Associates, names Citi and HSBC as having the best online technology for corporate treasury departments and commercial clients globally.
Cash scarcity for UK business while global private equity activity slows
New figures show that British businesses are suffering from a scarcity of cash while another survey shows that private equity activity is also reducing. Investment priorities remain with technology and training, writes Gerry O'Kane.
Tax implications for corporate finance on directors' redundancies
Redundancy is a word that's likely to make a come-back, but pain can mitigated by knowing the tax system. Should you be a managing director, own your own business or be party to the directors' night of the long knives in which you find your own fate wrapped up with the doomed, when can you get tax-free payments? Nichola Ross Martin examines how the accountants can help the corporate finance department.
Companies hit by credit freeze
Surveys are showing that both small and large companies on both sides of the Atlantic are faced with increased difficulty in accessing credit and corporate finance departments are struggling to find options.
New problems facing corporate pensions as Lehman's goes down
Martin Johnson of P-Solve, looks at how investment strategies in pensions have changed with the demise of Lehman's. Company finance directors and treasurers have new operational issues to consider in pensions' investment. Lehman's default on counterparty risk in derivatives means trustees and companies face even more problems.
The Bottom Line:If Mr Cable has his way...
"If Mr Cable had his way, all the big banks would be broken up and bonuses would be virtually eliminated - a sure-fire way in my view of guaranteeing an end to the UK’s ability to compete as an international financial centre. Let’s not forget that this is a man who is on record as saying that everyone who works in a bank has an ‘aristocratic lifestyle’ clearly demonstrating his lack of understanding of the sector." A tough line on bankers’ bonuses could make a brain drain of financial talent a distinct possibility, warns Paul Marsden. Read more