Editor's letters
Pensions "haves and have nots" dominates FD agenda
The issue of pensions has never been one that has tended to set FDs on fire. But with the pensions crisis an issue that is unlikely to disappear for a...
HMRC tax stance; time for change?
HMRC is denying a softening of its stance on tax disputes. But tax issues are seldom black and white. Surely a return to proper negotiation on areas ...
Scrapping of Audit Commission boosts public sector FDs
The Audit Commission may not have been a popular institution, particularly among public sector FDs, but its existence was an important check and balan...
CSR detracts from corporate reporting agenda
Sustainability is of course a very worthy and important focus, but could it be that the launch of the International Integrated Reporting Committee is ...
FSA bares teeth in fight against financial crime
They ought to have known better, quite frankly. The revelation that Royal Bank of Scotland has been given a £5.6m slap on the wrist by regulator...
Hello OTS, goodbye red tape?
Tax doesn’t have to be taxing - and yet for so many, let’s face it, it is. The Office of Tax Simplification -- announced this week by Geor...
Reasons to be cheerful
So after delaying publication of the latest GDP figures due to concerns about their accuracy, we’ve been put out of our misery by the Office for...
City code hits 'ownerless' corporations head on
As the drive for robust governance continues, the onus has shifted (perhaps temporarily) away from the boardroom to fund managers and foreign investor...
ONS blip fuels business uncertainty
Speculation is rife as to the true reason why the Office for National Statistics has delayed publication of the latest GDP figures, originally due out...
Tough but fair Budget ends uncertainty for business
For Chancellor George Osborne, juggling the financial, economic and political requirements of this emergency Budget was never going to be an easy task...
Learning the lessons of finance regulation
I was fascinated to learn that an academic at the University of Glasgow has won almost half a million pounds worth of funding from the Economic and So...
Business perks under the spotlight
In an age of austerity, cuts and ongoing economic uncertainty, are business perks becoming a thing of the past?
Prime Minister David Cameron has warne...
Pale, male and stale; will new corporate governance code succeed in changing boards?
The changes to the Financial Reporting Council’s corporate governance code outlined by the regulator last week certainly seem to talk the talk, ...
Coalition makes for tax uncertainty
Roll on Sunday, this year’s Tax Freedom Day. For those of you not in the know, this is the date, based on current tax rates, that UK tax payers ...
Osborne pulls out all the stops, but what will business think?
The Lib-Cons may still be getting their feet under the table but there’s been no shortage of activity since George Osborne was handed the keys t...
All change at the top as CFOs look to assert their authority
As a new regime settles in at Number 10, Ian Dyson, former finance and operations director at M&S, is getting his feet under the CEO table at Punc...
Banking sector on the up; but reputational damage will take longer to heal
From the corporate doldrums to a return to the good times; if Barclays’ latest set of financial results are anything to go by the UK’s ban...
The opportunities are ripe: it's time for FDs to raise their game
I recently met with the FDs of two rival companies operating in the same sector within the space of a couple of weeks. The experience drummed home to ...
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