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Every article from your latest print edition of CA Magazine

January 2009

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Editor's Desk: Rocket science?

The anniversary of the giant step for mankind reminds Robert Outram that today’s great brains work not at NASA but in the City, designing the products behind the market crunch

Proceed with caution

The planes are still flying but the crisis calls for great care – from accountants, non-executive directors, company management, regulators…

Boardroom shuffle

Glenn Allison looks at the role of corporate governance in the financial crisis

Bankruptcy 'explosion'

Record numbers of companies will go bankrupt next year with almost 200,000 insolvencies in Europe alone, according to the world’s largest credit insurer

Media winner

CA Magazine’s editor, Robert Outram, was named Business and Professional Editor of the Year at the Scottish Magazine Awards in Glasgow in November

£155bn gap in pensions

Company pension schemes in the UK are coming under increased pressure according to the government body set up to provide a safety net when companies go bust

PFI secrecy comes under fire

Research carried out for ICAS has criticised a lack of accountability in public-private finance schemes

Accountancy skills shortage warning

The finance industry is in danger of a skills shortage over the next five years if it does not continue to attract and retain the next generation of accountants, according to the financial recruitment company, Robert Half

Shop sales show second fall

UK retail sales fell 4 per cent in November, the British Retail Consortium-KPMG retail survey shows. It was the first time the 13-year-old survey had two consecutive monthly falls – it fell 0.1 per cent in October

SEP named venture firm of the year

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has been named the UK’s top venture capital firm for the second year running. SEP received the accolade at the British Private Equity Awards run by Unquote, which celebrate excellence and innovation across the private equity sector

Photo and cleaning firm cuts jobs

Bowie Castlebank group has called in administrators

'Mutual economy' in UK totals £84bn

The UK's mututal economy has revenue of £84 billion and assets of £477 billion, figures from the sector show. The largest part of the mutual sector is co-operative and employee-owned organisations, including the Co-operative Group and the John Lewis Partnership, which account for £45 billion in revenue

Grant Thornton latest to suffer

Britain’s fifth largest accountancy firm, Grant Thornton, is to cut 225 jobs, including 60 partners, blaming the economic downturn and last year’s merger with rival business Robson Rhodes

Deloitte reports surge in graduate job applications

Professional services firm Deloitte has reported a 34 per cent rise in applications for graduate positions at its Scottish business, led by a 59 per cent hike at its Edinburgh office

New Star shares plunge amid talks

Shares in New Star Asset Management, one of the UK’s best-known fund managers, plunged nearly 43 per cent on Monday as analysts warned it had just days to negotiate a deal with its banks to avoid potentially devastating outflows of its funds

Letters: Time to blow accountants' trumpet

There is an often held view that accountants employed in the accounting function of non-professional organisations are costly, do little but spend their time counting beans and add nothing to the growth and image of the organisation

Movers and shakers

The Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre has appointed Billy McFadyen as its director of finance. He joins from Robertson Homes

Office Auntie

Resolutions – you’d better believe ’em

Book Review

Accelerated Best Practice, Fiona Westwood (Matador £24.99)

Swinney to speak at awards lunch

John Swinney MSP will be the keynote speaker at the Finance Director of the Year Awards lunch in February

Any time, any place, anywhere

Entrepreneurs do it in bed. And while eating dinner, and while watching TV

Reader survey

Visit www.camagonline.co.uk from 1 January to take part in our online survey and you could win a luxury weekend break for two at a top hotel!

Travel

Online route to US entry

Guarding your assets

We asked a panel of financial experts to consider some of the questions worried investors are asking in the current financial turmoil. As Robert Outram reports, their overall message is “Don’t panic!”

Clipping hedge funds

The financial powerhouses blamed for much of the market crisis are not immune to it and some are taking heavy hits. Hedge funds – until recently estimated to control about $2.5 trillion (£1.7 trillion) of assets, mainly outside regulatory supervision – have been blamed for volatility in stock markets, destroying companies and destabilising the banking system. Now they, too, are suffering the consequences of financial turmoil

Russian lesson

The case of a multi-million-pound portfolio that collapsed sounds a warning for anyone hoping to blame their investment house if they are badly hit in the financial crisis

Survival figures

If your investment vehicle is not working, you can merge it into one that is and its poor results simply vanish. Alan Dick looks at how investment houses can dress up the performance figures

Upwardly mobile

The CA qualification attracts some of the brightest and best people into the accountancy profession. Robert Outram introduces a few of the up-and-coming stars of the CA world

Pressure of business

The government’s bail-out of the banks had one simple, urgent aim – to kick-start the economy. But are our financial institutions simply keeping the money for themselves without passing on the benefits to those who need it most – the UK’s struggling small businesses?

Free up your money

Anthony Harrington looks at the asset-based lending market, from invoice discounting to loans against machinery, and finds it is good for raising cash

Unpopular with the teams

Auditors don’t have to perform in front of thousands of hostile supporters, but Brian Glennie finds that they often resemble referees as they struggle to persuade people who believe they are deeply biased to stick to the rules

City Column: Pre-emption wrong

Barclays stirred up a storm by finding much-needed cash in the Middle East instead of calling on existing shareholders, but Angus McCrone defends the tactic

Interview: Man of the moment

A high flier – at 37, managing partner at Campbell Dallas – Chris Horne believes the recession could offer Scotland’s third-largest independent accountancy firm its big chance. If any individual or company ever needed a committed CA to guide them through these unchartered economic waters, now’s the time.

Fire precautions

If you can’t stand the heat, a first step might be to find out where it’s coming from. Trevor Hatton and Andrew Weir are surprised by finance executives’ lack of understanding and control of their organisations

Changing jobs

In the final part of his series on how the accountancy world will look in 2025, Donald Drysdale turns his attention from taxpayers and their professionals to the other side – the collectors

Who's got what?

If you don’t know what the company has, you can’t use it efficiently. Karen Conneely suggests that the move to IFRS offers a unique opportunity to tighten things up

Business health check

An examination of whether the company is making best use of its IT base – or even whether new ideas can be implemented – can cut costs, improve morale and bring environmental benefits

"Little for businesses in the long term..."

The Pre-Budget Report has traditionally been a curtain-raiser for the Budget announcement the following spring, writes Richard Goslan. Circumstances have changed that, so what is the verdict of Scottish business, and tax experts, on Alistair Darling’s emergency measures?

PAYE overload

Donald Drysdale points out that Alistair Darling’s plans to increase tax on the better-off will introduce an anomaly that could have wide-ranging effects

Fresh advice for directors in credit crunch

The regulator is offering company chiefs and audit committees guidance for troubled times

ASB seeks views on fair value

The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has issued for public comment proposals to improve information disclosed about the fair value of ?nancial instruments and liquidity risk. These proposals are based on an exposure draft issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in October 2008 as part of its response to the credit crisis

New legal form for charities

The charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) is a new legal form which will enable charities in England and Wales to become corporate bodies without having to become companies or industrial and provident societies

Spotlight on audits

The Professional Oversight Board has published its first Audit Inspection Unit reports on individual firms

Consultation on FRS updates

The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has issued for public comment proposals to amend Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 2 Accounting for Subsidiary Undertakings, FRS 6 Acquisitions and Mergers and FRS 28 Corresponding Amounts

What to ask your actuary…

The past few months have brought dramatic changes in markets and increased uncertainty in the economy

Pensions needn’t be pitfalls

Edwin Mustard and Paul Hally examine how measures to protect pension fund members can affect company restructuring and disposal

FRC levy plans

The Financial Reporting Council has announced new arrangements for funding its core operating activities in relation to accounting, auditing and corporate governance. The changes will come into effect from 1 April

Cost-effectiveness feedback

The Financial Reporting Council has published a statement summarising the responses to its discussion paper Cost-Effectiveness of FRC Regulation and giving its feedback

Audit choice

The European Commission has published a consultation document on possible steps to create more participants in the audit market

OSCR revision

OSCR has revised its guidance on meeting the charity test, to help organisations seeking charitable status and charities undergoing rolling review

Wrong footed?

Malcolm Holmes on the care needed to avoid “wrongful trading”

An expensive game

Private funding for public projects has always been controversial. Now research for ICAS finds that it is, at best, extremely difficult to get any sort of handle on how much you and I are paying for those roads and hospitals

Not much to choose

Work to improve choice in the UK auditing market has had little effect

European institutes boost harmonisation

Nine of Europe’s top accountancy institutes, including the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), have taken a signi?cant further step towards harmonising quali?cations for membership

ICAS calls for stability in tax system

Responding to the Pre-Budget Report, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) welcomes new tax measures aimed at helping business through the current crisis, but criticises the chancellor for introducing unnecessary complexity to the system

Expert panel stresses danger of ignoring risks

To survive the economic crisis, company directors will need a thorough understanding of risk, their company’s business model and the financial issues. This was the message from a senior panel of experts at an event last month exploring the pressures on corporate governance

Discipline

Gordon A Macphail CA has admitted liability to disciplinary action in respect of the following:

Safety in numbers

Gareth Davies looks at the body that makes sure Scottish local authorities develop and use proper accounting practices