One part of my work which I mention very little here is a continuing, if small, role in the campaign against exploitative secondary lending by the likes of Provident Financial plc. Their normal loan interest rate is 177%. You read that correctly.
This featured on Primetime on Irish television yesterday.
I welcome their involvement. It is timely. [...]
I was on the website of Jersey Finance this morning when I came across a news item that started with the amazing news that:
The first ever coffee-table book highlighting the main successes, trends and issues involved across Jersey’s Finance Industry is to be launched at a Trusts seminar to be held by Jersey Finance in [...]
I’m aware that some think I have a negative view of big business. I don’t think that wholly true; I appreciate many of the benefits I get from the goods and services it supplies. But I’d like it to be two things. The first is more sustainable (and that means much more than applying a [...]
I blogged yesterday on the need for an accounting standard on carbon emissions and trading.
The person I was discussing this with had been looking at the subject for a while, and I gave it a good internet search before writing. But one thing I had not searched was ‘IASB‘ for International Accounting Standards Board and [...]
The foreign and finance ministries of Norway have combined to tackle corruption. It’s worth looking at their web site to understand the significance of this. But perhaps the following quotes show the straightforward novelty of their approach:
“We are fighting the use of so-called tax havens to evade tax through international cooperation on tax matters. Other [...]
The Revenue have announced new thinking on how penalties for incorrect tax returns and accompanying safeguards could be updated . The document contains a new approach for the key area of penalties for incorrect returns. This follows on from an earlier consultation paper in March 2006, and involves:
* a single penalty structure to apply for [...]
The FT reports this morning that:
A Paris judge has launched an investigation into allegations that Total, the French oil and gas group, paid bribes to win a $2bn gas contract in Iran almost a decade ago.
The money paid is, almost inevitably, in Switzerland.
I’d love to think that this sort of activity has stopped now. I [...]
Almost since its inception the Tax Justice Network has been developing and promoting the International Financial Reporting Standard calling for country-by-country reporting by all quoted companies.This is now the subject of discussion by the International Accounting Standard. One enjoyable side effect has been the opportunity to discuss ideas for accounting which may not as yet [...]
I have already noted the complete absence of comment by the professional bodies representing accountants regarding the dropping of corruption allegations concerning BAE.
Now we are put to shame by two NGOs, the Campaign Against the Arms Trade and Cornerhouse who have together served notice of their intent to challenge the government’s decision to drop this [...]
The FT reports this morning that VNU is to get the private equity treatment now that’s its been owned by that sector for six months. This is short hand for mass sackings. In the old days we used to call this asset stripping. Now its people stripping. In either case it amounts to much the [...]
