In the UK those of us with concern on tax and development have good reason to be pleased this morning.

But there's also good news from the States today. The SEC has finally published the rules to be applied to oil, gas and mineral companies based in the US and how they must disclose the payments they make to governments where they extract their raw materials.

This rule is directly inspired by my work on country-by-country reporting. I was the first person to link reporting payments in accounts in the extractive industries and financial reporting as a way to tackle corruption way back in 2005.  So let me be honest: what the SEC has delivered is not country-by-country reporting and it's therefore not all I want.

But it's one heck of a big way forward.

And another reason for celebration today.