The FT has published an analysis this morning of the trend for companies to relocate their headquarters. Its conclusion is:
A view sometimes aired in government is that large countries such as the UK should be more sanguine about losing the headquarters of big domestic businesses and focus on attracting “real business” into the country, regardless [...]
Dennis Howlett has done a great job writing on the above issue.
So good, I just recommend you go over to his place and read it.
If ever there was a measure of the crisis in accounting, this is it.
At the core of what the Tax Justice Network campaigns for is greater transparency. With regard to multinational corporations this could be achieved by country-by-country reporting. A new Tax Justice Network briefing paper explains how, and why this is so important.
German banking regulators are saying that there are good reasons for changing the rules of international banking in the light of the credit crunch, and they’ll go it alone if need be, according to the FT. I especially agree with the sentiment that:
Berlin also wants tougher accounting rules that would prevent banks from shifting certain [...]
Prem Sikka had this letter in the FT yesterday, follwoing on from a blog here:
PM’s proposed cure for markets is problematic
From Prof Prem Sikka.
Sir, The UK prime minister’s view that a deficit of transparency, particularly in commercial organisations, is the source of many of the problems plaguing financial markets is spot on (”Ways to fix [...]
The Tax Justice Network has updated its two page summary of why country-by-country reporting is essential for multinational corporations, as the current credit crisis is proving almost daily.
The new version is available for download here.
The prime minister wrote in the FT yesterday, in a link up with Davos. He said (and I quote only in part):
Most political and business leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum this week agree on one thing: the global economy is facing its biggest test in more than a decade.
But we should also agree [...]
Accountancy Age has reported that:
The One World Trust received a formal complaint about the IASB report into NGOs and its accountability this week.
And it has noted that:
One of the authors of the report, Michael Hammer, said the report was about systems rather than necessarily about performance.
‘The report is about capability, not necessarily about the practice [...]
Accountancy Age reports that:
Senior US figure urges banks to create transparency instead of making changes to accounting rules at New York International Federation of Accountants’ World Accountancy Forum
I’d agree with that.
It’s clear the IASB has got things seriously wrong in obsessing with measurement. What people want is disclosure.
Country-by-country reporting is a disclosure standard that will [...]
As part of its report on Global Accountability the One World Trust published a case study on the International Accounting Standards Board under the title
Good Practice Case Study 5: The IASB explains how its due process creates consistency in stakeholder engagement
Note that they published what the IASB had to say. And I’ll also reiterate what [...]
