I am not a great fan of PWC's Total Tax Contribution. But credit should be given where it is due. The latest incarnation includes recommendation that:

Tax numbers and performance should include:
- a clear explanation as to why the current tax charge is not equivalent to the statutory rate of corporate income tax;
- a transparent reconciliation of the company's cash tax payments to the tax charge included in the income statement; and
- disclosure of the forward looking measures for tax including forecast accounting and cash tax rate.

I can't disagree with that. They almost give me credit for the second one (my emphasis added above).

So they should. I highlighted the problem in 'Do they add up' which showed conclusively that the tax accounts of FTSE companies do not do so. As Barclays have gone out of their way to prove.

So, credit to PWC on this occasion. We're travelling the same road, at least in part. And there's no harm in that.