This letter and my article in June 2016 “Accountancy” was followed by the interesting correspondence referred to in my posting of 10th December 2016.   Sir Fat-Cat Pay – the cause On July 11 you published an article by Theresa May in which she highlighted the anomaly of the FTSE trading at the same level […]

Emile, Is there not a difficult practical issue here? There has been an outcry about the huge pay packet of Caros Ghosn at the head of Renault and its Japanese arm, Nissan. They calculate how many years it would take a production line worker to own what Ghosn gets in a day. How can he […]

ACCOUNTANCY’ – JUNE 2016 The term “creative accounting” always carries the pejorative implication that accepted accounting rules are being manipulated to make trading results over a defined period appear to be better (never worse!) than warranted by facts. Perennial rule-tightening is like painting the Forth Bridge – the job is never done. Standards, the building […]

Economic Perspectives – 8 THE DOLLAR IS NOT FOREVER [This follows on from my previous essay in this series, and explores alternatives to dollar hegemony, and possible outcomes, in a little more detail. I am again indebted to Professor Patrick Barron for the insights expressed in his March 2016 ‘podcasts’ that inspired these two essays […]

December 2016 “ACCOUNTANCY” Excessive regulation is the enemy of transparency Government departments, lacking the relevant expertise themselves, often grant extensive powers to professional bodies responsible for overseeing the activities of their members. The chief problem with this growth of administrative (compared with constitutional) law is accountability. Given such powers, professional bodies hardly expect to be […]

(December 2016 “Accountancy”) “Just to say loved the article – excellent” Sara White, Editor, “ACCOUNTANCY”

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 6 A QUESTION OF ECONOMIC CALCULATION When I came home from my golf game last Tuesday I found my 13 year-old grandson Michael sprawled on my office carpet reading an article I had written in “Accountancy” Magazine. He said “Grandpa, I agree with everything you write, but I just don’t understand this […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 5 “Death by 1,000 cuts” This was the name given to the ancient Chinese method of torture and execution. It survives today as the role model for central bankers whose insidious cuts – in interest rates – are relentlessly destroying the life-blood of savings throughout the world. Collateral damage caused by this folly […]

Economic Perspectives -7 The US Dollar is the world’s “reserve currency” for international trade settlements – how did it happen, and will it last? [I am indebted to Professor Patrick Barron for the insights expressed in his March 2016 ‘podcast’, which inspired this chapter of ‘Economic Perspectives’] 1 – America collects gold, the world’s first […]

November 2016 “Accountancy” The central bankers’ obsession with interest rate cuts as a means of stimulating economic recovery reminds me of the “dare” games we played as children, such as “how long can you keep your finger in the candle flame?” Or, in banking terms, “how close to zero can you fix interest rates before […]