Economic Perspectives 101 [Emile Woolf – June 2021] It is beyond dispute that Covid’s ravages are on the wane, yet resistance to freedom appears to be far more resilient than any virus. Over two short years a so-called Conservative government, egged on by persistently dismal statistical interpretations of data compiled by its medical henchmen, has […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 99 APRIL 2021    GOVERNMENT’S WAYWARD SPENDING – IT’S OUR MONEY!   Expenditure by “Big-government” is not readily susceptible to economic calculation. Therefore it’s impossible to know whether citizens would support central or local spending proposals – and they are never consulted anyway. The result is often a massive waste of public […]

Economic Perspectives – 96           [EMILE WOOLF -7th March 2021]   GROWTH? NOT IN THIS BUDGET   We have just endured yet another March Budget in which the Chancellor sets out his strategy for balancing the nation’s expenditure plans with its available resources, principally from taxation. They are, of course, his spending priorities, and his tax-raising […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 91 – 14 NOVEMBER 2020 EMILE WOOLF Economically speaking, we are in a pickle. The blame-game is in full flow in its search for scapegoats. The most obvious culprit is, of course, the Covid virus, but it would be a huge mistake to blame that. The government’s inconstant and wavering response to Coronavirus […]

  ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 88 – OCTOBER 2020   More than six months have elapsed since the devastating lockdown measures were first imposed on the nation, since when we have been shrouded in a fog of confusion and ineptitude. The authorities may have been acting with the best of intentions, but the only certainty is the […]

The “flawless” audit exists in the mind alone. Regulators such as the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) are therefore having to deal with the many that, in varying degrees, are flawed. However, the FRC’s practice of allowing so many years to pass before reporting their findings and punishing the culprits undoubtedly weakens its authority and blunts […]

Accountancy-online – February 2020 My last article focused on the susceptibility of purchased “goodwill” to manipulation, and I cited instances in which its overvaluation had destroyed accounting reliability, causing severe losses to investors. This time let’s take a look at the ease with which another asset, year-end stock of goods, can wreak havoc with a […]

  ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 84    [July 2020] Those of us struggling to get a grip on Chancellor Sunak’s latest relief-measures should note the terminology. He seeks to revive the Covid-stricken economy with a series of tax “giveaways”.  When anyone in government talks about giving something away, it’s instructive to ask yourself how they got it […]

  Although I have forgotten most of my own auditing experiences, a few still stand out. A client company that was in business as a confectionary retailer sold cakes over the counter, either whole or in weighed-out portions. The principal internal control was reconciling the weight of cakes leaving the bakery with the weight of […]

  ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 80 [GOING POSTAL – 1st June 2020] EMILE WOOLF In his latest book (“The Body – a Guide for Occupants”) Bill Bryson highlights the limitations on what money can buy. He points out, for example, that America spends more per capita on healthcare than any other nation in the world: two-and-a-half […]