The Hindu Business Line : Visions or high refraction?

VISION essays that institutions and corporates are happy to flaunt are usually heavy-duty rhetoric that may not be far removed from their political chums, the party manifestos. Thus, the result of a new survey — that values statements are more of a window dressing — may not surprise. AccountingWeb reports the findings of NOP World, the firm that worked on `Global Corporate Values Barometer.' Almost one in two was attracted to the job because of corporate values of the organisation; but again, one in two indicated that values statements of most companies do not drive the majority of the business decisions made within the organisation. While 78 per cent of respondents agree that innovation is valued and rewarded at workplace, 52 per cent also indicate that innovation suffers as a result of job insecurity.

A case of high refraction?

Jarring notes of accounting

< drop_2lines>IT IS NO music for accountants that in the UK, their tribesman Frank Dixon is facing a jail sentence. His folly? "Swindling three rock groups of £1.3 million over an eight-year period." TaxZone cites The Daily Mail that Dixon "plundered the accounts of the three groups to prop up his ailing business, regularly taking £50,000 to pay bills, debts and wages." He never passed his accountancy exams and had "helped himself to his client's money as he was too starstruck by their celebrity status to bill them for his services."

Failed at the big gate

WHEN they found there were many sinners in the accounting heaven, they put up a new gate in the US, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). "As part of its charge to clean up the accounting industry after a spate of scandals rocked the profession, the PCAOB conducts regular inspections of firms that audit public companies," reports AccountingWeb, citing the Washington Post. "Since inspections began last September, the board has approved 840 audit firms and 143 applications are pending." An Arizona firm has failed the Board's inspection, becoming the first company to so fail. Reason: It failed to disclose in its application that the firm was the subject of a disciplinary proceeding.

Go on a vacation

ACCOUNTANTS enjoy a bad reputation as being too workaholic to enjoy a vacation. But Accountemps, a staffing service for temporary accounting, has found out after a survey that employees are more productive after a vacation than before one. Thus, you may be doing a favour by going on a holiday, because when you come back, your boss would benefit from your higher productivity. The survey confirms the common fear — that having no breaks quickly drains productivity and leads to burnout.

"Technology makes it easier for employees to stay connected with the office during a vacation. While some contact may be inevitable, staying too involved can negate the positive effects of a break."

A few tips to vacation are: Select the right time, such as a break during a traditionally quiet time in your office; submit your request early to get the dates you want; make your desk an open book so that at least one colleague knows where key information is kept and how your active files are organised; and assign a decision-maker, somebody whose judgment you trust to make decisions while you're away.

CPA exam anytime

THE American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) and Thomson Prometric have launched the computer-based Uniform Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination.

The exam, which is the channel for licensing of CPAs, will be delivered on behalf of boards of accountancy through 300 Thomson Prometric testing labs. On an average more than 55,000 people take the paper-and-pencil-based exam twice a year, in May and November, in large auditoriums.

But now, with the computerised format, "the exam is available almost year-round." Candidates must pass all four exam sections within 18 months in most jurisdictions to retain credit. Will we have something similar in India too?

Botched up projects

BILLIONS of pounds are lost every year in the UK because of mismanaged IT projects, notes a recent report from the Royal Academy of Engineering and the British Computer Society.

ZDNet reports the study has indicated the level of professionalism in software engineering to be generally lower than in other branches of engineering, and that UK's education system fails to churn out IT workers of "a high enough calibre to cope with today's increasingly complex technology projects." Also, senior managers lack project-management skills, and there is "a failure to implement best practice in software engineering and IT projects."

Truth in a flash

FLASH reports are used by about 75 per cent of US companies as early indicators of financial performance, notes a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers. But only 46 per cent of senior executives in Europe use such reports. "20 per cent of Europeans report they do not have any sort of advance indicators — that the first number they see is the final number after the closing process is completed.

This compares to only 10 per cent in the US." That should be akin to seeing with shock the numbers that emerge from vote counting.

GlobeTrot@TheHindu.co.in

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