The most recent Comment from Accountancy Age

On the money with Gavin Hinks

Gavin Hinks — 2008-07-24T19:18:00.000Z

Gavin Hinks, Accountancy Age, Thursday 24 July 2008 at 19:18:00

Superman, therapist and financial genius. Those are just a few of the roles the average accountant can be expected to occupy over the next couple of years as the downturn does its worst to your clients.

Indeed on successive days you may have to be Clark Kent, Sigmund Freud and George Soros to your client base and all at no extra charge....

On the money with Gavin Hinks

Gavin Hinks — 2008-07-03T18:06:00.000Z

Gavin Hinks, Accountancy Age, Thursday 3 July 2008 at 18:06:00

There can be few former heads of international accounting firms who get the kind of send off that Kieran Poynter did last week

Days before he was due to leave PricewaterhouseCoopers he published his government commissioned report into the lost disc fiasco at HM Revenue & Customs....

On the money with Gavin Hinks

Gavin Hinks — 2008-06-05T17:48:00.000Z

Gavin Hinks, Accountancy Age, Thursday 5 June 2008 at 17:48:00

New leaders for the accountancy institutes and associations often get a rough time at first

So Helen Brand, who has been appointed chief executive of ACCA, can expect some choppy waters soon after taking over....

On the money with Gavin Hinks

Gavin Hinks — 2008-04-10T00:00:00.000Z

Gavin Hinks, Accountancy Age, Thursday 10 April 2008 at 00:00:00

Those of you with a keen eye for this sort of thing will have noticed that the long running row between Standard Life and its former finance director Alison Reed has ended with Reed emerging much better off

Standard Life has coughed up £1.36m to settle the legal dispute and £97,000 towards her legal costs. Anyone who ever had any doubts that she had a case, can now...

Behind the numbers: search for the perfect job

Kevin Reed — 2008-03-14T00:00:00.000Z

Kevin Reed, Accountancy Age, Friday 14 March 2008 at 00:00:00

What’s the best job in the world for an accountant?

What’s the best job in the world for an accountant? If you have already read our article on Google's search for a CFO you will know that US magazine Financial...

On the money with Gavin Hinks

Gavin Hinks — 2008-02-28T00:00:00.000Z

Gavin Hinks, Accountancy Age, Thursday 28 February 2008 at 00:00:00

The next man to face the full persuasive wrath of the Big Four will be Norman Murray, chairman of Cairn Energy and the ICAS-qualified braveheart chosen by the FRC to write a governance code for auditors

This will be no easy task, not least because the subject of non-executive director equivalents and all manner of corporate governance issues are bound to crop up annoyingly for the...

Behind the numbers: blogger beware

Damian Wild — 2008-02-21T00:00:00.000Z

Damian Wild, Accountancy Age, Thursday 21 February 2008 at 00:00:00

I like Adam Hart-Davis. Anyone who writes a book on the history of the toilet is OK by me

But for an intelligent (educated at Eton) and well-bred (he counts David Cameron and the Queen among his relations) chap his recent outburst about HMRC was, well, a bit thick...

The taxman doesn't need another Hector

Gavin Hinks — 2008-02-14T00:00:00.000Z

Gavin Hinks, Accountancy Age, Thursday 14 February 2008 at 00:00:00

Who will be the new face of HM Revenue & Customs?

It turns out the taxman needs one because Adam Hart-Davis, the TV history and science boffin who has fronted self-assessment promotion for the past few years cannot be relied upon...

Replacing Poynter will be no mean feat

Gavin Hinks — 2008-02-07T00:00:00.000Z

Gavin Hinks, Accountancy Age, Thursday 7 February 2008 at 00:00:00

The end of an era will come in July when Kieran Poynter, chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers, steps down and a new chief takes over at the country’s biggest firm

Given PwC’s scale, leading it through the next few years will be no minor task. Poynter, has kept the firm at the top and maintaining its position as the dominant...

A game of musical chairs

Alex Hawkes — 2007-11-29T00:00:00.000Z

Alex Hawkes, Accountancy Age, Thursday 29 November 2007 at 00:00:00

Since the advent of New Labour, resignations have become very confusing

Peter Mandelson resigned over the Hindujas when he was subsequently cleared. And even though many feel Tony Blair should have resigned over many things, it took a long time to...

Private equity gets the policeman it deserves

Accountancy Age — 2007-11-22T00:00:00.000Z

Accountancy Age, Accountancy Age, Thursday 22 November 2007 at 00:00:00

Sir Mike Rake clearly doesn’t like to sit back and take a rest

No sooner has he exited KPMG to get his feet under the chairman’s table at BT, than he accepted another job chairing the oversight committee that will enforce the...

On the money with Gavin Hinks

Gavin Hinks — 2007-11-15T00:00:00.000Z

Gavin Hinks, Accountancy Age, Thursday 15 November 2007 at 00:00:00

Sometimes there comes a moment when even good manners cannot prevent a little bit of pride and the words: ‘I told you so,’ from being spoken.

This year’s Accountancy Age Awards is one of those moments. No doubt you have already rushed to read the winners in this issue, but let me just reflect on a...

On the money with Gavin Hinks

Gavin Hinks — 2007-09-27T00:00:00.000Z

Gavin Hinks, Accountancy Age, Thursday 27 September 2007 at 00:00:00

Rarely have I seen a CV as arresting as the one I read when the Prudential announced that Philip Broadley will step down as FD in April next year to be succeeded by Tidjane Thiam

Now (and this is a dangerous thing for a business journalist to admit) I have to confess to not knowing much about Thiam, so I looked him up....

The Conrad Black trial results: the jury's in

Simon Bevan — 2007-07-26T00:00:00.000Z

Simon Bevan, Accountancy Age, Thursday 26 July 2007 at 00:00:00

The results of the Conrad Black trial make it 1:0 to the jury system

After years of hearing commentators unfairly criticise juries for the failings of incompetent fraud prosecutions, it was great to see our US colleagues use a jury to good effect....

Celebrate diversity

Ashley Steel — 2007-05-17T00:00:00.000Z

Ashley Steel, Accountancy Age, Thursday 17 May 2007 at 00:00:00

Lord Browne's resignation from BP highlights the ongoing pink plateau business

Even in this day and age, an individual’s sexuality can have real implications for their career. I know very well the issues that sexuality can create – I am gay...