Taking Stock - Don't jump! Next year is going to be even better.

Like good port and stilton, accountants and charity are known to go hand in hand. And 1999 has been no exception. Perhaps the most high-profile of the charitable activities were KPMG’s sponsorship of NetAid and Ernst & Young’s involvement in this year’s Comic Relief campaign. While elsewhere the firm was sponsoring a Claude Monet exhibition at London’s Royal Academy, others were getting to grips with being declared official accountant for the charity. Other notable charitable activities ranged from dragon boat racing on the Thames, a practitioner who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and the inevitable softball matches. But Taking Stock’s enduring image of a beancounter’s caring side was James Brooke Turner’s bungee jump in aid of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. James, who is the charity’s director of finance and operations, made his 180 foot plunge along with official mascot Rupert Bear. But to remind you of his terrified expression, and for those readers who may have missed it first time round in August, here is James again just seconds before his leap.