Taking Stock - A tidy mind means new furniture.

A tidy desk is a tidy mind, or so the old adage claims, and there seems to be nothing more tidy than the sober and dependable Edinburgh-based office of CIPFA Scotland.

Those lucky and finely turned out laddies and lasses from north of the border seem to have been busying themselves tidying their desks and polishing their ink wells during those long, cold northern afternoons in dank old reeky.

For once the commitment and dedication of public sector accountancy has not gone unnoticed, and the office has just won the national grand prize in the Canon Campaign for Better Offices.

Actually TS wonders whether they won because they were so tidy, or whether their office was so shoddy Canon took pity and decided to help out.

Shiny modernity now beckons for the winners – with new IT equipment, telecom systems and state-of-the-art Space2 designer office furniture.

And if that isn’t a neat enough package, two lucky members of staff have been offered the dubious privilege for any self-respecting Scott of taking a trip south to the heart of the Sassenach empire, London.

And what awaits our prim and upright Edinburgh public servants? No less than a personal makeover including a hair and beauty pampering session at Toni & Guy, Mayfair, and new suits from Saville Row tailor, William Hunt and Jaeger.

Out of the window with those powder wigs, quills and sporrans, it looks like they will be dancing in the ergonomically designed aisles of CIPFA Edinburgh like car showroom sales staff.