Management Accountant Blog

If a strategic plan is going to have any chance of being useful, it has to be based on gathering and analysing information. Michael Porter, has explained how an organisation can analyse:


PESTEL Model: This model looks at the macro-environment, using the following headingsPoliticalEconomicsSocialTechnologicalEcological
LegalClick here to Read More

Porter's Diamond

Porter tried to answer the following questions:
Why does a nation become the home base for successful international competitors in an industry ? Germany is renowned for car manufacture;Why are firms based in a particular nation able to create and sustain competitive advantage against the world's best competition in a particular field ?Why is one country often the home of so many of an industry's world leader ?Porter called the answers to these questions the determinants of national competitive advantage. He suggested that there are four main factors which determine national competitive advantage and expressed in the fo…

ACCA, UK claims "The world largest and fastest growing global accountancy body."

CIMA UK - "is a leading membership body that offers an internationally recognised professional qualification in management accountancy, which focuses on accounting for business."

ICAEW, UK - "As a world leading professional accountancy body, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) provides leadership and practical support to over 130,000 members in more then 160 countries, working with government, regulators and industry in order to maintain the highest standards."



Source : Australian Superbikes

ICAI, India - "The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory body established under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (Act No. XXXVIII of 1949) for the regulation of the profession of Chartered Accountants in India. During its more than five decades of existence, ICAI has achieved recognition as a premier accounting body not only …

The ongoing debate about protecting the term ‘accountant’ has again raised its head, as a report was ‘accidentally’ posted on the ICAEW website a couple of weeks ago which laid out its plans to fragment the profession by systematically dividing it into ‘tiers’. The document, entitled ‘Report on IFA Activities’, is designed to give the ICAEW an overview of the Institute of Financial Accountants’ activities during 2007 and contains a detailed strategy regarding the structure of the accountancy profession. Not surprisingly, the report proposes that CCAB bodies, such as the ICAEW, become the top tier of the profession with only their members able to use the term ‘accountant’; financial accountants, technicians and bookkeepers would create the lower tiers.



Source: Sunset Fishing
Bodies outside of the CCAB, such as AIA, would not be included in the ICAEW’s plans, despite being one of the longest-established global accountancy organisations (this year celebrating its 80th birthday); and being …

Microsoft has partnered with ICAEW to provide members with electronic continuing professional development (CPD) tools that will be made available through an interactive portal.

The portal, christened 'IT Counts', will provide webcasts, articles, wikis, blogs, webinars, tools and forums for members to use for CPD.

The aim of the portal is to improve the way accountants use IT in their businesses.

Chartered accountants will be able to post immediate comments and questions, generating debates on a variety of subjects relating to the use of IT in their daily work and in their businesses and practices.

'Chartered accountants increasingly have responsibility for IT but report that they don’t always feel well equipped to deal with it. ‘IT Counts’ is designed to help chartered accountants bridge that gap,' said Paul White, director of the UK's Microsoft Dynamics product group.

Source: Finance Director

ICAEW Community Network: Click here

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BPP Holdings PLC, a provider of professional education, saw a change in its first half/second half split of revenue and margins with a stronger emphasis on the closing half. This followed the change in ACCA Syllabus.

Enrolments for both CIMA andACCAqualifications courses were encouraging and in line with the company's expectations.

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

Particularly pleasing was the 60 pct increase in 'external sales' of ACCA text books in the second half following the increased investment in business development and product development in the first.



Source: Pixs in India

Analysts are predicting year to December 2007 pretax profits of 20.9 mln stg, compared with 18.03 mln in the previous year. A 20.3 pence dividend total, up from 17.7, would be covered by EPS of 28.9 pence against 23.5.

Source: CNN Money


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Couple of weeks, I visited Canary Wharf which is considered to be the new thriving space in London. It is a vibrant business district with a wide range of shops, restaurants, pubs and wine bars, as well as healthcare and leisure facilities and an extensive arts and events programme.

Leading international companies enjoy the highest quality buildings, facilities and infrastructure within London's newest business district.

Sharing some of the photographs (Enjoy the music when you play)






Click Webshots for view more

I posted some of the photos on Canon Photography Forum and response was

Nice work. Did any police officers or security guards approach you? I find I was being stopped about once every 20 minutes. Had to keep producing ID for some strange reason.I enjoyed my time in photography without any hassles. Do make it a point to visit Canary Wharf, if you are in London.

Share your hobbies by replying to this post and any interesting experiences in pursuing your hobby.

Did you like the pos…

Documents accidentally published on the ICAEW website this week revealed what appeared to be an attempt to rank Britain’s accounting bodies. The paper was a draft submission to the Privy Council, and shows four tiers in descending order. They were:
The six members of CCAB
Financial accountants
Technicians
Bookkeepers

The document, dated January 2008, is titled "Report on IFA Activities" and said such a hierarchy was necessary “if the registration of accountants had any chance of being accepted”. The Institute’s chief executive Michael Izza had previously blogged that achieving legal protection for the title of accountant was one of his two key goals for 2008.
The Association of International Accountants (AIA) said the proposals risked fragmenting the profession.
“The structure outlined by the ICAEW is confusing, it’s as simple as that,” said Philip Turnbull, the AIA’s chief executive. “An accountant should be recognised as an accountant.”
Responding in a recent AccountingWEB member…

Selecting an Audit firm for internal/financial audit or small assignments may be time consuming and challenging. I found few pointers on ACCA website:



Recommendation ask business colleagues if they would recommend their accountant ask your bank manager or solicitor ask an adviser working for a Business Link (England), Local Economic Development Unit (Northern Ireland), County Enterprise Board (Republic of Ireland), Business Shop (Scotland), Business Connect (Wales) or the Chamber of Commerce. Questions to ask the accountancy firm how many partners are there in the firm? how many clients does the firm have? who will undertake the work? what are the typical response and advice times to be expected? what are the scales of charges and rates for partners and staff? what is the firm's estimate of fees? what expertise can the firm supply? is it possible to speak to existing clients of the firm? Select a short list of firms arrange meetings with at least three firms present the requirements/s…

RSS survey suggests that one of the most popular articles read on the internet is "The World's Billionaires" on Forbes Magazine. Most of the billionaires surprisingly are self-made. The quickest ones to climb the billionaire's ladder are Larry Page and Sergy Brin - the founders of search engine "Google". Both of them have common marital status : "Single" !!! with a net worth of $ 16.6 billion. (Forbes 2007).

I compiled the statistics of the billionaires from India and China:

India : 30 billionaires with a total net worth of $ 152.30 billion.
China :38 billionaires with a total net worth of $ 140.20 billion.

Click here for details.



When you read the educational profiles of the billionaires, they are self made or from Engineering background. Does it mean Accountants are not successful in the business ? Or whether accountants are better in supporting somebody's business? Does studying Accountancy make us follow "Conservative Approach"?


W…