A gap has opened up in UK regulation, leaving investors exposed to Companies Act and accounting issues without a clear remedy. Despite all the focus on governance and stewardship, investors are still getting nasty surprises. Tesco and Quindell are perhaps just the highest profile of those involved in further investigations. Making the stockmarket safer should […]
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Tag Archives: accounting
Audit firm governance needs to reflect the public interest
June 10, 2015 
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Is audit quality good enough? In large part that must depend on how well firms that carry out audits are run, and the Financial Reporting Council has opened a consultation on its governance code for such firms. The Audit Firm Governance Code dates to 2010, when the FRC introduced it to address audit problems from […]
Continue reading Who wins from ‘adjusting’ earnings per share? Time for some rules.
March 3, 2015 0 Comments
Most companies in this results season are delivering reassuring updates, but can investors trust the numbers? Tesco’s issues have not only rattled its own shareholders; across the market, analysts wonder how widespread accounting concerns might be. Growth is scarce, and CEOs are under pressure to deliver. This has put more emphasis on presentation; but recent […]
Continue readingEU Banking Resolution – far reaching implications for depositors
July 1, 2013 0 Comments
Little attention has been paid to Europe’s new agreement on bail-ins for troubled banks. Yet the implications are far reaching. Major differences in accounting for derivatives – US GAAP versus IFRS – have been resolved in favour of the European IFRS approach. This has a big impact on reported leverage for the major US banks. […]
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Behavioural Edge 
Finding true growth – how some businesses fake it
Is it really so easy to separate growth and value investment styles? Growth in particular is a challenging concept this year. Investors should think harder about what it means. Genuine cash generative growth is valuable, but rare. Investors need to know how to spot it and what they should pay for it. Often, analysts need […]
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