May 2009

What's right and wrong about newsletters

May 19, 2009 Innovation

In the last couple of months I’ve noticed a few of my colleagues have resurrected the idea of newsletters. I may do the same at some point as I develop the model for AccMan. Companies use them all the time but it is interesting to note the difference in approach of those who are actively [...]

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Ignore Everybody: a critique

May 18, 2009 Innovation

Ignore Everybody is the title of Hugh MacLeod’s foray into the literary world. I received my galley copy at the weekend and spent Saturday afternoon reading it. At around 160 pages including plenty of Hugh’s cartoons, it is an easy read. If you’ve read gapingvoid then you’ll know what to expect…a screw everyone and what [...]

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Jeremy Newman: BDO's cautious maverick CEO

May 17, 2009 Featured

Last Friday I met with Jeremy Newman, BDO’s global CEO. I had been anticipating this meeting for some days. It is rare for a global head of a large accounting firm to meet with lowly, ‘never under opinionated’ bloggers like me. It added a certain edginess to the encounter. I also had the sense I’d [...]

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Cost and value

May 13, 2009 General

It’s not often I agree with a marketer but on this occasion, Seth Godin provides us with a masterclass in the difference between cost and value in the context of sunk costs: When making a choice between two options, only consider what’s going to happen in the future, not which investments you’ve made in the [...]

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Attitudes harden over IFRS adoption

May 13, 2009 Tax and Ethics

IASB member John Smith is reported to have said at a recent conference: “If it [US] doesn’t adopt,” he warned, the United States “will be the outlier and those countries already adopting and committing themselves to IFRSs will not accept a situation where the United States remains outside the system indefinitely, yet has a seat [...]

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Can you prosper against US saas vendors?

May 12, 2009 Cloud Computing/SaaS

While in Hamburg last week I spent time with a certain VC who has an enterprise funding background but who now almost exclusively invests in European consumer services. I asked why it is so difficult to get funding that would allow otherwise promising European startups the opportunity to ‘make it’ in the US market. His [...]

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Questions for Jeremy Newman, BDO's global CEO

May 12, 2009 Tax and Ethics

I have a once in a long time opportunity to meet with Jeremy Newman, BDO’s global CEO this Friday in London. As I said over on IT Counts: [he and] I have had an on/off blog conversation for some time about the impact of potentially new regulation upon the audit profession. Here is a link [...]

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Cloudy Sage after all?

May 11, 2009 Cloud Computing/SaaS

As seen at the entrance of Sage’s Insight partner event as received from a reader. It is the first sign you see on the way to the registration desk. Note Citrix top right? A little birdie tells me that resellers are VERY keen to know about cloud computing offerings. If they don’t get them from [...]

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Making sense of Sage's H1 results

May 11, 2009 Featured

As the UK’s software bellweather, what Sage reports matters in the marketplace. Full marks to them for providing plenty of detailed analysis (PDF) although making sense of it is not quite so straightforward. The key points to understand are: Sage benefited from favourable exchange rates That benefit masked underlying weakness in software sales Maintenance revenue [...]

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Audit independence at the Commons?

May 11, 2009 Tax and Ethics

Catching up on reading and seeing that the MP’s expenses issue is taking centre stage in the mainstream press I have to ask: How can anyone expect that government will do the right thing on tax abuse when it is stuffed full of folk who appear willing to do what amounts to the same thing? [...]

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