Richard Murphy

Calling all Manchester United fans

January 20, 2010 Marketing

There is a blog post over on Social Media Today that demonstrates as well as just about anything I’ve seen written why you should almost never listen to folk who call themselves ‘social media experts/gurus/consultants.’ Awarding itself the grand title: World’s Most Valuable Soccer Team Doesn’t Get Social Media the author proceeds to show almost [...]

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So a Big Four is set to fail?

December 12, 2009 Tax and Ethics

I was more than a little taken aback reading AccountancyAge’s interview with Stephen Hadrill, the newish head of the FRC: …the priority for us has to be that we are prepared for the worst and that is where I will put my focus,” he said. The worst, according to Haddrill, is the global collapse of [...]

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Too big to fail? Too good PR more like

October 30, 2009 Tax and Ethics

Earlier today I saw Richard Murphy’s complimentary analysis of Guardian commentary about fears one (or more) of the Big Four might fail. He said: Francine McKenna, Dennis Howlett, Prem Sikka (of course) and I have been saying so for some time. What Richard doesn’t directly note and which none of ‘us’ have commented upon to [...]

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Huge news: Richard Murphy at G20

March 19, 2009 General

There are few things more satisfying in life than to see someone you’ve encouraged become recognized. I count Richard Murphy in that group. Check this post from Richard: G20Voice is part of an ongoing project that gives you the chance to participate, engage and influence leaders from governments, the business world, international institutions and other [...]

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PwC implicated in Barclays tax wheeze?

March 17, 2009 General

Earlier today I spoke with Richard Murphy over the Barclays tax avoidance issue. If you’re not familiar, The Guardian claims that Barclays has entered into a series of complex tax avoidance schemes to the tune of $16 BILLION. Barclays lawyers sought a gag order preventing it from reproducing documents it had received from a whistleblower. [...]

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Even the Irish have had enough of PwC

February 16, 2009 General

Ireland is one of Richard Murphy’s favourite punchbags – most recently talking about the parlous state of their banking system. My friend Tom Raftery who decamped to Sevilla last year recently said Ireland is in such a state that house prices could decline 80%. Wow. This morning, John McManus of the Irish Times has a [...]

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2008: glad that one's (nearly) done

December 28, 2008 General

Ten days without a post. That’s the longest I’ve taken time out in the three plus years this blog’s been going. It’s given me time to reflect on 2008, the best and yet worst of years for many  people I know. Looking back, I found my 2008 wishlist, almost none of which came true though [...]

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Live blogging the PBR – a 1st across three sites

November 24, 2008 General

Chancellor Alistair Darling’s historic pre-Budget Report was bound to generate a lot of interest. I got a call from AccountingWeb’s Rob Lewis asking if I would drop an opinion piece. So did others. I let Rob know I would be live blogging the event. He in turn posted a live list of the major changes. [...]

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The irony of the financial crisis

September 19, 2008 General

The BEST ad ever from AIG to avoid disastersTwo stories, one reflected up on by Jeff Nolan and another extracted by Richard Murphy made me think about the irony of what’s going on in the US right now and which may yet wash over to Europe. The first story from the NY Times lucidly explains [...]

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