I have decided to archive this Blog on a weekly rather than monthly basis from now on. One of today's big decisions and it makes me feel better anyway! DW

My laptop has a major problem that includes the system using 100% of the CPU all of the time the computer is switched on. The quick start buttons on the machine have also become disabled and whenever I press them I get a message from Internet Explorer advising me that downloading files can be dangerous ... including these that are being downloaded from my own C: drive! So I am currently using a very inefficient Pentium 4 laptop! I did a system restore back to 26 December and that cured the problem; and then undid it and will restore back to 27 December ... I'm curious to know what caused this problem. I have been fully virus protected and did a complete check yesterday then I uninstalled that anti virus software and installed and ran another anti virus package ... both came out clean. I just installed Windows XP Service Pack 1, by the way, if that strikes a chord with anyone experiencing similar problems! DW

The spider died! After my post of 28 Dec I decided to check out our arachnid friend only to find s/he was lifeless. I then decided to try to take a picture of it and it twitched a bit ... how does one force feed a spider, though? Took some snaps that didn't turn out that well and the spider stopped moving. Can anyone throw any light on why it decided to live in the middle of the ceiling? How many spiders have such a death wish? Do spiders simply set up their web or living space and then wait and wait or do they normally move on to search for food after a while? DW

I am appalled at the way that British television in particular, and the news media in general, are ruining the English language for British people. I will rant on this topic from time to time and might even open up a new section on my site to deal with it. I'm not expecting everyone to speak the Queen's English; but I am expecting people with influence to respect our language. DW

We've hit the big time! I told you yesterday that I'd applied to joing the bloggingbrits blogging ring ... subject to a small coding indiscretion by yours truly being corrected, I'm in! I've corrected it. Take a look at my new boss's own blog, though, to see the praise being heaped onto these humble shoulders. OK, I can't wait, this is part of what the boss has said: Time for ... a new Aortal site ... Duncan's Diurnal Diatribe A very funny chap who's also an accountant. Not that I've got anything against accountants, you understand ... Heck, just go and read the blog. It's good That appraisal can be found by clicking here. Well done DW! No idea what an Aortal site is? Neither had I until I clicked here. Looks like a good idea to me, especially since they are supporting the way that I work on the Web. DW

We bought some new cushions at the shops, then! That means we've got rid of those annoying "throws" that have adorned our settees for the last year and a half or so. DW

As you were on the SIM card issue ... it didn't work! Got the SIM card, called the O2 help line to get the usual friendly service with only one "yer wot" and was told to leave it for half an hour and then just get chatting. I left it for over an hour and then tried just to get chatting: no network coverage ... impetuous little me, I thought and waiting a while longer. After a while longer I tried again and still no network coverage. I called the help line and explained the prob: the young lady was fine until it came to trying to talk to the O2 network people when she got bored with waiting in a queue on my behalf so after three minutes or so she put me in the queue and said bye. The young lad in the network system was a tad brusque for me and couldn't find a problem so he said he'd investigate and all me back in five. He did call, after about ten, and told me that everything was clear on my account, with the network and so on so my problem was probably due to a duff SIM card and I need to call the help line again. Called the help line and the new young lady was a bit slow on the typing front so I had to repeat my saga. I told her I needed a new SIM card from her and she asked me if I realise that it would cost me £10 ... I told her that I'd already paid £10 for the SIM card that doesn't work and any new ones would be replacements for that ... I hope she understood that and doesn't start me off on an argument trail that will end up with stacks of frustration. Otherwise it's raining here today. DW

I lost my mobile phone SIM card as I travelled back home: goodness knows where but there you are. Good news, for the sake of a tenner I got a new one and cancelled the old. So, if you find my SIM card it's no good to you! Survived this afternoon's shopping: bit of food then cushions, decorative dishes for nuts, dried fruit and the like and a fitted sheet for a single bed!! DW

I've set up a link to Blogging Brits for some reason: see what comes of it! I took a look at a few of the sites on this ring and some of them are very learned sites indeed ... fawn ... respect ... cringe Let's see what comes of it all. DW

Any arachnophiles reading this? There's been a spider on my ceiling for a few days now. I checked on Tuesday to see if it was still alive and it was ... gave it a bit of a nudge and it twitched: then it settled back down again and it's still there! So, that spider's been in the same place for at least four or five days: no web, no movement as far as I know and no food. What is this spider waiting for? When will it realise that dinner just isn't going to come calling? Is it just waiting to die? Answers on a postcard please! DW

Mrs W NEEDED to go to the Sales today to buy a couple of odds and ends. I did not like the cushions for our living room she had her eye on: I love things medieval ... but not as a focal point of my living room that has nothing else medieval in it. So we didn't buy them then. Then I decided I NEEDED a sandwich and a drink whilst Mrs W was buying goodness knows what. Marks and Spencer Oxford has installed a serve yourself till that we thought we'd have a crack at. The couple before us had a bad experience with the machine; but thinking that it must have been their fault we sallied forth and had a go. We needed to call the assitant over almost immediately ... and again within a minute as it told us that we needed to get help ... then it gave us another dose of zero encouragement so we ditched that idea and moved over to a proper till! Looks like M&S has some work to do on that system. Speaking of having work to do, one of M&S's other machines was out of order and they had a notice apologising for "... any inconveniances". M&S recruits pretty good people on average so this DOUBLE mistake was a bit of a surprise. If anyone from M&S ever reads this, they should take note and send me a voucher for my services! DW

Let's talk about bowels! Having been a veggie for around 12 years or so and only eating meat for one day a year, I need to remind myself about the perils thereof! Taking sausages, bacon, turkey, more sausages and sausage rolls on board all of a sudden wreaks havoc with the old alimentary canal. I enjoyed the Christmas dinner and the company that went with it and I enjoyed my traditional Christmas morning breakfast (monster fry up) that I've been doing since around 1975 but there's a payback. Today was much better and whatever needed to come to pass seems to have come to pass. Sayeth the Lord!! DW

A nice Xmas Day came and went. Up and about early and made an excellent breakfast, with my vegetarianism suspended for the day ... as usual, I stop being a veggie for Xmas Day. So, a fry up to start the day: smoked bacon, sausages, potato cakes, baked beans and a fried egg. Mmmm! Then unwrapping the gifts ... lots of books, a DVD, diary, pullover ... then stuffing and cooking the Turkey. Mrs W got involved and we prepared a delicious repast for our guests and ourselve. Tucked in at around 1430 and although we didn't bloat ourselves, the pudding and custard added a layer of blubber that was most welcome. Drank a little bit: Bollinger Champagne to go with dinner and a couple of beers with tea ... Xmas cake baked by yours truly in October, trifle, sausage rolls and other odds and ends and a cheese board with cheeses from Yorkshire, France, Italy, Norway and Leicestershire! Talked to my two sons and finished the day with a tipple of Armagnac ... why did I bother with that? Woke up at 0230 with hiccups and then felt a bit groggy as I woke up at 0825 ... that's very late for me. Boxing Day now and even though the Sales have started my motto is NO SHOPPING! Mrs W has plans!!! DW

Doreen wrote from Malta to ask about environmental management accounting: here are the links I found for her: Hello there Doreen, I put the phrase Management Environmental Accounting into Google and these are the kinds of things that it came back with. I hope these set you on your way. If you repeat this search you will find a lot of good corporate links to environmental reporting. From the Ricoh Group Environmental Accounting: this site if for the year 2001 and they have data for 2000, 1999 and 1998 at least, too. There is a lot of information on this page and could be a really good starting point for you. How about the Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) International Website? A lot of links here to articles and other sites. There’s a link down the bottom of the left hand side of the page to the ACCA Student’s Newsletter that has articles about environmental accounting: this is well worth a look … again, another really good starting point! There’s also links to the United Nations EMA working group, environmental management accounting research and information center (EMARIC), Take a look at this from Japan: ... some useful ideas on indicators for accountants and environmentalists. You have probably heard of the company Sharp, here’s their contribution to your assignment. This is another corporate site and it gives you a lot of data from their environmental accounting records. Go to the Environmental Management Systems Institute at the University of Florida. They provide a few useful looking links including “The Environmental Management Systems Alliance (EMS Alliance) is a business and industry/government/academic partnership that encourages networking and peer consultation with the goal of helping organizations develop or improve an environmental management system.”; and a number of other issues and organisations. They also provide a link to ISO14000. In case the ISO 1400x series is useful for you, go to ISO14000.org and see what you can find: including this link that tells you a lot about ISO 14001 … There you are Doreen. I think this will jump start your work very well. Let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with and how you get on with your assignment. Best wishes DW

I have taken a look at the television schedules for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: what an absolute mess! They seem to have taken a look at how to put together a good set of programmes as people are feasting, getting together, looking to be entertained ... and then thrown that idea away and gone for something much more uselsss. I hope it's going to be much better where you are! DW

Final notes on Sarajevo until 2003 and maybe my final update on the BANANA SAGA, ever: I got down to breakfast for my final breakfast of this part of my time there to find NO BANANAS. The three or four bananas that have been waiting for me every morning since I learned how to overcome the banana failures had gone. I think the people who were checking out as I went down to the dining room had eaten them! How selfish. What they couldn't know was that I had TWO bananas in my room and just before I left for home I ate them! So a bit of a shock but no terminal disease! You'll think I'm mad with talk of this banana saga: maybe! I'm home for Christmas. Courtesy of Austrian Airlines and two of their finest sandwiches I got home at around 11pm last night, Friday. Can you believe it that the area where I live had been plunged into darkness by a power cut ... modern Britain, eh? The house is all decked up: tree with lights, tinsel, baubles and GIFTS underneath it, christmas cars on the matelpiece. All we have to do now is the shopping ... aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! The shopping! DW

I meddle with learning curves from time to time and you can imagine my delight when I found that the very famous Charles Babbage published a book in 1832 in which he gave an example of learning curves in action. I have incorporated that example in my own learning curves presentation, for your delight! It's a PowerPoint Presentation so may be a bit slow to start with. You can ask for the speaker's notes to go with it too, by clicking on the email link on the final slide. DW

Isn't it nice to receive something like this in the mail, unannounced? thanks for allowing me the privilege of reading your excellent work on your website That's all s/he said and it came from "g" Much appreciated DW

Just trawling the web sometimes can bring forth pearls. Here's part of a course description from Autumn 1995 from the University of Pennsylvania: The Age of Reason? English 3.303 The eighteenth century is often called an age of reason, propriety, and enlightenment; but it was also an age of squalor, filth, disease, crime, prostitution, violence, and insanity: and these less attractive (but perhaps more interesting) elements are favorites of eighteenth-century writers ... no punches pulled there! However, take a look at some songs from this period: bawdy they are! DW

Saturday morning and there's a major BANANA INCIDENT to report. Who'd have thought that early Saturday morning would be a controversial time to go down to breakfast? I'm not one of those who can sleep in at the weekends until goodness knows when: I wake up at the same time as I do during the week ... I've been blessed with a non idling brain I'm afraid. So breakfast can be as early on Saturday and Sunday as it is on Monday and the rest of the week. So this morning I went down for breakfast at around 7:45 or so and got the feeling that I might have been the first there: certainly one of the first. The fruit bowl was replete. I found three, no four, bananas. As I stood there serving my muesli and milk, glass of milk and cup of coffee I thought "I think I'll have TWO bananas today to make up for the missing ones!" I went for and took one banana, honest I was only going to have one when two people burst out of the kitchen: dressed in black fatigues and looking menacing, they shouted "Down, put those bananas down. Put those bananas down. NOOOOWWW!" I was shocked and they knew it. They came forward menacingly as I froze, unable to deal with this banana situation. I didn't know what to do: what would you do? Put down just the ONE banana or try and answer them: but I've only got one? They wouldn't believe me, anyway. If I just admitted to one banana, they'd insist on searching me but then they'd have to accuse me of eating the second one ... and the skin?? My banana arm must have twitched and the tall fat one shouted "Put those bananas back in the fruit bowl or we'll have to take you out". Gulp, they were serious: who were they? What did they want? In the book I'm reading at the moment the author describes a situation like this: I'll do what he did ... call their bluff. I'll tough it out, I thought. I said "No! I've only got one banana and I'm keeping it. There was no banana for me yesterday and I've a jolly good mind to take another one if you don't behave yourself." The shorter of the two froze now. He stood stock still. His eyes narrowed. As his friend caught up with him, he put his hand on his shoulder and said in a low, serious voice, "Let me deal with this." I said "Deal all you like." Beads of sweat had formed on my brow and my legs were turning funny. I knew that in the book the man who toughed it out took a beating that landed him in hosptal for a month and rehabilitation for four months after that. Who was I trying to fool: I'm a coward! All this for the sake of a banana? "No banana yesterday, you say?" "No!" "Just one banana today, you say?" "Yes! Why would I take two?" "We thought ... " "Of course not!" "Oh, OK then." And off they went: strutting their way back to the kitchen. To pounce another day, perhaps? I must write up to someone. They gave me a huge fright! I think I'll call them the banana bunch! Just be careful what you say to yourself as you stand next to the banana bowl, that's all I can say!! DW

The previous entry was a joke! Did you guess? DW

I like lists and here's a tribute to the British swimmers out in Mar del Plata as I write this. Let's hear it for those plucky swimmers! From the British Swimming site again here's: The IPC World Swimming Championships take place in Mar del Plata, Argentina between Tuesday 10th December and Monday 16th December. The British squad of 40 comprises: James Anderson (Broxburn) Sarah Bailey (City of Salford) Ritchie Barber (City of Salford Elaine Barratt (Out to Swim, London) Gemma Bennett (Redbridge Borough) Nicholas Boylan (City of Canterbury) Kenny Cairns (Port Glasgow Otters) Jeanette Chippington (Slough and Eton Dolphins) Jenny Coughlin (Tyldesley) James Crisp (Nova Centurian, Nottingham) Jody Cundy (Hatfield) Murray Dingwall (Aberdeen SC) Gareth Duke (Torfaen) Melanie Easter (Camphill Edwardians) Chris Fox (Loughborough Town) Chris Hendy (Northgate) Rhiannon Henry (Bridgend County Swim Squad) Jemma Houghton (Hackney Warriors) Elizabeth Johnson (Torfaen) Natalie Jones (Colchester Phoenix) Sascha Kindred (City of Manchester Aquatics) Dervis Konuralp (Hackney Warriors) Darrren Leach (RTW Monson) Rebecca Lee (INCAS, Scotland) Nyree Lewis (City of Manchester Aquatics) Andrew Lindsay (Glenrothes) Giles Long (Barnet Copthall) Maggie McEleny ( Port of Glasgow Otters) Emma Mounkley (City of Manchester Aquatics) Chris Pugh (City of Manchester Aquatics) Tim Reddish (City of Newcastle David Roberts (Stirling HPC) Oliver Roberts (City of Bradford) Ian Sharpe (City of Cambridge) Anthony Stephens (Bridgewater) Jane Stidever (Leicester Penguins) Matthew Walker (City of Manchester Aquatics) Frances Williamson (Colchester Phoenix) Tracy Wiscombe (City of Manchester Aquatics) Marc Woods (Barnet Copthall) DW

FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS It's happened again: Fran's got another Silver medal and another record. Here's the news from the British Swimming site, just scroll down a bit ... As well as Sarah Bailey silver, another 4 silvers were won on the day. There were new British records for Rhiannon Henry in the S13 100m Butterfly and Fran Williamson in the S3 50m Backstroke. Don't have the details yet, but well done again Fran. DW

FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS Two more medals a Bronze and a GOLD: see the story of the gold ... scroll down to read The female 20 point Freestyle relay team of Fran Williamson (Cambridge), Maggie McEleny (Greenock), Natalie Jones (Colchester) and Jeanette Chippington (Slough) also dominated their race and won convincingly in a new British record time. It's just as good in the Bronze story, same link, next paragraph but one: There were also seven bronze medals won by the team. The six individual medals going to Rhiannon Henry, Bridgend (S13-400 Freestyle, British record), Fran Williamson, Cambridge (S3-200m Freestyle, British record), Anthony Stephens, Bridgewater (S5-200 Freestyle, British record), Giles Long, Barnet (SM8-200m Individual Medley, British record), James Crisp, Nottingham (S9-100m Freestyle) and Ian Sharpe, Cambridge (S12-100m Butterfly). When I get the times, you can rest assured that they'll appear here!! DW

FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS Family connections have found the results page. Here's Fran's first result: look how young she is (17 years) compared with the rest of them (average age of the rest = 30 years) This Blog doesn't seem to like tables so forgive the huge gap below! Event 27 Women 50 LC Metre Freestyle S3 S3

	Name	Age	Team	Finals
1	Valle, Patricia	33	Mex	1:04.43
2	Williamson, Frances	17	Gbr	1:06.71
3	Conradi, Annke	37	Ger	1:06.85
4	Barroso, Susana	28	Por	1:10.75
5	Zuazua Del Estal, Amaia	26	Esp	1:13.64
6	Shcterbinin, Marina	30	Isr	1:21.36
7	Vaza, Perpetua	39	Por	1:22.45
--	Kodama, Tomoko	27	Jpn	DQ

Find these results from the Official Site for Day 1 by clicking on the link on the menu on the left of the screen. Keep clicking! DW

Then there's Dan Rather on CBS: is he alive or is he just a video montage from a former century? I know that news readers need to be neutral people but there's neutral and there's seeming brain death. Sorry, just how he appears to me. No offence intended as he's probably paid to act the way he does. DW

Something's got to give in the BANANA SAGA. Flushed with success from yesterday I went down for breakfast maybe a shade later than yesterday ... no bananas in the fruit bowl BUT there were two men each with a banana or banana skin on their table. One had finished and the other was making a meal of it by having only eaten half of his. I thought, has he read my Blog from yesterday? Has he been sent to torment me by leaving half a banana knowing that I could never enjoy the bit that he wouldn't eat? Then he ate it. Of course neither of these two could have enjoyed their bananas as much as I would have. Moreover, why don't they take one of the many apples, pears, oranges or kiwi fruits that are on offer? I considered making an announcement. I have also considered asking the hotel to hide a banana for me or have the waiter bring one to me under all circumstances! I'll keep you posted. DW

Lolling around last night and Monty Python's Flying Circus came on the Bosnian television channel that trips over to English after around 9pm. The audio was all in English and they had Bosnian sub titles. I just wonder how much of this got through to the Bosnian language. Also, did it matter that some of the comedy involved jokes about people like David coleman, Peter West and Brian Johnstone? If you're a fan and can remember that far back, how about the Beethoven sketch involving a Mynah bird and his wife constantly coming in to interrupt, ask questions and do the vacuuming? The Mynah bird mimes something to which Beethoven responds, "I'm not deaf yet!" ... How about the two very camp High Court judges sketch as they limp wrist their way through what happened to them in Court 1 today? The locals could see the camp but do they have limp wristed people like that either in reality or in their comedy? I must ask!! DW

A picture I took on the way to work yesterday morning: notice the way I have managed to catch a few snowflakes in the flash ... a rare talent! As a bonus I've resurrected my Surprise visit by Santa from last year, too! DW

Slip sliding to work today after slip sliding back to the hotel last night. I'm not very steady on my feet with just plain shoes and snow covered pedestrian street footpaths! This afternoon, though, a thaw has set in and the pathways are just wet now so that I can stride forth as usual! The oranges here are marvellous. I have been eating them since I got to Sarajevo and just bought a shed load more at a market near the office: delicious. The BANANA ISSUE (see the post on 5 Dec 02, too): this is a simple but vital issue. There are people staying at the hotel who seem to be both early risers AND banana lovers. Hence yesterday I had a near panic attack as I got down to breakfast at around 7:45 am and from the doorway I could see just one banana in the fruit bowl and other guests HOVERING! I acted calm and nonchalant so as not to alert anyone to my banana mission. I ambled up to my usual spot by the muesli dispenser and having served myself with the cereal I lurched forward, as discreetly as possible, and took that banana. I hadn't even poured my milk when I went for that banana. Today I got up, had my shower but didn't shave: I didn't want to go through yesterday's ordeal again. I just climbed into my jogging trousers, slung a pullover on over my thermal vest, put on a pair of black woollen socks and my slippers and headed straight down for breakfast ... 7:25 am. I made it! There were THREE bananas in the fruit bowl and no one menacingly near them. I relaxed but was still focused and felt happy that I had started the day without that needless edge that worrying over the last banana can bring. At the market, by the way, I bought myself six bananas and ate one almost immediately. Bananas are supposed to make us happy, don't you know: in my case it's true! DW

FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS Fran wrote: HAHA i got silver!!!!! WOW!! Still cant believe it, it was soooooo strange being on the podium watching Anneke getting bronze. The medals are quite huge and heavy. We got flowers and chocolates too! Roll on my other races! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO love fran Thought you'd like to know. DW

FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS Here's Fran's "Official Profile" according to the British Swimming Association Web Site! Scroll down to page 10 to reveal all! DW

FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS Go to www.britishswimming.org and scroll down for the link to the event or just click here: IPC World Championships Team Guide ... and you can find details of Fran's events and the rest of the British team. Here's the Offical Event Site ... can't see the results there yet! DW

FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS Great news from the land of the Pampas and Johhny Gaucho: Fran has won a silver medal at the IPC World Swimming Championships in Argentina. Here's what she wrote to her mother: Oh my God I've just got silver....... came 3rd but the 1 who won (Japan) was so quick, she got the WR by 20 secs so got questioned and DQed. so it was Patricia, Me then Annke! can u believe it? i beat ANNKE!!! I did 1.06!! Mother adds: Anneke is usually pretty impressive. She holds several of the World records so it is quite something for Fran to beat her. I add that the event is the 50m freestyle and Anneke must be the German young lady Anneke Conradi who was third in the world rankings with a time of 1:02:3: Fran's previous best was 1:13.3 Brilliant news! DW

Richard asked the following two questions: 1 How do firms treat fixed costs when using cost plus or mark up pricing? 2 Is there a difference between fixed costs and overheads in Biz Studies. I now I should know but me and accounts have never met :) I answered as follows: If anyone is using cost plus pricing, there is a very good chance that they have no idea what there fixed costs are. One of the huge appeals of cost plus pricing is that it appeals to the idle or those who don't analyse their costs very well. Otherwise, fixed costs are simply added to the variable costs to comprise total costs and then apply the formula: Total costs Plus profit Equals selling Price That's it, whether you call it cost plus or mark up pricing. Overheads can be fixed or variable! Take a look at Classification of Costs at duncanwil.co.uk and appreciate that overheads and factory expenses are synonyms. Even on my own page I use the word overhead in a slack manner but essentially they are FACTORY overheads oka the total indirect costs of materials, labour and expenses. If you need more, I have scads in this area, as you might imagine. A big mistake is to call administration, marketing, research, finance etc costs by the name overhead when they aren't: although modern usage will scream that they are. You MIGHT find this page useful, too, but you have to work through it to get the answers! Cost Accounting Case for Beginners at duncanwil.co.uk DW

Why not have another list to add to your collection? This is some of the music I’m listening to for Christmas and New Year: eclectic isn’t in it! Oh Holy Night: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir … it just appeals to me! I believe in Father Christmas: Greg Lake … I bought this when it first came out yonks ago and have never tired of it Stop the Cavalry: Jona Lewie … love the sound and one day I’ll follow the words Walking in the Air: Aled Jones … no reason except that I like it White Christmas: Bing Crosby … can’t avoid another tireless favourite Jingle Bells: Frank Sinatra … and someone else who I can’t place; can’t even tell you the name of the style but this is a racy version that includes the phrase “I love those J … I … N … G … L … E … bells” and “Jingle Bells, Jing, Jingle Bells …” from The Sinatra Christmas Album Silver Bells: Perry Como … I’ve come across this for the first time this year and it’s new and lively Gaudete: Steeleye Span … folk music types dressed in rags, rocking back and forth appeal with this pseudo intellectual offering Adeste fideles: Vienna Boys’ Choir … and why not have a bit of Latin … venite adoremus? When a child is born: Johnny Mathis … sloppy sentimentality of the Miss World interview kind with just the right amount of echo Two Little Boys: Rolf Harris … I associate this song with Christmas as I’m sure it came out at this time of year initially Thank God it’s Christmas: Queen In dulci jubilo: Mike Oldfield … I think because it was always around at Christmas and it stuck The Holly and the Ivy: Royal College of Music Choir and Brass … not the best but this is a song that I always want to hear and this version is pleasant enough Ding Dong Merrily on High: King’s College Choir … some lovely voices, they enunciate so clearly and they say Hosanna in exCHelsis! Away in a Manger: Nat King Cole … I love his voice and he does credit to this carol, so why not? Silent Night, Holy Night: Bing Crosby … suitably soporific; and while we’re at it … Stille Nacht: Heilige Nacht: Frans Bauer En Marianne Weber … a bit Alexander Brothers in style but it’s originally a German song I think and this is the version I’ve got so we’re stuck with it! Introitus Resurrexi: Einsiedeln Choral … just one track from a Gregorian Chant record that’s nothing to do with Christmas directly but I’m listening to it anyway; and I dream of having a voice like this … from Die Tradition Des Gregorianischen Chorals Beethoven Piano Concerto 5 in E Flat opus 73: second movement adagio un poco mosso … not Christmassy but I came across it fairly recently and like it Any comments? DW

Travelled back to Sarajevo following my weekend in Blighty. Traffic so snarled up around Heathrow that I came within a whisker of missing my flight. Then it was an hour late taking off!! They didn't make up the time en route so I had around 10 mins to hurtle across the airport in Vienna to catch my connection and as I did, they closed the aeroplane door behind me ... and left my luggage in Vienna. Another lesson I almost learned once is that you MUST take you toilet bag in your hand luggage if you want to be able to smell nice, shampoo your hair, shave your face (or legs or whatever) on arrival. Luckily my hair is very short so I don't need a comb or brush and I had deodorant etc with me but the toothbrush that I left in my suitcase is important! Otherwise, it was fine although I see that Austrian Airlines are doing the same as British Airways on European flights now: give everyone a sandwich and forgetting the cooked meals. DW

Milt Cohen sent this wry smiler to a discussion list that I'm a member of and thought you'd like it too: An Accountant was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week." The Accountant guy took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess I'll stay with you for a week and do ANYTHING you want." Again the Accountant guy took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket. Finally the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, that I'll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" The Accountant said "Look, I work as an Accountant. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog - now that's cool." DW

FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS FRAN NEWS Here's another site that you can use to watch Fran's progress . and if you want to know what the weather's like at Mar del Plata, Argentina Mar del Plata is found at 37.9° S 57.6° W if you want to find it in your atlas ... click here, though, for a Map of Argentina ... Mar del Plata is just below Buenos Aires, almost vertically down on this map, right on the coast. DW

Daughter Fran takes centre stage again: her swimming prowess has taken her to the IPC World Swimming Championships at Mar del Plata in Argentina ... nice place to be at this time of year no doubt. Currently Fran is ranked as per the following World Rankings in her chosen events, with dates and timings too: Tuesday 10th Dec 50m Freestyle PB 1:13.34 ... ranked 5th Thursday 12th Dec 200m Freestyle PB 5:16.54 ... ranked 5th Thursday 12th Dec 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay (she may or may not be in this) ... no ranking Friday 13th Dec 50m Backstroke PB 1:10.51 (should be her best event) ... ranked 4th Sunday 15th Dec 100m Freestyle PB 2:32.97 ... ranked 5th You can find out a huge amount about this event at the IPC Swimming Site: you need to click and trawl to find what you want. Look out for Fran's results. These results could also determine who goes to Athens for the Paralympics in 2004 too ... we're rooting for Fran! DW

The visitors counter for my home page clicked to 2893 as I opened up this morning: that's my parents' old telephone number! Yesterday I got to breakfast to find NO BANANAS! I was horrified since I've had a banana with my breakfast for years. This morning I went down a bit earlier and found one: only two left, even so!! Report on the old London smogs of around 50 years ago that reminded me of the time I was talking to my assistant in Almaty around 9 years ago about Britain and things and she said something like "We have read in books that in London there is a terrible fog and people are falling down". The things these Soviets wrote! Still, Sky News reminded us this morning that in the smog of 1952, 12,000 Londoners died due to breathing difficulties. They also went on the say that whilst the smog has gone, it's been replaced by an invisible alternative that is not so deadly but it's evil nonetheless. Oxford, just down the road from chez moi, is held up as an exemplar of a British city that has banned traffic from its centre and they are claiming it's a miracle cure. In reality, they have cleared only a relatively small area and if it has had the effect they claim then we are ALL, world wide, in imminent danger of falling down. DW

In between all my hard work I've been downloading a pile of Christmas Carols and tunes to try to get me in the festive spirit. I've got lots now in a variety of styles, too. I chose many of the songs and tunes that I grew up with or that became popular in the 1980s ... nothing new seems to be worth a light I'm afraid. DW

A query came in from Sophia in Morocco about IAS 1 and the IASB's specimen financial statements. I had to apologise for saying I couldn't give them to her ... then realised I could: they are in my IAS 1 Questions and Answers file if anyone else wants them. Vim Ge from India wanted my views on the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research (KIMEP), where I was the Director of the MBA Department for around four years: I told him what I know since I think he was considering being a student there. He also likes and uses my book: Management and Cost Accounting, published by Prentice Hall and still available! Farah wrote from Sierra Leone to talk about IAS 1 and Banking ... I am not a banking expert so I sent my IAS 1 Q&A file and my best wishes! Ricky from the UK wanted some advice on how to carry out a full ratio analysis exercise on travel and holiday companies: I told him that I have recently finished a major section on this for Biz/ed but don't think it's been published yet and there's always the excellent Fool School for lots to do with financial accounting and analysis. DW

Went on a long drive to a textile factory yesterday. Good and interesting stuff. Now it's raining here. Just felt the need to say hello! DW

Just doing a bit of wandering around the stats for my site and thought you'd like to see a listing of where all of my visitors come from: it's an impressive list! .com Commercial .org Non Profit Making Organisations .ee Estonia .pk Pakistan .jm Jamaica .bt Bhutan .uk United Kingdom .sa Saudi Arabia .id Indonesia .bz Belize .sk Slovakia .si Slovenia .edu USA Higher Education .us United States .tt Trinidad and Tobago .ba Bosnia-Herzegovina .pg Papua New Guinea .lk Sri Lanka .au Australia .gov USA Government .kz Kazakhstan .int International Treaty Organisations .lb Lebanon .na Namibia .ge Georgia .be Belgium .zw Zimbabwe .lc Saint Lucia .cc Cocos Keeling Islands .gp Guadeloupe .sg Singapore .za South Africa .mu Mauritius .hr Croatia .lu Luxembourg .py Paraguay .ca Canada .hk Hong Kong .cz Czech Republic .co Colombia .ma Morocco .to Tonga .nz New Zealand .in India .hu Hungary .am Armenia .kr South Korea .np Nepal .nl Netherlands .mx Mexico .ro Romania .ae United Arab Emirates .bg Bulgaria .is Iceland .jp Japan .mil USA Military .ph Philippines .vi Virgin Islands USA .do Dominican Republic .ni Nicaragua .kg Kyrgyzstan .ch Switzerland .no Norway .bn Brunei Darussalam .uy Uruguay .tv Tuvalu .my Malaysia .mt Malta .tw Taiwan .yu Yugoslavia .ky Cayman Islands .bb Barbados .de Germany .dk Denmark .tr Turkey .zm Zambia .fo Faroe Islands .gt Guatemala .fr France .pt Portugal .ke Kenya .uz Uzbekistan .gy Guyana .ir Iran .br Brazil .ru Russia .lt Lithuania .mk Macedonia Former Yugoslav Republic .sb Solomon Islands .mz Mozambique .gr Greece .at Austria .lv Latvia .tz Tanzania .dm Dominica .bm Bermuda .ie Ireland .pl Poland .ar Argentina .cl Chile .ve Venezuela .cn China .es Spain .th Thailand .eg Egypt .cr Costa Rica .gi Gibraltar .ls Lesotho .se Sweden .fi Finland .ua Ukraine .fj Fiji .jo Jordan .ws Samoa .it Italy .cy Cyprus .il Israel .ug Uganda .bw Botswana .kh Cambodia .vu Vanuatu .vn Vietnam .rw Rwanda .pe Peru Hope that list looks OK on your monitor! DW

I have just spent the best part of half a day putting together an update of my amazon.com case study. I'll work on the final version over the next 24 hours ... watch this space. If you go to sports events to enjoy yourself, spare a bit of time for the person or persons unknown who are there with you and whose function is to record this kind of data, in this case about football in England: quickest goal latest goal quickest goal by a substitute quickest booking goals from outside the penalty area most offsides player most offsides team highest fouls to cards ratio lowest fouls to cards ratio most free kicks won most shots without scoring most shots without scoring: team most shots in match: team fewst shots in match: team most shots in match: player fewst shots in match: player most shots on target: player most shots on target: team most shots off target: player most shots off target: team and so it goes on. You don't have to know anything about football in England to know that collecting such data is a sad thing to do, surely. After all, it is only data and surely cannot be turned into information ... can it? DW

By accident I think I found a really useful site that has reading lists and links for dozens and dozens of accounting topics: maintained by Chris Lamb, I wrote to congratulate him on his work! 25/11/02 Dear Chris, I just came across your site for the first time and think you are providing a very useful service for students, academics and practitioners. I haven't had chance to look at everything you have done so if I have missed something, my apologies. Maybe you would consider taking a look at my own site ww.duncanwil.co.uk with a view to seeing it as a useful resource that can be added to your own set of links and suggestions. Best wishes DW 27/11/02 Duncan Not so much a site as a small corner of one. I've linked in to your ZBB page and will be having a further look to see what matches the topics I have covered. Some of the questions you have posted sound suspiciously like courseworks here but then maybe students throught the UK are doing corporate governance etc. Have you seen the Onepine site covering management thinkers? [See my next Blog entry for details ... scroll down a bit]. Nice potted summaries with lots of references and links for the conscientious student. Chris I responded: 27/11/02 Thanks for that Chris, I was a lecturer for many years but am now back in commercial management accounting, training and consultancy, albeit mainly overseas: Bosnia at the moment for example. What you see on my site is a mixture of what I did, what I do and what people ask me about. I get a lot of questions these days as you can see from my WeBlog, link on my home page, and although many of the questions are from students a large proportion come from teachers and the rest from practising accountants and business people. As far as students are concerned, I give help that ranges from lists like those on your site all the way through to more extensive and detailed work. However, since my work is essentially in the public domain, what I do is open for all to see and so I always tell my visitors that if ever they use my work they MUST acknowledge it in full: I also share my work with teachers and trainers around the globe in an attempt to minimise the pure lift by students! As for corporate governance, this does seem to becoming more popular in UK universities and the professional accountancy bodies are picking up on it too. I know some people refuse to answer what they see as students' assignments, as you can see from the AccountingWEB discussion I mention in my Blog; but since my calling was teaching and communicating, I find it impossible to refuse just about all offers of help! Thanks for the ZBB link and I hope you'll find a lot more worthy of your consideration, too. I also wrote a few things over at Between the Sheets that some of your visitors could well find appealing: interactive spreadsheets that are, again, completely free of charge and they are also fully downloadable! Aimed at entry level students and practitioners, they are not necessarily rocket science! To go with the spreadsheets, there are also A general guide to the spreadsheets A glossary to accompany all of the spreadsheets A teacher's introduction A student's introduction Using spreadsheets Thanks also for the onepine link, I'll take a look at that now. Best wishes and further, 27/11/02 Dear Chris, If onepine is your site, I have to say that you have done a brilliant job. This must be the best single public domain collection of its kind that there is. I have skipped around a bit since I'm not that deeply into management fads and fancies (sorry if that sounds cynical) and liked the way that the Tom Peters link on the home page goes back in a circular loop to the top of the home page where everyone else's work starts. I have little time for Peters but have to admire his newsclipping service that has made him fabulously wealthy via the books he turned it all into. The link to leaderaid on http://www.onepine.info/lead1.htm is dead DW

Ever come across something so good you almost fall over yourself with excitement? Here's something for students and teachers of organisational behaviour to drool over: people organisations theory models concepts @onepine It's got all of these people chris argyris, warren bennis, chester barnard, blake & mouton, bion, meredith belbin, nancy dixon, gerard egan, henri fayol, fielder, mary parker follett, charles handy, edward hall, geert hofstede, hersey & blanchard, peter honey, juran, rosabeth moss kanter, kolb, kurt lewin, michael lissack, abraham maslow, elton mayo, albert mehrabian, merton, mintzberg, gareth morgan, tom peters, quinn & rohrbaugh , reg revans, carl rogers, ed schein, peter senge, fwtaylor, fons trompenaars, bwtuckman, richard swurman, karl weick For each of these people you will be taken to a page that has information, links, books, essays about ... all you need There's also a timeline showing the development of management thinking since 500BC Well worth a look! DW

With some really good quality help from www.drmath.com I finally got to grips with Trefor's non square simultaneous equations matrix and solved it. Trouble is, Trefor's email address keeps bouncing and I can't tell him the good news! Anyone know Trefor??? DW

Hi Duncan, I have been trying to solve this equation and diagram for over a week now and am still at a loss. If at all possible can you help me? Here goes: P = 20 -2Q, how do I find the mid-point elasticity formulae to determine the price of elasticity demand when the rice changes from five to six dollars? I'm finding it difficult as to where the -2Q goes and where it goes on the diagram. Talk about confusing. I should have paid more attention at school with algebra but then who was to know that I wanted to get into business back then. Thanks A Hello again and thanks for the question. Depending on the level you are working at the answer if one of two possibilities You can apply the basic formula of Price Elasticity of Demand (PED) = % change in quantity/% change in price which in this case is ((7 – 7.5)/7.5 * 100)/((6-5)/5)*100) = 6.667%/20% = -0.3333 Or Mid Point PED = (change in quantity/mid quantity)/change in price/mid price) = (-0.5/7.25)/(1/5.5) = -0.37931 Different answers because the formulae are a little bit different. Two pages to help you: PED is an interactive spreadsheet file that I wrote for www.bized.ac.uk a couple of years ago … step by step help for you Mid point PED same site but I didn’t write this one. It’s a nice looking and very clear power point presentation and the bit you need is very, very clear: just keep pressing the page down key until you get to the sheets you need, not many! I hope this is helpful! DW

Sorry to keep bothering you Nicholas, but take a look at this, too, as it could help you with some of the practical aspects of your essay: Financial Reporting Review Panel: "FINDINGS OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTING REVIEW PANEL IN RESPECT OF THE ACCOUNTS OF LIBERTY INTERNATIONAL PLC FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2000 " DW

Nicholas wrote and wrote Hi, I am an accounting student in UK and having a slight problems regarding my Financial reporting essay. It is like this ....'use your understanding of important aspects of both SSAP2 /accruals concept and user conflict, as an analytical tool to expose gaps and contradictions in SSAP19 Accounting for investment Propertise.' Well I may not know if you could help me with is as I could not fully write an essay like this and also went to check on ur web and wondering if you could tell me how to approach this 'motion' and I would really appreciate your help. I may need you to direct me and what shopuld I do and if you can could you let me know?? NH My answer was: Hello Nicholas, The key to success in such exercises comes in two parts: having the knowledge you need by having read all of the relevant standards and anything else you can find in the books and journals relating to them having a good plan of what to say and how you are going to say it To some extent your planning is the most important part of your work. In this case, make sure you begin by reading the relevant pages on my site in the financial accounting section on concepts, conventions and the contradictions in some of those concepts: this includes a general view and an up to date ASB view of these issues. SSAP 2 is old hat now so be careful how you refer to that. I have to confess that I am not that familiar with SSAP 19 seeing as how my focus is on IAS these days: feel free to send me the standard if you have it electronically and I’ll sort out what I think you need. I am not in the UK at the moment and don’t have that standard with me. My pages almost give you the answer to the first part of the question “'use your understanding of important aspects of both SSAP2 /accruals concept and user conflict” and you should start by discussing (and that’s not just writing a list, but really discussing) the issues that you think are important then find the gaps and contradiction in SSAP 19 that arise from the first part of your discussion … what are they, do you know? Did you lecturer mention these in his lectures or tutorials? If not, what do your friends think? Do a search on the Web for SSAP 19 and its problems … look around! Finally, you need to discuss why you chose the gaps and contradictions you did and give your proofs of, or support, for believing that they are gaps and contradictions. Of course, your essay needs to start with an introduction and finish with a conclusion and possibly ideas for further work by the ASB to tidy up any mess you think you’ve found; and that might include a statement of how important you think this issue is. If this issue is mainly an academic one you should say so. If you think the issue is very important and that it leads to serious under or overstatement of asset values then you should say so … justify your answers too. I hope you find this helpful Nicholas and feel free to contact me again. I hope this response is not too late for you and don’t forget to tell me how you get on. Best wishes DW Then ... Nicholas, just came across this which MIGHT help a bit: Chris Lamb's links and resource suggestions BTW, I just spotted the Hyperlinks button on the WeBlog edit site ... sorry for previous difficulties! DW

The British Embassy Incident I did a bit more walking around Sarajevo around midday yesterday and took some more good snaps. I came across the British Embassy by accident and decided I'd snap that, too. Big mistake! I did see the guard's box outside the building and I did look to see if there were any guards inside: I saw none as the blinds were closed. The Germany Embassy next door had guards in their box and they were there for all to see. So, I felt free to snap away. I took one pic that included a corner of the building including This is the British Embassy plaque and the Union Flag on a flag pole and then a started to amble down the street to take a picture of the British crest ... lion, unicorn, honi soit qui mal y pense and all that ... when TWO guards piled out of their box. Gulp! I smiled and nodded and made to walk on nonchalantly but they called me back! I opened with "I'm British and this is the British Embassy so I wanted a photo." One of them asked me to show him what I'd done and I did. Hardly the world's most stunning pic. The guard asked for my ID ... I've lived abroad for over 14 years now and I still haven't got used to the idea that the rest of the world demands that everyone carries their passport, birth certificate and letter from their mother to say what a good boy I always was ... I had nothing: no passport, no birth certificate, no letter from my mother, not even my business card. It's in the office, er, the hotel, I blurted. He then asked "Can you trust me?" I think he meant "Can I trust you?" but his English was better than my Bosnian so I simply implored "Yes!" He looked at his mate and asked, in English for some reason, "Can you trust me?": his mate looked at me sideways and said nothing, maybe his English was better than his mate's and he realised that I had them on the language front! This looked like good news so I said a hale and hearty "Sorry!", made my excuses and left. I continued my tour of that part of the city with a hunted look and had become possibly the most dodgy looking photographer they have seen on the streets of Sarajevo for many a long day! This morning I put my passport in my jacket pocket as I left for work. DW

Sunny Sarajevo we call it! I've been here almost a week but because of work committments I was only able to begin exploring the city this weekend. I can confrim that the city is built in a very steep sided valley the bottom of which very narrow. This means that the maority of all buildings are on the hillsides and I made it my business to take a hike up one of the hills yesterday. Eesh! As I was getting to the steepest part I came across an old lady who'd been to buy her bread and she was making her way home: now I don't suppose she was going too far and it didn't look to bad but clearly not everyone could get used to such climbing just to take the bread home! Since I don't like hills I tend to walk up them very quickly so I passed everyone else who was walking in the same direction as me: old and young alike. So, it was all good exercise and I took some nice snaps, too. As a result of these exertions I am sure I feel better but my right knee's giving me jip and this morning my lower back said it didn't like what I'd done to it! I need to get out more so I'll be doing that in a moment, too, as I tackle a hill on the other side today! DW

A while ago I worked with an email friend down under (that's New Zealand, in this case, and Australia for anyone who doesn't know!) a couple of problems from College ... I didn't do everything, just helped out and here's the good news: Hi Duncan I wish to thank you for your help with my accounting studies and learning. I have a clearer understanding of accounting now than I did before. I have only received my results from my exam held on the 12th Nov and was very surprised and pleased to have received a B+ overall. I thought I would share this with you as you played a major part in my learning. I am now doing Economic Environment 120 Paper and am finding it a bit of struggle but hey I will get there. Again thank you very much. A There ... it pays to talk to duncanwil! DW

Searchmore came back to me with a couple of supplementary, and interesting, questions: Dear Duncan Thank you for the reply to my query. However I've discovered further issues with regard to this Crocodile valuation dilemma. We don't have an active market for the live crocodiles ( both consumable and bearer biological assets) and presumably paragraph 30 applies. The question is : 1 - What cost do we attribute to the consumable bearer biological assets and to the consumable biological assets? The main costs incurred is feeding , treatment costs and cleaning costs for the holding pens coupled with the direct labour. 2 -How should we best present the two classes of the biological assets in the balance sheet? Regards Searchmore My replies are: Dear Searchmore Question 1: IAS 41 paragraphs 30 – 33 show that the IASC people never thought about what might happen in Zimbabwe, did they? Their message in these paragraphs is quite clear: your problem is only an acceptable problem the first time you try to solve it, then it's plain sailing! “There is a presumption that fair value can be measured reliably for a biological asset. However, that presumption can be rebutted only on initial recognition for a biological asset for which market-determined prices or values are not available and for which alternative estimates of fair value are determined to be clearly unreliable. In such a case, that biological asset should be measured at its cost less any accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses. Once the fair value of such a biological asset becomes reliably measurable, an enterprise should measure it at its fair value less estimated point-of-sale costs.” IAS 41:30 As a cost accountant, I have always taken the view that IAS 41 should adopt a cost based valuation basis anyway, but the IASC have decided otherwise. Paragraph 33 helps us here: “In determining cost, accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses, an enterprise considers IAS 2, Inventories, IAS 16, Property, Plant and Equipment, and IAS 36, Impairment of Assets.” IAS 41:33 Take the view that you would for any other product that goes through a process, such as manufacturing furniture from wood or youghurt, cheese and butter from milk and so on and accumulate your costs from there. I would keep it as simple and realistic as possible. Question 2: IAS 41 is fairly clear here and I think that as long as you are able to accumulate the costs of the different classes of asset successfully then just take a look at the specimen balance sheet in Appendix A of IAS 41 for guidance. I hope you find these comments helpful. Best wishes DW

Margaret wrote again, I'm happy to say with this: Hello Duncan I have chosen Sommerfield and Sainsbury for my Report regarding the ASB's Statement of principles. What do you think? Do you think I should change them? Thank you here's my response Dear Margaret, The key point to bear in mind when choosing companies to analyse is whether you have full access to the information you need. Sainsbury data is freely available, I know; and I imagine the same is true of Somerfield, although I don't think I've ever studied them. You've chosen two companies in the same industry: is that within the brief you've been given, I can't remember. Not a bad idea but companies from different industries might give you something more interesting. On the other hand, the retail industry is fascinating from an accounting and logistics point of view, for example, as Tesco seems brilliant at logistics and that shines through in its Stock holdings ... Loads to think about! Hope this is useful. DW

This just came in, unsolicited! Dear Duncan, I'm trawling through Mike Bassett reviews and I come across yours. Thank you for firstly taking the time to write about the film and generally being so positive about it. As I write to you me and my writing partner are currently writing the TV series for the BBC so I guess you got your wish in the end. Thanks again. John R. Smith (Co writer MB:EM) Thought you'd all like to know! DW

Stage two: I wrote to the Statistics Service Dept of the UK Civil Service about the starting date of the RPI and they replied as follows: The Retail Prices Index began in 1947. Here is a link to the brief guide found on our website: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/rpiguides.pdf Here is a link to all the indices from 1947: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/RP02.pdf All this information is found on our website http://www.statistics.gov.uk/rpi Praise Mike Gibbs at the Stats Office! DW

I gave rather a flippant answer to a question that someone asked about the starting dates of indices such as the RPI, FTSE and so on; and having been rightly chastised for my flippancy, I then found out the following starting dates that relate to ALL FTSE indices currently in use: FTSE100: 31/12/83 FTSE All share: 10/4/62 FTSE250: 31/12/85 FTSE350: 31/12/85 Smallcap: 31/12/92 Fledgling: 30/12/94 FTSE AllShare ex Investment: 12/5/97 FTSE350 ex Investment: 12/5/97 FTSE IT: 31/12/97 FTSE All Share ex multinationals: 30/9/99 Thank you Eva Kamau at www.ftse.com DW

In case Trefor Jones reads this: I replied to your email, Trefor, but it came back as undeliverable. Here's what I said. Well, Trefor, I've played around with two of Excel's functions and have to ask: are you sure you've given me the right coefficients? I did what you did and derived a fifth equation: simple and satisfies the MINVERSE and MMULT requirements. I get answers: a = 16 b = 4 c = 0 d = 16 e = 16 But these values do not satisfy the equations: instead of the RHS values you gave for equations 1 - 4, these answers give me 16 20 16 -4 I then tried the SOLVER routine and ended up with similar values: a = 15.90 b = 3.79 c = 0.16 d = 16 e = 16.15 16.16 21.2 16.4 -3.76 I'll happily work on this a bit more, Trefor: just confirm your data and we'll see if we can make any more progress. Best wishes DW

Very nice drive to Sarajevo since I last logged on and I'll be here for a couple of weeks. Greg wrote and asked Hello Greg, Hi, I'm a Master's student from a University in the UK. I'm currently doing my Financial Reporting coursework regarding the UK retail market. I'm in the midst of finding the risk free rate (Rf) and the Rm for computing the cost of capital rate for computing my NPV. So can you be so kind to give me some hints of how and where can I find these rates from especially for Marks & Spencer Plc and J Sainsbury? Thanks in advance. Greg Here's my reply: I’m not sure I’ll be able to help you that much as you have moved into a specialist area and since I don’t work much in and around finance, I can only do my best. Start with something like this http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/docs/77/costcap.htm it gives you the standard view of the risk free rate being the rate on index-linked UK Government bonds … this page concerns the cost of capital for railtrack and it should be of use to you as it then goes on to talk about debt premia and the cost of equity. Here’s a similar page from Oftel http://www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/1995_98/fair_trading/ftmobile/annex.htm which gives a few more, although it’s not as comprehensive as the previous page. That page links to http://www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/1995_98/fair_trading/ftmobile/contents.htm which MIGHT be of additional help. Here’s a pdf file that I’ve seen a few times, http://www.postcomm.gov.uk/documents/competition/OXERA_letter.pdf, and that you might find useful: aimed at the postal service this time. Another pdf file from the competition commission http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/fulltext/306a3.4.pdf that relates to BAA and gives the usual blurb on cost of capital and beta. It’s part of a very large document that you might get your hands on if you play around with the URL or go to the commission’s site and do a search there. Yet another pdf, this time on the London Underground http://www.london.gov.uk/approot/news/ind_soc_report/Appendix_VII_financial_modelling.pdf at least you are getting real live examples! A lot of sensitivity analysis here, too, by the look of it. Try this pdf, too, http://www.caa.co.uk/erg/ergdocs/costofcapital.pdf, although my web link fell apart at this point! Anyway, I hope this is of some use and I’m sorry I couldn’t get directly at M&S and Sainsbury for you but I think these links will get you at least part of the way. Let me know if I can help further and tell me how you get on with your study: I will be interested. Best wishes DW

Felix wrote to ask if his idea of using a Lorenz Curve for use in calculating bonuses was feasible. I set up spreadsheet file for felix in which I demonstrated both a Lorenz Curve type approach and an approach using regression analysis. If you would like a copy of the spreadsheet, just write to me at duncan@duncanwil.co.uk, making sure it's clear what you want and I'll send it. DW

Early on Friday I flew down to Zagreb en route to Banja Luka in Bosnia where I am working on a short contract on cost accounting systems development. I've already taken lots of snaps with my digital camera and will keep you fully informed! I replied to Margaret again, this time she asked a question on how to analyse an annual report and accounts document to see if it meets the needs of its users. This is what I replied: Let me start you off with a task that you should find helpful. Go to my web site and look in the financial accounting section and you will find that I write about this topic on various pages. Take a look at the pages called concepts and conventions. I not only talk about general concepts and conventions but specifically about the ASB’s views of who the users of accounting are … as a matter of interest I think the ASB’s list of users is too short and my own list is much better! I hope this at least starts you off Maggie! Then you can take the annual reports and sit them alongside my pages and the ASB’s Statement of Principles and go through them one by one. Which companies did you choose? Why did you choose them? Could you have chosen better companies that would help you with this task? DW

I needn't have woried about my back ... see yesterday's post ... but I found that my right knee has swollen up a bit having been iffy during the day whenever I climbed the stairs and such like exertions. I told you that all of that bark what flipping heavy! DW

Responded to a post on a teachers' Economics/Business Studies discussion list concerning the definition of capacity. I responded as follows: The best place to get to grips with an understanding of the meaning of what you are calling Capacity in the context of business studies is a cost and management accounting book ... such as mine! Maximum capacity is, eg, 168 hours a week for every resource if a business works 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Of course, not all businesses do work 168 hours a week so their maximum capacity relates to their ordinary working week. Then we need to refine the definition, along the lines of ideal capacity practical capacity normal capacity expected capacity. ideal capacity is the absolute maximum and it is rarely attainable in the long run practical capacity takes a more realistic view of capacity by, eg, allowing for planned maintenance, machine setups, meal breaks, training time, waiting for materials, materials handling delays ... however, this view of capacity takes a high rate of productivity view of life in that it should assume an optimum level of production/utilisation time and minimum down time normal capacity is a variation on the practical capacity and allows for a less stringent view of down time: this is the level of capcity that will be assumed by cost accountants as they are compiling standards, working through budgets and so on expected capacity is the level of capacity takes an even more relaxed view than normal capacity and might take account of, eg, local conditions, union agreements, special allowances for employees with disabilities ... the best example of that to come out of the news over the last week is at Sunderland AFC where Niall Quinn admitted that former manager Peter Reid had allowed him to take life easier than new manager Howard Wilkinson will ... because of Quinn's bad back!! If you want to put percentages on all of this, for illustration only, we might find as follows: ideal capacity ... 100% practical capacity ... 95% normal capacity ... 93% expected capacity ... 90% DW

On the personal front I'm nursing my back a little bit as I spent the afternoon lugging many kilogrammes of bark chippings from Garden Centre to car to garden and then all over my small garden. The chippings are the mulch for my Chrysanthemums, Roses, Peonies, Fruit Trees, Herbs and so on for the winter. Anyway, it took 750 litres of the chippings to cover the beds I needed to cover: they're heavy!! Let's hope I'm not bed ridden for a week or so and that the flowers, shrubs and trees all appreciate my hard work!! DW

Questions are coming in thick and fast at the moment. Peta from Australia has an exam based on Joe's Peanuts and wanted some advice on what to look for. Basically, this case, see this page http://www.duncanwil.co.uk/joe.html on my web site for the case and some questions is all about absorption versus marginal costing and how easy it is to get the two confused. I told Peta about a follow up case that appeared in the UK's Management Accounting magazine as it was then called and hope that this will help with the exam! Kiren, don't know where from, wanted to know when it's still appropriate to use standard costing. I gave references to Dearden's Management Accounting: Text and Cases, Drury's Management and Cost Accounting and Kaplan and Johnson Relevance Lost to help out. Luis wrote from Peru to ask about IAS 41 for his sugar cane farm ... this one's in progress. DW

I got a question over night from South Africa on how to apply IAS 20: Government Grants. A company's auditors want to reverse an entry from last year in which they initially credited a Government Grant to the Equity Account ... could they, should they, reverse that entry? My advice is that according to IAS 20 they have NO CHOICE but to reverse that entry. Government Grants, all Grants, MUST be shown as income and NEVER as capital. DW

I was asked a supplementary question by Nick about Management Styles and Structures so here is a further set of links. Go to my Web site and follow the trail to the Business Section to find a big word file with all of these goodies in it! The long document is a collection of some useful work on the Internet concerning management styles and structures. As can be seen I have taken virtually everything verbatim and I have duly acknowledged all sources for all examples. Start with http://www.qualityamerica.com/knowledgecente/articles/CQMStyle2.html Management Style Matters   by Derek Breton http://www.mdcentre.govt.nz/private/senior/planning/1_3.php3 Leadership Styles http://intranet.bexhillcollege.ac.uk/A-Level%20BS/CD/HRM/Leadership_Styles.htm http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.culpin/andrews_cv/im/im_mstyle.htm#top Leadership and Management Styles http://www.longroad.ac.uk/accreditation_project/subject_business/bs_as/module_2/motivation/leadership.htm The Move From Management To Leadership http://dis.shef.ac.uk/teaching/introleadership2002.htm History: 20th century management theories http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/teaching/ismanagement/manstyles1f.htm Leadership cf. management http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/teaching/ismanagement/manstyles1f.htm The functional approach http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/teaching/ismanagement/manstyles1f.htm Theory X and Theory Y http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/teaching/ismanagement/manstyles1f.htm Populist approaches http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/teaching/ismanagement/manstyles1f.htm Leadership Styles http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/ME96/Documents/Styles/styles.html Dowding’s Universal business Model Diagram http://www.howarddowding.com/modelhighres.htm Group Leadership: McCann http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/groups/mccann.html People in Organisations http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/revision/as_management.doc The ‘good enough’ manager http://www.actionlink.org.uk/home/GetFile.cfm?FileName=goodeno.doc For a four page summary of the basics of management styles why not download the pdf file at http://www.aloa.co.uk/New%20ALoA/samples%20of%20cd%20etc/Leadership%20styles.pdf? For real life examples of how organisations see themselves, carry out a search with Google of Yahoo or Ask Jeeves for Organisational Structure and find lots of real live examples of what organisations think of themselves!! DW

Bob Jensen, of http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen pointed out the following two links in one of his fantastic resources sometime last week. The first link suggests that the USA does away with undergraduate accounting programmes, replaces them with liberal arts pre accounting programmes and then flings all aspitant accountants onto a Doctor of Accounting programme. The second link responds to the first! http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2002/1002/features/f102802.htm http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2002/1002/features/f103402.htm Firstly, I see nothing wrong with building an accounting programme with the liberal arts type things that Nearon, link one, suggests and cringe at the thought of all accountants being “doctors”. Read them and make up your own mind. My view is that it’s all tosh, no offence intended!! DW

Margaret wrote to me over the weekend and asked about Corporate Governance. In the past I have tended to steer clear of this as it is something that is too thorny for my humble site and it's an ever fluid issue that is difficult to keep on top of. This time, however, I got to grips with it by doing a search and review of some of what's available on the Internet in this area. I have put together a Word file on this that will be in the Business Section of my site before too long but here are the main links I found that should prove useful for Margaret and others lookinto this issue: A corporate view of a company's own Corporate Governance affairs at http://www.prudential.co.uk/prudentialplc/aboutpru/coportategovernance/ Here’s a short essay on CG from Global Change, at: http://www.globalchange.com/corporategovernance.htm Ever heard of the National Criminal Intelligence Service? Here it is, with its own corporate governance section: http://www.ncis.co.uk/corporategovernance.asp. The Association of British Insurers has a page on corporate governance http://www.abi.org.uk/Display/default.asp?Menu_ID=705&Menu_All=1,704,705 that has several highlighted issues that lead on to links within their site. Go to http://www.manifest.co.uk/manifest_i/index.htm to start answering these questions. the link for this essay is http://www.manifest.co.uk/manifest_i/2002/0210Oct/021001editorial.htm The there’s the Information Assurance Advisory Council, again I’d never herad of them but here they are discussing corporate governance at http://www.iaac.org.uk/initiatives/governance.htm. Their introductory paragraph says: the document Engaging the Board: Corporate Governance and Information Risk is at http://www.iaac.org.uk/initiatives/CG%20Recommendations%20Paper.pdf, takes you to a 41 page PDF file that has headings of great interest to anyone beginning a study of corporate governance in the UK. Well worth the download time! The Guardian newspaper had an article on 5 July 2002 in which it reported on Corporate governance and auditing rules, saying The full article is at http://www.guardian.co.uk/theissues/article/0,6512,750233,00.html Local Government has also embraced corporate governance in the UK. Here is a page from Leicester City Council in which they set out their Local Code on Corporate Governance, at http://www.leicester.gov.uk/departments/page.asp?pgid=3355 Go to the Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society (BRASS) at http://www.brass.cf.ac.uk/Links4.html There's a lot to think about there to get you going! DW

One of the reasons I run my web site the way I do is that I not only get to "meet" people that I wouldn't otherwise do; but I get to interact with some of my visitors, the vast majority of whom I have not, and will never, meet. 1 Here's a feedback note from Richard Young, someone I did meet once and talked to over the phone a couple of times: I wrote the standard deviation and normal distributions pages for my site at the behest of Richard. Richard then did an excellent job of translating some of my work into handbook for students of marketing that he asked me to proof read for him. Here's Richard's feedback: A BIG Thanks for your amendments. I have included an acknowledgement to you and a link in the preface. Acknowledgements. I am grateful to Duncan Williamson for supplying detailed background notes on normal distributions and standard deviation which have been adapted for these Q&A. See http://duncanwil.co.uk/nonfin.htm Regards Richard Young from the UK 2 I did a bit of work for Sajitha Dishanka over the last couple of weeks, too and here's Sajitha's message, just arrived: Thank you for your kind consideration on my recent requisition. And, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for every mail that you had sent. Thank you again. Sajitha Dishanka from Colombo in Sri Lanka 3 LWL paid what I think is a big compliment, too, with the following: Dear Duncan Williamson, Two and a half decades ago, my classmate tried to influenced me into reading the Diary of Anne Frank to improve my English. After class, he took me to the British Council but unfortunately he failed to propagate that idea across because he did not learn how to motivate me to do so. Today, I was introduced to something alike - I called it the Diary of Duncan Williamson. My mindset, I guess, is different this time round. My self motivation drove me into it. Well, I am happy to have got a friend through the internet. Regards, LWL A good start to Monday morning here in a crisp and sunny old England! DW

If you go to OSL and head for their Free Resources and then Notes, you'll see a wealth of materials that are aimed at management styles and a huge amount more. DW

I wrote to Chris Sivewright of the Oxford School of Learning and post haste he supplied me with the URLs I was looking for: www.osl-ltd.co.uk www.osl-ltd.co.uk/tutor www.oxford-conferences.com I'll find the direct link for the management styles etc page I mentioned yesterday and post if here when I find it. DW

I then wrote to LWL as follows ... and I'd give this advice to anyone, too!! Dear LWL, Overnight someone wrote to me asking about management styles and cultures and you can see my responses in my online journal: go to www.duncanwil.co.uk/Weblog/blogindex.html to see what I told Nick. It's not a full page with discussion and examples but you might find them useful. I have just started Blogging and am using my journal to report things like this as I find it so convenient: the address will always be the same, I think, so visit it regularly. Hope you find it at least a bit useful. Best wishes Duncan DW

Nick wrote to me overnight asking: I need some help, I'm looking for some interesting sites on management styles and culture. Or any useful information would be great or sites. Thanks Nick I normally insist that whoever writes to me asking for help tells me a bit about who they are and what they want; but since this follows on from my chat with LWL of earlier this week, I let Nick through; and here are my suggestions. Dear Nick, Take a look at these and see if they help: http://www.management-culture.com/index-page2.htm ... sells itself as MBA level http://stress.about.com/library/weekly/aa021901a.htm?terms=new ... maybe a page to start you off by the look of it http://www.noworkviolence.com/articles/corporate_culture.htm ... culture but with a security emphasis, may be useful http://rnb.cuesta.com/c/@3FKlpz.alRMKY/Pages/culturefit.html ... culture with a link to http://rnb.cuesta.com/c/@3FKlpz.alRMKY/Pages/news_itn_love.html which is a potentially useful article; and look out for the links on the left of this page that might inspire you too http://www.lmi.org/Careers/culture.htm ... one company's own culture A three part series of articles on management style: 1 http://managementlearning.com/art/persmyao/index.html 2 http://managementlearning.com/art/persrjob/index.html 3 http://managementlearning.com/art/persrdes/index.html and from the same site here is an introduction to some of the key issues you are probably looking at http://managementlearning.com/topi/mngtstyl.html including Herzberg, Hawthorne Studies, Renis Likert and more You should also search for Japanese management styles, American management styles and so on and maybe do searches for comparisons of styles across the world http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/bm_model.html ... the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid might be useful for you: gets you to identify the type of manager you are ... worth a look if you don't know it I can't find the link for the Oxford School of Learning but that has a couple of pages in this area aimed at A level (UK pre University students) that is the best summary of management thinking I have seen in a long time. Interested in the classics such as Herberg and Maslow? Do a serach such as herzberg, maslow and you'll find such pages as http://ericae.net/pare/getvn.asp?v=5&n=11 ... looks like a great starter to me, with some good comparisons to chew over Well, there you are. Finding those pages took me around 10 - 15 minutes and I hope you find them useful. I'm not sure of the level you want so if some of these are not useful, please disregard them or let me know how I can refine my search for you. Best wishes Duncan Williamson DW

I thought I'd end the day with an exchange I had with an accountant who would like me to add some more to my web site. Here's the exchange in full: some good ideas and I've promised to do what I can and will happily do what he asks if I can. 7 Nov 02 Dear Duncan Williamson, I have browsed through your site and took it as a refresher course for myself. However, I would like to suggest some categories to be added in to your site, namely, BUSINESS and MANAGEMENT. We, as qualified accountants are given side roles in business as well as management. For instance, I am involved in another portfolio - maintaining my company's quality management system (after having implementing it) in line with ISO 9001:2000 requirements. I was told by my Lloyd's Register assessor that more and more accountants are being appointed as Quality Mgt Reps. How about considering what I said? Maybe, in time to come your site will be able to "compete' with the AWeb in certain ways. As of todate, I can't find a site that provides Q & As on ISO matters just like AWeb provide. Perhaps, yours could be the first? I look forward to hearing from you further. Regards, LWL Thanks, LWL, and I have a lot sympathy for your quest. I'd love to do what you suggest but let me remind you that I have a full time job and my web site is my hobby. That means I have to ration my time according to my interests and requests from people such as yourself. I try to add business and management things as I can: clearly, more could be done. I like the idea of the AccountingTutorWeb idea that I think you posted on AccountingWeb ... I do some of this; but given the way I work, my site isn't focused on one aspect of accounting and education. I would be more than happy to work with you on, for example, publishing work on ISO 9001:2000 or anything else you are interested in. Please let me know if you'd like to work on this and we'll discuss it further. Alternatively, let me know your problem area and I'll tell you if I can work on that! Best wishes and thanks for your interest. Duncan Williamson Dear Duncan Williamson, I understand your position as having a full-time job with your website as your hobby. My suggestion is something for consideration and I am glad you are receptive towards it. Perhaps, doing a little bit at a time on those new areas, in time to come, I am sure you will build up an informative website. At the moment, I do not have much problems in my accounting portfolio job as sad to say I do not involve much in the technical aspects, though holding a professionally recognised UK qualification. I guess you gave me that encouragement to participate in your website, and I shall take advantage of this extra mile to pose some questions of some technical or complex situations. I guess at a lower level, the problem of today's accounting department lies in the difference caused by knowledge and organisational capabilities. This "knowledge gap", I guess is going to widen with today's competitive needs of companies planning to go global with the WTO and AFTA requirements. This could be caused by some overly contented staff and this is one backlog problems accountants might face in their subordinates' training programme trying to "unlearn" those bad habits of their subordinates. To me, the work of the QMR (quality mgt rep) is much more challenging of the two portfolios I hold. Dealing with recalcitrants is one terrible aspects I could imagine of and also with some "dead wood" staff. One of my encounters involved having to resolve the problem cause by this consultant who interpreted the ISO clauses wrongly, having convinced the top management team. Sad to say, why are such people so easily taken in by their lack of knowledge. We are not continuing the services of this consultant anyway. So much so about work, this type of stories could bore another. I thought having some kind of hobby like astronomy, etc could place your website to be even more interesting and attractive. Again, this needs time and effort. This is just another one aspect which I thought could spruce up the entire website of yours. When time permits, I shall try to inputs some of my questions with the hope that your wbesite will be more informational. Till then, hope to hear from you again. Regards, Loh WL Dear LWL, I think you are right about the general education of accountants. I used to work as a cost accountant and you might be astonished to hear that fellow cost accountants would happily sit in their offices all day and not even dream of walking around the factory to see how our products were all put together and how products and product costs were inter related. Similarly, we ought all to take as many opportunities as possible to work on our general business background. After all, as you have found, we don't all necessarily stay in the technical side of business for ever, we might have a department to manage one day ... Looking forward to more of this! Best wishes Duncan Williamson DW

A man from Zimbabwe wrote to me yesterday and asked if I could help him to get to grips with the valuation for accounting purposes of Crocodiles! The things people do. If you might be fascinated by this issue, why not trip over to www.duncanwil.co.uk/ias41crocs.html. Riveting stuff; and there's more to it than you might think! DW

Shame has hit me again. A huge thanks to Margaret Johnstone of Scotland for taking the time and trouble to spot and correct a couple of unforgivable errors on my new Free Cash Flow page. Thanks Margaret and keep visiting! DW

Here's something that I hope does not breach any copyright rules ... my sincere apologies if it does; but I have given full credit for the full source, together with full links to the original. Whatever happened to the "virtual close"? Annotations of an article from www.cfo.com: full link at end. The virtual close, that is a business filing its annual report and account at the end of the financial year in real time, is an issue that crops up from time to time. Janet Kersnar of CFO wrote an article in which she explored this issue. Here is my summary of that article. ... Cisco Systems ... show the way. Yet research by KPMG Consulting Inc ... Surveying 550 companies, KPMG found that the average close took 8 days in 1999; two years later it had decreased by just 1 day. the entire process: closing the books ... press release ... no progress at all has been made ... 34 days to achieve that in 1999, and the same number last year. ... the only way you can get faster is if you improve the quality of your processes." Best-in-class companies such as Cisco offer some object lessons. ... make sure their processes and procedures are consistent and reliable ... a single chart of accounts for their entire organization. ... standard, companywide data warehousing or similar technology, and have automated most — if not all — of their processes ... installed Web-based applications or interfaces to connect consolidation tools and local companies' general-ledger systems. ... fast-close projects at best-in-class companies are a work in progress ... Germany's Veba Oel ...[t]he $26 billion oil and petrol-retail company ... few processes ... standardized across the company, which comprised three businesses for marketing and distribution, refining, and upstream production, with about 100 subgroups filing reports to them. ... workshops with unit heads, accountants, controllers, and auditors to discuss how books were closed "product by product, process by process ... group-level intercompany reconciliation now takes less than a day a month compared with four days before the project began ... in February 2002, E.On sold Veba Oel to BP of the United Kingdom, where the demands for fast consolidation and reporting are even greater. ... at the German company Henkel, $13 billion maker of toiletries, home-care products, and industrial goods began using Web-based software for intercompany reconciliations. "Having Web-enabled software for intercompany reconciliations is a great way to let managers anywhere in the company see their receivables against the liabilities of their partners within Henkel," ... "... 280 reporting units ..." ... groupwide database and financial system that ... "will give us seamless, real-time virtual management." ... auditors signing off on the 2001 accounts by February 14 this year, Henkel made its financials available to shareholders 45 working days after year-end — 10 days faster than in 2001. The aim is to sign off on the books by January 31 of next year. ... Gerber Foods, a £450 million ($700 million) U.K. drinks supplier, is hoping [to] say the same ... waved good-bye to the trusty spreadsheets ... moved to Web-based consolidation and reporting software. "Spreadsheets are fine ... for ad hoc analysis ... But once a company reaches a certain scale ... too cumbersome to be the sole tool for closing the books." ... the KPMG survey found that while the average time to close the books has declined only 1 day, the median has dropped from 10 days to 7, and audit sign-off has dropped from 16 days to 10 (both average and median) ... Original autohor Janet Kersnar, CFO IT Date published October 23, 2002 Web link to full article http://www.cfo.com/article/1,5309,7884|||3,00.html DW

Bonfire Night in the UK tonight: celebrating the capture of Guy Fawkes, a Yorkshireman like yours truly, and therefore the foiling of the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Fawkes was guarding the cellar in which the bomb that he and his fellow conspirators had planted when he was found by the palace guard ... following a tip off from someone. The following day, the King was due to open/visit parliament and was to have been the target of the bombing. Fawkes was found guilty and hanged, drawn and quartered as far as I know ... or was he burned to death on a bonfire? In any case, bonfire night is a major national celebration and effigies of Guy Fawkes will be burned on bonfires up and down the country. The fire will be accompanied by firworks displays and feasting on baked potatoes and black, sticky treacle toffee among other things. I woke up early today and got to grips with the web site: I like to post something each week and missed last week so I set aside a lot of time yesterday to write a paper on free cash flow. This morning, I finished a page of answers to some questions on accounting for stewardship that I promised to provide last week or so and that is being uploaded along with this blogging. You can go to my home page, www.duncanwil.co.uk, to see what I'm blethering about if you want! DW

On 1 November, my wife told me that a friend of hers had heard on the news that about 30 children in the UK who were "trick or treating" were killed by the people they were visiting. I was shocked and said I didn't believe it. Turns out the children who were killed were the poor Italian kids killed at school during an earthquake in south central Italy ... the friend is a non native English speaker and had connected a story on Radio 4 about Halloween in the UK with the story of the Italian earthquake, not having spotted the break between them. Eesh! DW

Maki Nishi just wrote to me from Japan asking a questions about International Accounting Standard 14: Segment Reporting: Hello. I visited your web page and found the page about IAS 14. It said that the solutions to the questions on that page were available to anyone who asked. It is the reason that I e-mail to you. I'd like to know what "matrix presentation" is. So would you tell me the answer of question #12, that is " IAS 14, paragraphs 27 and 29, discusses a matrix presentation of accounting information. What is meant by a matrix presentation here" ? Thank you Maki Nishi I sent him (or her, sorry that I don't know which!) a copy of paragraphs 27 and 29 from the IAS and asked if that's not the full answer I'd send more! DW

Erin wrote to say thanks for the help I gave him with his CVP problem and said "I thought it could have been something to do with algebra but it's been 30 years since I studied that"!! Well done Erin! DW

I have kept a diary since I was around 14 years old so writing such a Blog as this shouldn't be a problem. When I go on holiday I keep a jounral, too. However, despite the mechanical outpourings of yesterday I have yet to get into the full swing of this. I read that the best way to Blog on your own is to set up a database and take each day's comments from there. I've resisted learning anything to do with databases since the dawn of time but I might have to get into them now!! I have spent the morning working on a project that me and a friend of mine are hoping will see us through our retirement! Well, you never know. It's going well enough even though we are not living anywhere near each other. The power of the internet or what. DW

All the way from Canada, a brand new accounting student, wanted to know: what a journal is, what a ledger is, and what a trial balance is ... with some easy example. I visit ur web site more and more, but I am unable to find out I set up a page to answer this question since it struck me as a good and general set of questions to ask. Take a look at http://www.duncanwil.co.uk/primebooks.html. DW

Coenraad Kleinhans wrote from South Africa to ask why one should ever use a Z Chart. Z charts are discussed on my web site in a PDF file at www.duncanwil.co.uk/pdfs/charting.pdf ... here's what I told Coenraad, though. The benefits of using a Z chart are that they contain three elements of a time series data set: the raw data, the cumulative data and the moving average data. Consequently, we are able to compare current data within the context of the present and the past. There is nothing wrong with plotting data sets on an XY or Line graph, of course, but to get the maximum benefit from the data, you would have to construct three of them to compete with the Z chart! In case you hadn't seen it, I have a pdf file at http://www.duncanwil.co.uk/pdfs/charts.pdf that illustrates the Z chart and a bit about how to construct one. You might find http://duncanwil.co.uk/pdfs/charting.pdf useful too. DW