Why did I choose the wood mouse as the basis of my disease? Look at Arthur Grosset's description of that mouse and you can work out why: "It is identified by its large ears, protruding eyes, long tail and dark brown fur with white underparts. They eat a wide variety of food including flower seeds as seen in these photos." Enough said! There's a very nice picture of me here, too! DW

Let's give it a name: my mouse abuse needs a name. Here are the contenders: Mus domesticusitis Micromystitis minutus Apodemustitis sylvaticus Apodemus flavicollisitis And the winner is Apodemustitis sylvaticus. From now on it has to be known that I am suffering from Apodemustitis sylvaticus until I'm cured. The well read among you will know that Mus domesticus is the house mouse Micromys minutus is the harvest mouse Apodemus sylvaticus is the wood mouse Apodemus flavicollis is the yellow necked mouse Thanks to the Staffordshire Biodiversity Action Plan people from whose site I robbed the latin names! DW

Here's an update you weren't expecting. I used to suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of years of mouse abuse. I am always on the edge of that syndrome still but now I've been hit by repetitive strain injury to the ends of three of the fingers on my right hand. It's painful although I am finding workarounds. The problem is that although I learned to touch type a long time ago, I developed some bad habits and now I am paying the price. So, sit up straight, don't look at the keyboard when you type and use ALL the keys, exactly as you are supposed to! Here endeth the lesson. DW

Saturday Morning at the Hotel Breakfast: early Saturday morning. As I left the room I told myself that I’d probably be the first down and that I’d be alone … the bananas would be safe with me: I was wrong! Status Quo was there: he of the white collarless shirt, jeans, black shiny shoes and a waistcoat. Honest, that’s how he dressed: early 40s I would think. Huge silver watch and nice aftershave or cologne. Quo said to the waiter: “What can I have for breakfast?” and the waiter, spotting the retro look and rocking backwards and forwards playing an air guitar said, quick as a flash: “Whatever you want”!!! Made me laugh! Here’s a warning: I don’t know this man but my experience of life has taught me that if a MAN (women are exempt so far) is wearing a big watch, he has problems of some kind. Maybe business, maybe personal. It’s like the men who wear expensive suits, shirts and ties, they carry expensive brief cases and then they wear cheap shoes: again suggests a problem. More than that, he sniffed and sniffed all the way through his breakfast: how common! There’s been a woman at the hotel all week who’s been smartly dressed, comes down at around the same time as me. She has changed her outfit every day, including today of course; but she’s worn the same shoes every day. Maybe they are her hotel shoes: after all, I wear my slippers around the hotel. Still, if not: a woman who changes her outfit regularly but NOT her shoes … isn’t that a poser? She says good morning every day and doesn’t act in an outrageous manner, doesn’t talk really loudly!! Two newbies appeared this morning and here is how I know they are newbies: newby 1: got to the bottom of the stairs and was faced with the door arrangement: frames, windows/glass in only one third of the fittings; no In or Out signs to guide us, no handles on the TWO doors … What does he do? Where does he go? He can see into the dining room but how does he get there? He stood still, standing close to the first door, looked furtively around for a few seconds as he appeared to be reviewing the bigger picture. As he did so, his hand slowly and carefully got to grips with the door and he ever so gently pushed to see if it would open! The door gave and he went through it. Classic body language kicked in then as he got to the middle of the room, in front of the breakfast bar and stood facing the bar, looking at the goods on offer and stood still, stroking his chin as he assessed the situation. newby 2: a repeat performance to the bottom of the stairs and the uncertainty over the doors. Newby 2 was transfixed almost, however, and then hopped from foot to foot as he started to panic. Then he launched at the second door, the one with the frosted glass in it! Of course it opened. He then almost faltered his way into the room, looking nervously from table to table as he wondered where he might be allowed to sit. He mouthed good morning to me as he launched at the first free table in the end, put his key down and then went over to the breakfast bar. I now assess that newby 2 is German: he got to the bar just about came to attention, almost clicking his heels together as he did so; and then bowed his head in that short, sharp downward movement that is so suggestive of a Teuton! No offence; but that’s how it went! The bananas were safe with me, today, in case you were worried! Oh and the bit about the waiter and the air guitar isn't true. The bit about the Status Quo looking bloke is true, though! Of course, I’d go mad if I thought someone was reporting on me in the way that I have just reported on the people here: assessing my newbiness, my watch (gentlemanly and unassuming of course!), how I got through the door … why I cut my banana with a knife and fork … where did I put those little packets of jam which, after all, I didn’t eat and didn’t leave on the table … and why oh why does he always wear the same slippers: apart from on Thursday when he was dressed in shirt, tie and excellent, highly polished, Church shoes! Let me record here and now that the Hotel Europa Garni in Sarajevo launders my shirts to the highest standards I’ve come across anywhere: clean, starchy and exceptionally well ironed. The crispiness stays in the shirt all day! Well done those plucky launderers. I’d say laundresses since I know they’re females but it would be sexist of me. It’s time to drift to the office but I can’t go as my digital camera batteries are just about to finish charging and I don’t want to miss the moment! DW

Frank pointed me at two Financial Times surveys yesterday: both concerning MBA programmes ... the world's best. They rank the programmes according to a list of variables. Being the way I am, I set up a correlation matrix for each of the two survey results and here is what I found: interesting stuff! I know it might be seen as a bit esoteric and far removed from GCSE and A level but since MBAs and other Business School offerings are at the top end of what we do, here is my full listing of correlation coefficients based on the FT’s surveys of International MBA and Executive MBA Programmes. Note the top ratings in both surveys are salary related issues … they are negative because the top ranking value is 1 and the bottom ranking is 100 or 50 depending on whether it’s the International MBA programme or the Executive MBA programme under review; whereas the highest salary is the largest number in its series. I should add that a recommendation from a friend/alumnus is also a key variable for the International MBA programme. I also think these results are telling because the only variables that are worthy of mention are salary and career prospects: highly focused people as I said last night. Art for art’s sake be damned! Notice that MBA students consider it a DISADVANTAGE to have someone on the faculty with a doctorate! Languages are relatively unimportant although the International stream sees them as more important than the executive stream: this makes sense! Even the international MBAs, though, don’t see the internationalisation of faculty as important: globalisation is clearly a home grown issue! The executive MBA students see research rankings as a barrier to a good programme whereas the international students see research as being among the more important features of a good MBA programme. One factor that isn’t included in the list of variables is the respondents’ age, length of work experience and similar factors: I think they would be revealing. Blogger doesn't cope with tables at all ... at least I can't get the HTML to stop it putting a HUGE blank space in this post. So, click here for the full version of this post: Duncan's analysis of the FT MBA Surveys You can find the raw data here on the FT.com web site, at least for a while: look for the MBA Rankings table in the middle of the page. Thanks to Frank for pointing me at these data. DW

From Lagos, Nigeria. please i need assistance with the standard costing: a technique at variance with modern management. it is a project topic i came across in CIMA magazine and i am now working on it. the problem is i haven't got enough materials on it. and if possible i would like to know companies that employ standard costing and companies that don't thank you for your assistance I replied as follows: Hi there! You need to tell me a bit about who you are, where you are and why you are doing this and then I'll help if I can. Ismaila wrote back: my name is ... ismaila and i reside in ... nigeria. i am also a CIMA foundation student. i want the information because i am carrying out a project on it for my wife who is at the lagos state university (LASU) here in nigeria.she is in her final year and we haven't got enough material for the project. all we want is some assistance. thank you for your assistance. I then asked: OK, Ismaila, give me a day or two and I'll tell you what I can. What kind of resources do you have there: do you have good textbooks eg by Drury and Horngren ... or even mine? Which Journals and magazines on accountancy, too? Ismaila responded: i have drury, lucey and a report on the topic by drury in cima magazine. if i can get more journals or reports it will do just fine. thank you so much. yours, ismaila Finally, I said: Hello again, Ismaila, The answer to your question is very confusing for a lot of people. The latest management accounting work will say that standard costing is old fashioned and we should all worry about activity based costing (ABC) and management (ABM), the balanced scorecard (BSC), Just in Time Management (JIT), Backflush Costing; and all sorts of other things. The reality is that the vast majority of businesses around the world that need a cost accounting system to provides valuable information for management decisions making could do worse than consider at least a partial standard costing system. Not all businesses can benefit from the BSC, ABC, ABM and so on: they simply don't have the expertise to install it and the expertise to use it. Take your own situation in Nigeria: take a look at the average small and medium sized business and assess the likelihood that it could sustain these MIS regimes. Are they even computerised? If computerised, are they able to afford the software to manage their data. If they don't have this software, is their accountant and the non financial staff able to program their own MIS to deal with these requests? The same applies in Europe, the USA, Australia and anywhere you care to name. Not everyone has and can use the more modern systems. So, back to Standard Costing (SC). SC is not always appropriate; but it is relatively simple to understand when we are discussing such things as material prices, wage rates and variable overhead rates. Consider the price and usage variances for materials, for example: with a bit of practice, they are really not that bad. Management all over the world has got used to standard costing variances and providing the right variances are calculated and reported on accurately, they are often satisfied with the accountant's variance analysis. Where SC goes wrong is when it is applied using out of date standards: I have been working over the last three years or so with organisations that have been using standards that are 10 or even 20 years old. Honestly! Clearly, standards need to be accurate and up to date. ABC was born out of frustration by non accountants: accountants can't claim the credit for its development. The problem the non accountants had was that SC was kept at a very general level and absorption costing was used in such a way as to be meaningless. Appropriate SC, up to date standards, accurate and timely reporting all help to keep SC useful. Moreover, when the management accountant works hand in hand with his production and other non financial managers, they can all use SC to provide good quality MIS information! This is a very brief overview of the situation Ismaila and I hope it helps you to kick start your reading and thinking ... for your wife, too! Best wishes DW

I just love this name and hope she doesn't mind me saying so: Pei Pei Lim wrote and asked Dear Mr.Duncan, I am [an] international student studying in Australia. I am now taking Management Accounting subjects for my summer course and i have read through ur website about costing system. But, however i am still not very clear about the difference between the overview of job consting system and the batch costing system since it's quite similar when presenting this system.So, can you please tell me more about batch and job costing system? Thank you. ... I am not surprised that you might find batch costing and job costing confusing. A job is generally defined as something that a business will do once: build one house in a certain style, repair your television with a certain problem … all one off. This means that we can accumulate the costs for that job and that job alone quite, or relatively, easily. A batch is a group of things that go together to comprise a job! In other words, we could consider the building of a batch of 10 identical tables or a batch of 1000 identical photographs being printed. We then consider the direct and indirect costs of ALL items together as the cost of the batch. Similarly, we absorb the costs of administration and other period costs on a batch by batch basis, too. I hope that’s clearer now but please let me know if you have any more questions and I hope you are nowhere near those terrible bush fires around Canberra. DW

You've just got to go and take a look at this: looks British, too, which came as a bit of a surprise. Wacky we might be but I didn't think we were that wacky: The world's first ... Is it legal is my question. DW

I forgot to say that I forgot to bring my second adapter to the office meaning that since I had let the laptop battery drain to 0 last night an the basis that it's good for it, I am now in the middle of balancing the charging of two separate batteries at the same time. In the end it means that my gloriously well thought out strategy of treating both batteries like gentlemen will probably end up by giving them both the pox! It's boiling here today. The thaw is well under way now and the heating in the office is intense. I wish I'd left my vest off now (by vest, dear American readers, I think I mean undershirt ... and what you call a vest is really a waistcoat: no offence, just trying to educate and cross any cultural divide!). Just sat for half an hour with the window wide open. I'm going to have to open it again in a minute. Snow is still falling off rooves a bit and last night I had to smile as I trudged my weary way. Remember I told you yesterday that there are warnings outside some buildings that snow could come crashing down at any moment: I hadn't anticipated the paranoia that that could breed. One chap, young too, wanted to go into the baker's and he stood back from the building and poised as if he were in the blocks about to set off in the 100 metre dash, then when he felt secure, he launched himself across the final three metres and flew through the door. Needless to say, no snow came tumbling down on him or anyone else within a senight!! Looked good, though. I can only imagine his exit, crust in hand!!! DW

Alright, I'm taking a break from all that! Here's a competition. See how many of you lovely people are sitting up and taking note. You know when you switch on your mobile phone after you let the battery drain completely after hearing the warning beep and saying, "Oh, in a minute" and then forgetting it completely and leaving it at home when you go to work then having to go back to get it ... ? Yeah? OK, well here's the question: What is the awe inspiring, uplifting and motivational message that I have put into my new mobile phone: see SIM card saga for details of the phone. Answers by email please and the winner will be the first to get it right. If there are no entrants then you may NEVER find out what that pesky message might be! Need a clue? OK, here: it's in Latin it's two words pxx vxxxxxxx Now I can't say fairer than that, can I? Supplementary question: what does pxx vxxxxxxx mean? What do you mean Latin's a dead language? It spawned this quiz didn't it? More than that, when you get the question in the pub quiz that asks what this phrase is and what it means, you won't be so angry then, will you? You can thank me later! DW

Did I tell you that I hurt my back last November: sitting badly in a chair that was designed for someone a lot shorter than 1.88 metres did it I think. I was in agony for two - three weeks and was stiff as a board for another couple of weeks and then careful for another shed load of weeks. Today I realised that I don't have any of the worries that I've been experiencing. I get out of bed like a twenty year old again ... well, OK, a twenty year old dog or cat; but still! A nice touch here in sunny Sarajevo as I walked around at the weekend and again today. Now that we've been hit by a thaw, there are warnings and barriers all over the place that show people where there could be a cascade of heavy snow and icicles falling from easing troughs and rooves. I don't think I've ever seen this kind of concern anywhere else. Well done those Sarajevans! DW

This just came in from Kansas: Hello, I was just perusing the net and came across your slides on assessing the affective domain. I was impressed by the quality of your material - thank you for access to such a valuable resource. Cindy There you are: another page well worth the trouble. Thanks Cindy DW

Forgot to mention that we had a thaw on Friday and again as I walked to the office yesterday, Saturday, morning. I wrote and told everyone how warm it was getting. I then walked past a window on the way to the loo later on to find that it was absolutely heaving it down with snow. No real thaw here then! DW

Am I sleep depreived and going round the twist or what? Last night, for the laugh, I decided I'd reset my alarm clock. Now, this clock is battery operated and it corrects itself every now and again by means of some radio based system. Now, clot that I am I KNOW that this clock sets itself to UK time. Can't think why it still does this since I am in the Balkans but it knows best. So I set the thing to Sarajevo time and was content. I slept well enough I think and woke up when the clock said 7:15. I immediately made the transformation from 7:15 to 8:15 and thought, whoopee, I've slept really well. Got into the shower straight away, threw on my glad rags and set off for breakfast. Something clicked and I said, "Hang on!" I went back to my room and checked my other chronometers ... when the clock said 7:15 it MEANT 7:15. For the first time since last November, the wretched thing had NOT reset itself to UK time. Bleeder! So, made myself a cup of coffee and suffered more rubbishEnglish from Sky News as they repeated the same stories that had appeared on Friday. The Robbie Fowler story of his potential transfer from Leeds United to Manchester City ran for THREE DAYS and he didn't even go in the end! Their latest annoyance is that they say BAGhdad instead of the more usual BaghDAD that we used to use. Something's wrong with that lot! Can't think who they think their audience comprises. DW