Follow up from Farshid led to additional goodies. By 10 am UK time this morning, I'll have changed www.duncanwil.co.uk/conflicts.html I don’t have a problem with identifying the 4 user groups; however it’s the conflict details I’m having trouble with. I know of one conflict of interest example which is: The shareholders might exhibit a degree of mistrust and be concerned that the directors will act in their own best interests even to the detriment of the company. There may even be hostility towards a potential competitor and the directors are unlikely to volunteer information about a company’s performance if that could be used by a competitor. Management might therefore be tempted to withhold information or to distort any figures that they do publish. Or, the company may hide debt figures to attract more investors. This is how the interests conflict as investors want clear figures of debt or other figures, but the management wants more investment. So, see what I did to follow up. DW

More productivity. Two more sets of questions leading to three more pages. New pages on Brazilian Accounting developments ... www.duncanwil.co.uk/brazacc.html Environmental and Sustainability Reporting ... www.duncanwil.co.uk/envsust.html Potential Conflicts of Interest in Financial Reprorting ... www.duncanwil.co.uk/conflicts.html More excellence from yours truly. DW

Grace asked about inflation accounting: for a university assignment by the look of it. Grace's time was severely limited so I gave her a top of the head response. Not much specific detail in what follows, but it gives a decent general overview. historical cost accounting (hca) is the situation in which accountants record revenue, expenditure and asset acquisition and disposal at historical cost: that is, the actual amounts of money, or money's worth, received or paid to complete the transaction. the big advantage of hca is that it leads to absolute certainty and it fits in perfectly with the cash flow statement. Hca tells us exactly what has been paid and what has been received and therefore there is no doubt about balance sheet amounts. The alternatives, where accountants attempt to take inflation into account, can lead to many problems. There have been several forms of current cost accounting, purchasing power accounting and so on since the mid 1970s that have been proposed as alternatives to hca. The reason the alternatives have not survived, and IAS 15 on inflation accounting is about to be replaced, if it hasn't been already, is that no one can agree on the best way to represent accounting values. Hca provides definite values, other methods don't! the disadvantages of hca include the fact that hca values can relate to transactions that could be a year old, 10 years old and as much as 100 years old. It's true that some businesses have old equipment and old stocks (inventories) that are still working well but that were bought a long time ago: the problem is that the acquisition value may be out of date and so the balance sheet is showing out of date values. Taxation problems come with inflation accounting. In times of high levels of inflation, profits are inflated and therefore the tax bill tends to increase: this is the reason that inflation accounting was developed in the UK and elsewhere in the 1970s and onwards. Guess what, though? Accountants found solutions to the inflation accounting problem that led to lower taxation but the Inland Revenue didn't like what the accountants had done and rejected the accountants' proposals ... and so it went on. comments: the UK and the IASC have both attempted to provide inflation accounting standards and both have had to admit defeat. The UK saw several inflation accounting committees in the 1970s and onwards as accountants attempted to get to grips with this issue. Then accounting standards appeared ... and disappeared. The problem is that when inflation is a problem, inflation accounting is a problem. When, as now, inflation is not a problem, no one cares about inflation accounting. However, government departments do still prepare current cost accounting statements! the way forward? this is a strange issue that tends to be unimportant as accountants don't like it. Many people believe that cash based accounting gives plenty of indication of the solution to inflation accounting problems. NOTE: if you want a considered answer from me on any subject that I can get to grips with, please give me enough time! DW

On Tuesday night there we were minding our own business when a wasp flew into the living room. In February. In England. Couldn't believe it! After a chase it disappeared. Then it reappeared an hour or so later after it had warmed up at which point I was able to stun it and fling it back outside! Forgot to tell you that on the drive back from Yorkshire I came down the M1 motorway ... nightmare. Got to junction 21 around Leicester and the signs said be prepared to queue for a while. We queued. And queued. And queued. Then the traffic on the other carriageway stopped completely: there was an accident there and they closed the motorway for miles. We plodded on and on and then after about an hour and around 10 miles we took off at normal speeds with nary a sign of why we had gone so slowly. I felt sorry for the other people on the other carriageway as they had come to a complete stop for miles behind the accident. Consider that so many people were put to great inconvenience by someone's dreadful driving. Watched with some amusement as some smart Alek broke through the barriers as he clearly felt he shouldn't be among the mass of people to have to stop and wait. As we reached him, so did a policeman and he was doubtless booked for his crime. Nevertheless, as the policeman returned, the miscreant didn't so he probably got home on time whilst the rest of them didn't. Selfish geezer! I hope his fine is massive. DW

There is an inscription just above the entrance to Stoodley Pike that I downloaded from this site: STOODLEY PIKE A PEACETIME MONUMENT ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION COMMENDED IN 1814 TO COMMEMORATE THE SURRENDER OF PARIS TO THE ALLIES AND FINISHED AFTER THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO WHEN PEACE WAS DECLAR- -ED IN 1815. BY A STRANGE COINCIDENCE THE PIKE FELL ON THE DAY THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR LEFT LONDON BEFORE THE DECLARATION OF WAR WITH RUSSIA AND WAS REBUILT WHEN PEACE WAS RESTORED 1856 REPAIRED AND LIGHTENING CONDUCTOR 1889 DW

Here's some snaps from my weekend away. for those of you who don't know here's a picture of a real dry stone wall. A dry stone wall is called dry because it has been built out of stone but WITHOUT cement or fixings of any kind: Here is the chronicle of the walk to Stoodley Pike in pics: the start of the walk ... the Pike just comes into view now Dima huddled for warmth ... the directional hoar frost! Don't tell Dima's mother but he forgot his hat, scarf, gloves ... we shared a pair of gloves! Now back to Harry Ramsden's, beginning with a lovely welcoming view on a freezing Friday night This is what fish and chips are all about! There are a couple of not in the least bit misty pics of our walk at Halifax Today that you might care to take a look at: good description of where we went together with details of other walks in the area. DW

Saturday morning 22 February seemed like a good time to take a walk. So sister Susan, Dima and I drove from Halifax to Mankinholes above Todmorden (home town for sister and I) and set off for Stoodley Pike: a huge blackened stone monument to Britain's victory over Napoleon at Waterloo. This walk is not far but it starts of with a long uphill drag through sheep farming land. Rough grass, no trees, rocky and muddy by turns. Very misty morning unfortunately, otherwise the views up and around the Calder Valley are spectacular at times. After half a mile or so, the walk reaches the edge of the moor and it's then a level walk to the Pike. Again, rocky and muddy but now with fog and a rattling, icy wind. Lesser mortals would have faded and turned back of course but we soldiered on! On a normal day the Pike is visible for miles but today we had to get to within 30 yards before it suddenly appeared out of the fog: it looks eery like this. Dima had sped on ahead and when we got to the Pike we found him huddled in a corner of it in the lee of the wind. Only Dima and I went up to the balcony of the Pike, Susan having done that many times! I last did this when I was 16 years old I think ... that's a while ago. One of the dangers of going into and up the monument is that the stairs are unlit and for a short distance it is pitch black ... and it has been known for sheep to come hurtling down the steps as the seek to avoid being trapped by humans. So a good shout and a few claps of the hand at the very beginning to alert the sheep that you are and hope that this gets them down BEFORE you start to climb. The wind brought hoar frost with it and the wind came in so strongly that it left the hoar frost arranged in patterns rather than just depositing it. Our journey down took us beyond the pike and down onto the nearby Longdon Road, more of a path, and to our family graveyard at Mankinholes where we paid our respects to parents, brothers and sister. On to the Top Brink pub where we tucked into gooey puddings and custard and cups of coffee! A rattling, bracing, 4 mile walk. Must go back in better weather! DW

Did you want to hear that the lawn is fine?: a little yellow rather than green but it has survived and the mornings have warmed up anyway. Spent the weekend in Yorkshire with brothers and sisters and their families and that was a good boozy lack of sleep do that was enjoyed by all. The big event was an evening in Guisely near Leeds at Harry Ramsden's 75 year old chip shop. Slap up dinner of fish, chips, mushy peas, scraps, tea, bread and butter: can't beat it. Vegetarianism suspended for one meal! Here's a story to make your hair curl. There's a school in West Yorkshire that has just had a new science block built. A good building by all accounts that should serve the community well enough. However, just when they thought they'd finished the building work and were thinking of moving in, they realised that they had forgotten to install the water and gas services ... not just in one or two rooms but in the entire block. I wonder if anyone has been hauled over the coals for that? A couple of true conversations for you: Number 1 Yorkshireman to Yorkshiremen at a small gathering where food and beer were on offer: mmmm, this Lancashire cheese is really good. Whilst Tyke is munching, Lancastrian enters the room and sidles up to the food Yorkshireman to Lancastrian: This Lancashire cheese is rubbish! Number 2 Man 1 enters toilet in a pub and greets Man 2 who is already there doing his business. Man 1: Hello, alright? Man 2: No, none of my lottery numbers came up. All my plans have gone awry! Man 1: Sorry for that! End of pithy conversation!! DW