Nick Topazio's Blog

Busy BIS - Two further reporting consultations

Nick Topazio — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:45:08 +0000

The UK's Department of Business, Innovation and Skills already has an open consultation on ‘Simpler Reporting for the smallest companies' but that has not stopped it turning its attention to reporting practices at our major companies. The latest plans, aimed at giving investors greater clarity on how these companies are run and how executive pay is matched to performance, are contained in two consultation papers which were released simultaneously:

FRC to act to increase transparency in corporate reporting

Nick Topazio — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:00:21 +0000

The Financial Reporting Council has published two reports that seek to increase transparency in corporate reporting. Boards and Risk focuses on ensuring companies report primarily on strategic and major operational risks, rather than publish indiscriminate lists of risks that all companies face. In Effective Company Stewardship - Next Steps, the FRC considers the case for narrative reporting standards, improvements to the reporting of strategy, risk and going concern together with a widening of the role of the audit committee and other aspects of the audit market

Simpler reporting for the smallest businesses

Nick Topazio — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:54:51 +0000

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have launched a consultation seeking views on a simplified reporting regime for ‘micro-entities'.

It is proposed that a micro-entity is a company or unincorporated business that trades for profit and does not exceed two of the three following criteria:

Towards an integrated future

Nick Topazio — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:06:39 +0000

The eagerly awaited discussion paper from the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) on Integrated Reporting has now been published. The discussion paper ‘Towards Integrated Reporting' presents the rationale for Integrated Reporting (IR), offering initial proposals for the development of an International Integrated Reporting Framework and outlining the next steps towards its creation and adoption.

The nation's balance sheet

Nick Topazio — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:20:10 +0000

The figures are mind-bogglingly large: assets of over £1.2 trillion and total liabilities more than double that. Of course, I am talking about the preliminary unaudited whole of government accounts recently published by the Treasury for the March 2010 year-end. This is the first time that consolidated figures have been produced covering the more than one thousand organisations across central government, local government, the NHS and public corporations.

From stage to screen... global developments in the accountancy sector

Nick Topazio — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:42:36 +0000

Those that know me know that I like to tread the boards with a local amateur dramatic society. Nothing too serious - pantomimes, murder mysteries and farces are the order of the day - a far cry from the more serious stuff you see on some of the West End stages in London. Nevertheless, we have quite a strong following and everyone seems to have a great time. I have been persuaded to provide a link to Purley Players (check out my Lion in The Wizard of Oz) although I'm not expecting any phone calls!

FRC inquiry into going concern and liquidity risk

Nick Topazio — Tue, 24 May 2011 14:53:32 +0000

At the height of the credit crisis the UK's Financial Reporting Council (FRC) published guidance on addressing the exceptional risks to going concern and liquidity facing companies. This guidance served as an important piece of first-aid allowing for an orderly approach by all participants to the going concern assessments and disclosures associated with the production of annual and half-yearly financial statements. Although credit markets have since stabilised the FRC is keen to ensure that the lessons from this experience are captured and a panel of inquiry under Lord Sharman has be

Tomorrow's Corporate Reporting - a critical system at risk

Nick Topazio — Fri, 20 May 2011 09:42:54 +0000

The view over London from the 41^st floor of the HSBC headquarters in Canary Wharf was breath-taking and the clarity of thought that it inspired from the attendees at the launch of Tomorrow's Corporate Reporting was equally impressive. Unlike many reports in this area, the focus of this research undertaken by CIMA, PwC and Tomorrow's Company is not on the ideal content of a corporate report but rather the barriers to the effective development of corporate reporting system.

Are we willing to make judgements or do we want to follow rules?

Nick Topazio — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:12:11 +0000

One of the topics covered in the latest report from the IFAC Business Reporting project (see my earlier blog) is the issue of accountants exercising professional judgement and this is a theme that I think is particularly challenging for the accounting community going forward.

IFAC reports on interviews with key business leaders

Nick Topazio — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:23:31 +0000

It isn't often that you get the chance to read the views of 25 business leaders from around the world but the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) have provided just that opportunity in their recently published report Integrating the Business Reporting Supply Chain. This is the final phase of their Business Reporting project, chaired by CIMA's CEO Charles Tilley.

Tomorrow’s Corporate Reporting – an update

Nick Topazio — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:46:32 +0000

You will have read about CIMA's involvement in an exciting collaborative project with PwC and Tomorrow's Company researching the barriers to the effective development of corporate reporting.

CIMA in the audit spotlight

Nick Topazio — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 15:22:08 +0000

It is not every day that you find yourself sitting in the prestigious surroundings of Committee Room One of the House of Lords listening to the ebb and flow of debate between eight Lords and four senior figures from the professional accountancy bodies. The subject was Audit and in particular market concentration and the role of audit.

The changing face of corporate reporting

Nick Topazio — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:03:59 +0000

Twitter, Facebook, iPhone Apps - not the usual stuff of a blog focussing on corporate reporting but then times-are-a-changing.

Not so many years ago, I was involved in the production of an annual report for an international group that involved many late nights at the printers checking proof copies of the final report. Once we were finally sure that every ‘t' was crossed and ‘i' dotted and the page breaks were in the right place we allowed the presses to roll.

A little light reading ?

Nick Topazio — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:56:21 +0000

Consultation documents continue to flow from various regulators, standard-setters and the like. This month I have registered four as follows:

EFRAG - Proactive work plan

IASB - Fair Value Disclosure Requirements

ASB - The Future of UK GAAP

FSA - Amendments to Handbook

Tomorrow's Corporate Reporting

Nick Topazio — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:21:33 +0000

‘If you want to launch big ships you have to go where the water is deep'. The source of this quote is unknown but it sums up where the Tomorrow's Corporate Reporting (TCR) Team are. The big ship refers to the important question we are trying to answer ‘what has held corporate reporting back from developing into a really effective communication tool?' And the deep water? Well this is a global survey and although I am an avid amateur stargazer that's about as far as we can go at this stage.

Time for Recognition?

Nick Topazio — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:33:12 +0000

Tired of not getting the recognition that your reporting efforts deserve? Then it's time you did something about it. CIMA has just opened nominations for their 2010 Annual Awards and for the first time there is an award for Annual Report of the Year.

Sustainable Business

Nick Topazio — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:45:54 +0000

Sustainability from a business point of view is not just about reducing the organisation's carbon footprint, conserving water or recycling waste paper. Important as these issues are they are by no means the whole story. Business sustainability seeks to ensure that the business model is sustainable and this encompasses a whole lot more such as a sustainable supply chain and ethical business practices.

Executive Pay - the moral high ground ?

Nick Topazio — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:56:44 +0000

This week has seen a number of stories about executive pay. We have had Shell announce that they will freeze executive directors' salaries for a year. The top two executives in Barclays have forgone their multi-million pound bonuses and cut their company's pay to revenue ratio from 44 per cent to 38 percent. Whereas HSBC is likely to court controversy with reports of 30 to 40 per cent salary increases for top executives.

What analysts look for in financial reports

Nick Topazio — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:51:48 +0000

Just before Christmas, I attended a conference on financial reporting that contained a very interesting segment from a leading sell-side analyst¹. The content of his talk was what do analysts want from financial reports. He quite frankly said that ‘they don't know 50% of time'. However, there followed 45 minutes or so of very useful insight that those preparing or starting to think about annual statements might like to bear in mind.

XBRL Concerns

Nick Topazio — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:40:24 +0000

XBRL implementation is gathering pace (see my blog XBRL - more than just a regulatory tool ? ) and alongside I am starting to hear concerns with the way things are progressing. There are worries about the impact of XBRL on internal management accounting and also concerns linked with the proposed switch to IFRS for SMEs in the UK. On a positive note, the European Federation of Accountants (FEE) has produced a useful project update on XBRL which is well worth a read.