Keen readers will not be surprised to learn that despite the dubious quality of our company, TS is never short of a dinner ticket.

However what even the most ardent follower of our weekly musings may not know is that we retain an insatiable thirst for knowledge. That's why we recently registered for a masters, at the University of Life no less, in the Politics of Seating Arrangements at Formal Dinners.

We pleased to report that our first paper, on last week's Association of Accounting Technicians lunch, scored top marks. We correctly attributed the omission from the AAT's top table of the ACCA president to the latter body's decision to cease supporting its more junior counterpart.

However our good work was undone by our seating analysis of the recent CIPFA dinner. We couldn't fathom why CIPFA chief executive Steve Freer was at table 2, his ICAEW equivalent Eric Anstee was table 1, ICAS's Des Hudson was on table 5 and CIMA's Charles Tilley at table 8. But then no one else in the class could either. We'll keep you up to date with our progress.