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Colin goes on a management training course...

Folowing news of Ernst & Young's inspiring management courses, Colin's boss decides his underling could do with some 'reconditioning'. Click the pic for Colin, or click here.

October 17, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Some firms do 'ave 'em

Many think that management consultants are a bit 'fluffy', prone to jargon, and basically unhelpful to the businesses they're hired to help.

Multiply their so-called 'fluffiness' with that of a management training course - and we're talking very fluffy indeed.

But Ernst & Young's consultants and advisers are not fluffy, nor is the new-wave training they undertake, insists head of advisory Steve Varley.

To create the next generation of advisers, E&Y sends them out on a five-day course to a country house in Milton Keynes, where they are given no agenda at all. No start time or finish. Nothing. Nada.

They are handed some materials to work with and 'mock clients'. It's up to them to work out what the clients want and how to give it to them. Apparently this allows them to think on their feet, and absorb E&Y's culture.

Fluffy or not, TS couldn't think of anything else but Frank Spencer on his ill-fated PR course. TS is sure he went to a different country house for that ill-fated sojourn.

October 17, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

From E&Y with love

TS was down Park Lane last week mixing with the profession's finest at the annual Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

It was, as always, a magical evening that just got better and better, especially as the Rioja and Chablis were of a very fine vintage indeed.

Others at the ceremony were less interested in the wine and more intrigued by the army of 'clappers' (this year resplendent in short skirts, fitted shirts, black stilettos and librarian-style glasses) who enthusiastically led the various winners and speakers to the podium.

It was all too much for one ageing E&Y partner in TS's vicinity, who delightedly cried: 'They're just like Bond girls! They're just like Bond girls!' And people say business awards are boring.

October 15, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

PBR 07: Treasury links to PBR 06 docs

TS, of course, is a stickler for the detail. Get that right and you can be in the pub and relaxing over a pint of Best before you know it.
It was with some surprise then, that we realised that the Treasury had got some of its details wrong during today's pre-Budget report.
There we were, following the links from hm-treasury.gov.uk to hmrc.gov.uk to find the PBR notes and there we found not current documents, but notes from the PBR 12 months ago!
That's very useful, we thought. Of course TS categorically denies that we didn't spot the mistake and worked up stories based on information already a year old. That couldn't possibly happen. We will eventually get to the pub, by the way.

October 9, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

KPMG's Bob Seale steps into the ring for charity

Looks like KPMG is putting on the gloves, in a celebrity bout that is sure to attract quality ringside attention as a partner takes on a professional boxing champion.

Bob Seale, the unenviable KPMG man in the ring, is to spar with Clinton McKenzie, a former European and British Light Welterweight Champion and also an Olympic finalist.

There's no doubt Bob's cause is noble - that of the Alzheimers Society - but TS wonders if the money will be needed for the Ambulance Service.

According to justgiving.com, Bob hopes to last 12 three-minute rounds. Twelve! Ouch. That's got to hurt - and it's going to happen on a Thursday evening, 11 October, so don't expect him in the next day.

TS found that in fact J G-J not only knew about his staff member's apparently suicidal plan, but was supporting the fiasco with a generous donation of £100.

According to the website, Bob should be fine as he's been 'taking his training very seriously'.

October 8, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Pacman Taxman game

Have you ever had nightmares about Gordon Brown chasing you around for that last extra bit of tax? Perhaps in some kind of Pacman-like set-up, where mini-Gordons chase you around frantically as you wander around just trying to mind your own business?

Well, your nightmares have now come true. In an attempt to throw a little more light on the tax debate, the Tories have produced an online game, modelled on Pacman, called Taxman Gordon, in which you can do exactly that.

The instructions say you have to avoid Gordon 'and his 111 stealth taxes'.

At last, TS thought, an intelligent contribution to the political debate on taxes.

You eat up the pound signs, and can pick up power-ups designed like Tory logos, while Gordon chases you around.

TS has been playing it all week.

It's all in the name of research, of course.

October 8, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Colin joins in on non-dom debate

Colin just can't stay out of the political hot potato/storm/debacle that is 'non-domism'.
View Colin here or click the pic.

October 3, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Car charge sends Nottingham tax inspectors into frenzy

A car parking tax plan will once again raise the ire of tax inspectors.

Baker Tilly tax chief George Bull has noted that, with Nottingham City Council looking to introduce a car park tax on workers, it could 'drive' tax inspectors into a right frenzy.

Bull can remember way back in the 1980s that Treasury proposals to tax workplace car parking faced fierce opposition from tax inspectors and civil servants, which led to the plan's demise.

'We must wait to see whether history repeats itself and the proposals are dropped,' says Bull.

What with everyone being all green and environmentally friendly, the 2,000 or so tax staff based in the city might have to get on their bikes this time.

October 3, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

'Taxman' arcade game: play it here!

TS' dear friend Alex Hawkes has hit upon a 'Pacman-style' game involving Tory trees, Gordon Brown and cash, as strange as that may seem.

Anyway, read Alex's blog here or go straight to the game.

October 1, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack