Women weather the recession, but face reinforced glass ceiling

Figures released today confirm that female employees are weathering the recession better than their male counterparts

The study of 45,809 individuals shows that labour turnover amongst women has dropped to a five year low, with women more likely than men to hold on to their jobs as the recession continues to bite. This is also the first time in over a decade that female labour turnover is lower than that for men.

The findings, published by the Chartered Management Institute and CELRE, show that the proportion of women leaving, or changing jobs, currently rests at 4.3% - the lowest since 2005, when just 3.9% moved to a different employer. With male labour turnover currently at 4.8%, the signs are that female employees are in a better position to keep their jobs than males.

Indications are that this turnaround in fortunes may be due to female executives accepting job transfers, rather than redundancy. At junior levels, for example, 8% of women have transferred departments in the past 12 months – nearly double the proportion for men (4.5%). Amongst ‘function heads’ the gap still exists, though with 3.9% of female managers seeking transfers, numbers are on a par with their male counterparts (3.7%).

See full Article.

Insurers relieved as EU regulators pull back

Big European insurers breathed more easily on Wednesday after the sector’s regulators reined back from a very conservative interpretation of the new capital regime, which companies claimed could have required them to raise billions of additional euros unnecessarily.

In a letter to the European Commission, the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors said it had “carefully considered” comments from the industry, advisers and Brussels itself.

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SEC 5-yr. plan backs global standards

The Securities and Exchange Commission has released a draft of a five-year strategic plan that calls for a single set of high-quality global accounting standards.

While the SEC has not yet decided on the fate of the proposed roadmap for adopting International Financial Reporting Standards, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro and Chief Accountant James Kroeker have both said that the commission will be turning its attention to the roadmap this fall.

In the meantime, the draft strategic plan (online at www.sec.gov/about/secstratplan1015.pdf) listed, among several regulatory reforms, "raising international regulatory standards and cooperation, including working toward improvement of accounting standards in the wake of the credit crisis and the development of a single set of high-quality global accounting standards."

See full Article.

Lean and Green - Leadership for a low-carbon future

The Institute’s latest research report warns that boardroom scepticism risks squandering employee enthusiasm for the action needed to build low-carbon businesses.

The Chartered Management Institute's persuasive new report suggests that while the importance of the green agenda is increasingly well-recognised, too few organisations are taking the urgent action needed to transform the UK economy for a low-carbon future.

The report identifies a failure of boardroom leadership as a significant block to reform. In conclusion, it calls for managers to do more to cut emissions by making green issues part of the mainstream of management activities.

See full Press Release.

Cuidar del medio ambiente es cosa de diseño

De la despreocupación por la calidad de vida de los habitantes en las ciudades de la era industrial del siglo pasado, a la rivalidad entre las capitales del mundo por obtener el prestigio de ser la ciudad más responsable, más “renovable” y menos contaminante. Ser una ciudad sostenible y respetuosa con el medio ambiente está de moda.

Por ejemplo, la ciudad de Barcelona ha iniciado acciones para mejorar la plantilla y las infraestructuras dedicadas a la limpieza de la ciudad. Son medidas que mejoran el uso por parte de los ciudadanos y al mismo tiempo los implica en la conservación de la ciudad: contenedores accesibles a discapacitados, placas solares en paradas de autobús, etc.

Ciudades como Oviedo, San Sebastián, Pamplona, Bilbao, Getxo o Santander encabezan la lista de las ciudades más limpias de España, según un estudio de la Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios.

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Poor nations vow low-carbon path

Poor countries considered vulnerable to climate change have pledged to embark on moves to a low-carbon future, and challenge richer states to match them.

The declaration from the first meeting of a new 11-nation forum calls on rich countries to give 1.5% of their GDP for climate action in the developing world.

It also calls for much tougher limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

The forum was established by Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed to highlight the climate "threat" to poor nations.

See full Article.

Plan to end Fed supervisory role draws fire

Former Federal Reserve officials, bankers and academics voiced opposition to a plan that would strip the US central bank of its supervisory role as Congress paused for breath on Wednesday for the Veterans Day holiday.

The Fed faces a considerable threat from critical members of Congress, particularly in the Senate, as crystallised in the financial regulatory reform bill presented on Tuesday by Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee.

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ASIC moves to compel ratings agencies to manage conflict of interest

THE regulatory wheels are slowly turning, with ASIC today unveiling the formal licensing rules for ratings agencies that require them to be registered and subject to an array of obligations.

Many of these would already be part of the agencies’ normal practice, but the key change is to formally register them and hold them to annual reviews.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, rating agencies came under attack because triple-A rated paper was shown to be best suited for use in the toilet, yet billion-dollar investment decisions were made on the back of the advice.

The industry has a fundamental conflict in that the people who want the rating pay for it, so there is a potential inducement for the ratings agencies to write the advice to suit the client.

See full Article.

Leadership through the crisis and after: McKinsey Global Survey results

Executives have markedly changed their leadership styles in the past year—but not their views on which ones will help companies most in the long term. Many of the most needed leadership styles, now and in the future, are those used more frequently by women than by men.

A new survey investigates how individual leaders lead and how that has changed in the past year.1 For example, respondents say that during the crisis they have seen far more leaders focus on monitoring individual performance—even though they see that as one of the least helpful ways of managing the crisis. The survey also asked about the organizational capabilities and leadership behavior organizations will need to thrive during the recovery and about the ways companies are approaching employee development and gender diversity in the crisis.

See full Article.

The challenge of hiring and retaining women: An interview with the head of HR at eBay

Beth Axelrod discusses how companies can do better at hiring, retaining, and promoting women.

Other executives frequently tell Beth Axelrod that she made “an unusual career move.” From her perspective, their reaction to her shift from consulting to human resources highlights the long road HR still must travel to become a full strategic partner with businesses. For her, though, it’s a road worth pioneering.

In an era of ever-intensifying competition for talent, companies that can appeal to and retain different kinds of workers are more likely to succeed. Understanding diversity in the workforce has been a professional interest of Axelrod’s since 1989, when she was asked, as a young McKinsey consultant, to help figure out why the firm was losing so many women and what could be done to keep them. In the late 1990s, Axelrod was a leader of McKinsey’s War for Talent project, which quantified the challenges that leading US companies faced in finding talented executives. She later moved on to executive roles at the global marketing communications group WPP and then to eBay.

See full Article.

ASIC outlines improvements to regulation of credit rating agencies in Australia

From 1 January 2010, credit rating agencies will be required to hold an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence. Under the AFS licensing regime, general licensee obligations set out in the Corporations Act will require credit rating agencies to:

o manage conflicts of interest that may arise in their businesses;
o have resources available (including financial, human and information technology resources) that are adequate for the nature, scale and complexity of their businesses;

See full Press Release.

Bad bosses 'force staff to quit'

Almost half of UK workers say they have left a job because of bad management.

Forty-nine per cent say that under less drastic circumstances, they would rather take a pay cut than work for someone who made bad decisions.

The findings come in a survey from the Chartered Institute of Management, which says it is launching a campaign to improve standards among bosses.

It wants the government to make developing effective managers a national priority.

See full Article.

Your Career, Our Economy: Stakes Are High When Finance Professionals Let Ethics Slide

Bernie Madoff. AIG. Allen Stanford. When Marianne Jennings talks to her undergraduate students about business ethics these days, those are the subjects they want to talk about.

Not surprisingly, Jennings says, the students often take a somewhat black-and-white view of things: Madoff was a crook; Stanford was a swindler; those execs at AIG were reckless, irresponsible, and had absolutely no right to take those big bonuses -- not after the carnage they caused. Blame it on the executives, the students say. It's the guys in the executive suite who can't be trusted.

Not so fast, says Jennings.

"They're really quite jaded because they've seen so much," she says. "They believe everyone in business is corrupt. They think that's the way they'll have to behave to get theirs, and they do seem to seize on things like executive compensation. But that's a risky and narrow focus when there's so much more that they have to consider.

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Global Carbon Sequestration Markets & Strategies, 2009-2030

EER’s market study - Global Carbon Sequestration Markets & Strategies, 2009-2030 - is your roadmap for evaluating the short-and long-term prospects for the carbon sequestration industry. This study analyzes the role of carbon policies in driving sequestration development, evaluates the strategies of oil and gas players, power companies and entrepreneurial upstarts, and measures the sequestration industry’s long-term growth outlook. According to EER, the global power industry is on track to have a fleet of CCS demonstration projects operating by 2016.

See full Details, in pdf format.

For peat's sake

The world’s wetlands are big sources of greenhouse gases

PEATY wetlands emit about 1.3 billion tonnes of CO2 a year as a result of human activity that drains them and thus exposes them to the oxidative effect of the atmosphere. This figure does not include the effect of fire on dried-up bogs, which can double the amount. That, at least, is the conclusion of a report published by Wetlands International, a lobby group, this week. Drained peat occupies 0.3% of the world’s land surface, but is responsible for 6% of man-made CO2 emissions. Indonesia is the biggest emitter, but richer countries are guilty too.

See full Article.

Risk: Seeing around the corners

Risk-assessment processes typically expose only the most direct threats facing a company and neglect indirect ones that can have an equal or greater impact.

The financial crisis has reminded us of the valuable lesson that risks gone bad in one part of the economy can set off chain reactions in areas that may seem completely unrelated. In fact, risk managers and other executives fail to anticipate the effects, both negative and positive, of events that occur routinely throughout the business cycle. Their impact can be substantial—often, much more substantial than it seems initially.

At first glance, for instance, a thunderstorm in a distant place wouldn’t seem like cause for alarm. Yet in 2000, when a lightning strike from such a storm set off a fire at a microchip plant in New Mexico, it damaged millions of chips slated for use in mobile phones from a number of manufacturers. Some of them quickly shifted their sourcing to different US and Japanese suppliers, but others couldn’t and lost hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. More recently, though few companies felt threatened by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), its combined effects are reported to have decreased the GDPs of East Asian nations by 2 percent in the second quarter of 2003. And in early 2009, the expansion of a European public-transport system temporarily ground to a halt when crucial component providers faced unexpected difficulties as a result of credit exposure to ailing North American automotive OEMs.

See full Article.

A business case for women

The gender gap isn’t just an image problem: our research suggests that it can have real implications for company performance. Some companies have taken effective steps to achieve greater parity.

Women in developed economies have made substantial gains in the workplace during recent decades. Nevertheless, it’s still true that the higher up in a company you look, the lower the percentage of women.

But some companies have moved successfully to increase the hiring, retention, and promotion of female executives. Their initiatives have included efforts to ensure that HR policies aren’t inadvertently biased against women or part-time workers, to encourage mentoring and networking, to establish (and consistently monitor at a senior level) targets for diversity, and to find ways of creating a better work–life balance. Changes like these have a price, but there are business advantages to making them—above and beyond the branding benefit that might accrue to companies viewed as socially progressive.

See full Article.

A matter of faith

Environmentalism is given the same weight as religion in British employment laws

“A BELIEF in man-made climate change and the alleged resulting moral imperatives is capable, if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations.”

Those were the words of an English High Court judge, Mr Justice Burton, on November 3rd as he ruled that green beliefs deserve the same protection in the workplace as religious convictions. A person’s right to believe in anthropogenic climate change, and not be hounded out of his job because of it, is now enshrined in law.
Tim Nicholson

The case on which the judge ruled was that of Tim Nicholson, who used to be “head of sustainability” for a residential-property firm called Grainger. Mr Nicholson was relieved of his duties at Grainger in July 2008 and in March of this year was told by a tribunal that he could pursue an unfair-dismissal case, believing, as he did, that he had been sacked on the grounds of his eco-minded beliefs.

See full Article.

A developing thirst

How demand for oil will change by 2030

GLOBAL demand for oil is set to rise from 84.7m barrels per day (bpd) in 2008 to 105m bpd in 2030, says the International Energy Agency in its latest annual energy report. Transport will account for 97% of this increase as rising numbers of cars hit the roads of the developing world.

See full Article.

Also, see IEA Press Release.

Las multinacionales españolas y el negocio de la responsabilidad. Análisis de la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa de las empresas en Colombia

En la última década, las corporaciones transnacionales, las escuelas de negocios y las facultades de administración de empresas han venido impulsando lo que ya se ha convertido en el nuevo paradigma de comportamiento de las multinacionales en la era de la globalización: la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC).

Pero, pese a todo lo escrito y teorizado sobre la RSC en estos años, apenas han existido voces críticas que hayan puesto en cuestión la arquitectura y la construcción de este sistema de gestión empresarial. Porque, realmente, ¿cuáles son los motivos de este auge de la empresa responsable? ¿Es cierto que se trata de una nueva manera de hacer negocios? ¿Cuánto hay de ética y cuánto de cálculo de rentabilidad en todo ello? ¿Se pueden esgrimir los códigos de conducta y los acuerdos voluntarios para exigir responsabilidades a las multinacionales? ¿En qué consiste el negocio de la responsabilidad?

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FT business books award 2009 winner - Lords of Finance

Bright Idea: Bringing Eco-friendly Lighting to India's Hinterland

Until eight months ago, Vinod Waghmare, 24, was a farmer in his native Mangaon village in Raigad, a district 150 kilometers (about 93 miles) outside of Mumbai. Back then, he generated an income of US$140 a month growing rice and lentils. Today, the newly married Waghmare supplements his earnings by doubling up as a rural sales representative for companies like Intelizon Energy, a Hyderabad-based maker of solar energy products. As a designated "Zon" adviser, he sells the company's solar lanterns and home lighting systems to households in five nearby districts that primarily use kerosene lamps, candles and biomass (such as plant material and animal waste for burning) during power outages that can last up to 10 hours a day.

As one of the first users of Intelizon's solar devices -- called ZonLight and ZonHome -- the fast-talking Waghmare is a quintessential marketer. He claims he now saves about US$3 a month since he no longer burns kerosene lamps during power cuts, or "load shedding" as it is known locally. That makes him well positioned, he says, to convince potential customers about the efficacy of the lights, which range from US$17 to light areas between five square feet and 100 square feet to US$149 for 400-square-foot homes. Having already sold 30 lanterns and five home systems, his new business adds US$45 a month to the family's total income. Enthusiastic about his changing fortunes, Waghmare is now grooming two friends to become sales representatives like him. "The solar lights have made me a businessman," he says.

See full Article.

Using the crisis to create better boards

Boards should view the current crisis as an opportunity to review the way they function. A healthy self-assessment can go a long way toward improving a company’s performance.

During tough times—and they haven’t been this tough for generations—directors are supposed to ask difficult questions about their companies. Yet they rarely ask hard questions about themselves, such as, “Are we the right people, asking the right questions, providing the right sort of leadership, challenging management in the most productive ways?” What’s more, except in the banking world, boards haven’t had to take the blame for practices they should have corrected early on.

Today, boards are probably underreacting to the stresses—and opportunities—of economic turmoil. Directors themselves seem to agree: a McKinsey survey conducted in conjunction with an article published earlier this year1 showed that only half of the 186 directors responding thought their boards had met the demands of the crisis. Just 30 percent reported that a wider range of information was now presented at board meetings or that conversations were more frank than usual (exhibit).

See full Article.

How talented women thrive

A new approach to leadership can help women become more self-confident and effective business leaders.

Women start careers in business and other professions with the same level of intelligence, education, and commitment as men. Yet comparatively few reach the top echelons.

This gap matters not only because the familiar glass ceiling is unfair, but also because the world has an increasingly urgent need for more leaders. All men and women with the brains, the desire, and the perseverance to lead should be encouraged to fulfill their potential and leave their mark.

With all this in mind, the McKinsey Leadership Project—an initiative to help professional women at McKinsey and elsewhere—set out four years ago to learn what drives and sustains successful female leaders.

See full Article.

Carlos Ghosn, consejero delegado de Renault-Nissan: "Ha llegado el momento de los coches eléctricos"

Los coches eléctricos son una realidad. Ya han llegado. Y mucho antes de que nos demos cuenta -cuando los postes para “repostar” electricidad sean tan habituales como los parquímetros-, la cosa no parecerá tan complicada.

Esto es al menos lo que sostiene Carlos Ghosn, consejero delegado de Renault y Nissan, que ha apostado toda su carrera profesional a los coches eléctricos. Durante la conferencia que recientemente pronunciaba en Wharton, Ghosn trató una amplia variedad de temas, desde la gestión de un conglomerado multicultural hasta la presión para conseguir una mayor regulación gubernamental. No obstante, Ghosn destila un optimismo especial cuando habla de un futuro sin vehículos contaminantes, y no precisamente por respeto a la Madre Tierra u hostilidad hacia los países productores de petróleo de Oriente Medio, sino porque son un buen negocio.

“Los coches eléctricos surgieron a principios de siglo XX, luego desaparecieron, aparecieron en los años 50, luego desaparecieron, aparecieron en los 70, luego desaparecieron”, explicaba Ghosn. “Pero ahora muchas cosas han cambiado… Le estamos dedicando todos nuestros chips, nuestras inversiones y nuestros esfuerzos porque creemos que ahora es el momento”.

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Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn: 'Now Is the Time for the Electric Car'

The electric car is real. It's here. And before long -- when curbside charging stations become as ubiquitous as parking meters -- it won't seem all that complicated, either.

So says a man who has thrown his corporate reputation into the post-gasoline car: Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault and Nissan. In a wide-ranging Wharton Leadership Lecture that touched on everything from managing a multicultural conglomerate to pushing for targeted government regulation, Ghosn was at his most optimistic when discussing a future where zero-emissions vehicles are embraced -- not out of altruism towards Mother Earth or hostility towards the oil-rich Middle East, but because they are good business.

"The electric car appeared at the beginning of the century, then disappeared, appeared in the 1950s, then disappeared, appeared in the 1970s, then disappeared," Ghosn said. "But a lot of things have changed.... We are putting our chips and we are putting our investment and we are putting our efforts behind this belief that now is the time."

See full Article.

'Too Big to Fail': Can Regulation Control Systemic Risk?

It is a description that means almost exactly the opposite of what it seems. "Too big to fail" doesn't mean a financial institution cannot fail, but that it cannot be allowed to do so. Should that failure occur, it would bring catastrophe to the financial markets and the "real" economy.

As the financial crisis unfolded in 2008, federal regulators judged Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, American International Group and a number of other financial institutions too big to be allowed to collapse, despite the firms' missteps. The whole notion of rescuing such "TBTF" firms violates the principle of allowing the markets to judge which players sink and swim. But when regulators opted to let Lehman Brothers fail in September 2008, a tsunami roared through the markets and economy.

Now, with the worst of the crisis apparently over, regulators, lawmakers and other experts are debating how to treat such firms in the future. "There are two issues with too-big-to-fail," says Wharton finance professor Richard C. Marston. "First, there are institutions which are not banks that have proven capable of wrecking our financial system.

See full Article.

Financial Regulations Chief Chides British Banks

Many senior banking executives failed to accept responsibility for the financial crisis and neglected the need to change their behavior, Hector Sants, the chief executive at Britain’s financial industry regulatory body, said Monday.

Mr. Sants said that senior executives should be responsible for creating a company culture that provides a strong ethical framework. He also said they should help avoid excessive risk-taking and other inappropriate behavior that could lead to another financial crisis. The regulator, the Financial Services Authority, plans to intervene when a lender creates a bad corporate culture, he said.

See full Article.

City regulator issues jail threat

Hector Sants, the head of the City regulator, has issued a stiff warning to financial firms including the threat of jail for those flouting the rules.

Firms had still failed to accept a "collective responsibility" for the financial crisis, said the Financial Services Authority's chief executive.

The FSA would now step in to police financial products before they were offered to customers, he said.

See full Article.

Differences Between IFRS and GAAP Could Create Challenges for Educators

International Financial Reporting Standards:

Where are We and What is the Role of U.S. Educational Institutions?

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are financial standards set forth by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). These standards are the international equivalent to the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) set forth by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Both sets of standards provide authoritative literature for public companies under their jurisdiction.

Discussion of adopting IFRS for U.S. public companies has generated a lot of discussion over the last several years. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission detailed a proposed roadmap for conversion on November 14, 2008. While the new administration has not embraced the roadmap at this point, the general belief is that some form of convergence or conversion will occur as we move forward, but that the timeline may be pushed back from the proposal.

This decision, regardless of the timing, may ultimately add to the massive amount of material educational institutions will need to cover in accounting programs.
Differences in IFRS and GAAP

See full Article.

La CNMV pide a Economía que regule por ley algunos aspectos de la retribución de los consejeros

El presidente de la Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), Julio Segura, indicó hoy que el organismo supervisor remitió al Ministerio de Economía el pasado 15 de octubre una propuesta para que regule por ley algunas cuestiones de la retribución de los consejeros, como que éstas sean votadas en junta general de accionistas.

Segura explicó hoy durante un almuerzo en la Fundación Alternativas que la propuesta insta a que el Ejecutivo regule por ley que la junta general de accionistas someta a votación la estructura y los criterios de las retribuciones, y que las compañías publiquen las retribuciones individualizadas para lograr una mayor transparencia.

Hasta ahora éstas eran recomendaciones incluidas en el Código Unificado de Buen Gobierno, pero el objetivo de la CNMV es que pasen a ser de obligado cumplimiento.

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International Accounting and Corporate Governance: Common Themes

My undergraduate auditing classes this semester had as their first assignment a brief search of what information they could find (via, say Google) when they plugged the words “auditor liability” into a search engine.

Most of their findings dealt with issues in Europe.

While Europe seems to be more active in trying to restrain legal liability for auditors, recent headlines in the US proclaim “Consumer anger, lawsuits, push (industry) to change, as Congress considers legislation to crack down…” Banks are the current bad boys, but it’s easy to recall numerous other industries that have filled the same role, including sports, automakers, and alas, accountants.

The spectacle of scandals in the US and Europe turned up the heat on the growing reform movement, both in trying to harmonize accounting standards and corporate governance.

See full Article.

Economic Downturn an Opportunity for CCOs

A Chief Compliance Officer’s Opportunity to Capitalize on the Current Economic Downturn

The recession can fuel a rise in fraud and other crimes committed by employees, but it can also act as a catalyst for strengthening the systems in place for detecting and deterring corporate malfeasance. According to The Network’s Quarterly Corporate Fraud Index, the number of fraudulent-related incident reports across all industries nearly doubled to 21% in the first quarter of 2009 from 10.9% in the first quarter of 2006.

While it appears that the level of identified acts of fraud has risen, it is difficult to discern if there actually has been an increase in fraudulent acts. It may be that the level of fraud has remained consistent but more acts are being identified due to the rise in reporting activity. During times of economic stress, companies experience tightened budgets and a reduction in employees, resulting in high tension and low morale. As an employee’s level of apprehension toward the security of their own job increases, they are more apt to report incidents of unethical workplace activity that further threaten the stability of their organization.

But as with many situations of adversity, an opportunity presents itself. For a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), this is an ideal circumstance to strengthen their company’s ethics and compliance programs.

But as with many situations of adversity, an opportunity presents itself. For a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), this is an ideal circumstance to strengthen their company’s ethics and compliance programs.

See full Article.

The Mounting Pressure on Compliance and Internal Governance

Uncertain obligations under certain change

Fifteen years ago, if someone had surveyed the nation’s top management across industry sectors about which sectors are the most regulated, financial services would have ranked right at the top along with utilities and healthcare. A casual look at today’s headlines would convince anyone that the financial markets are more reminiscent of the Wild West rather than a carefully supervised industry in spite of the myriad of federal and state institutions that are set up to provide governance.

While regulatory compliance and internal governance functions have been adapting to meet the deregulated business environment, the long-range challenge is the far more fundamental structural changes that have yet to be clearly defined.

While regulatory compliance and internal governance functions have been adapting to meet the deregulated business environment, the long-range challenge is the far more fundamental structural changes that have yet to be clearly defined.

See full Article.

GSA seeks to green all that it touches

Acting administrator Prouty promises the agency will lead the nation in how they use environmentally friendly products and services.

From Cleveland to Baltimore to Richmond, the General Services Administration wants to put solar panels on roofs of the buildings it runs.

These are just a few examples of how every program GSA runs for now on will have a green, or environmentally friendly, component.

"We will be dealing with some emerging technology and emerging companies," says Paul Prouty, acting GSA administrator. "We will be trying some things that are very, very new. We are doing our metrics to submit to Office of Management Budget for our budget. Generally those metrics are pretty refined. For the first time we say we will try a whole bunch of stuff and the stuff that works, we will use that."

Prouty says GSA wants to lead the country in using green products and services.

Se full Article.

Driving Sustainability by Eliminating Drivers

A new destination--urban sustainability--is changing the way we make the journey.

I was startled a few weeks ago to hear the urban sustainability director of a large city bemoan the fact that the community's schools require students to learn how to drive. The logic was simple: if fewer people know how to drive, there will be less driving and less driving helps will have grown to 2 million members.

Driving these trends are several factors: Environmental awareness, the shocking spike in gasoline prices, and the cost of owning a car at a time of high unemployment. Much of this was acknowledged by Bill Ford Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Company. "I certainly knew 30 years ago when I joined the company that the consumption of natural resources and the pollution that our industry was causing were unsustainable." But for many years, consumers were not demanding fuel-efficient vehicles and the auto industry didn't have the technology to deliver fuel efficiency and the strong vehicle performance consumers wanted. "We are at a confluence now. We have ever-increasing fuel prices, and technology that is a game-changer and can be introduced affordably."

See full Article.

Banking Expert, Kendis, Calls For Shareholder Protection, Good Governance

Kurt Kendis, Chief Executive Officer of The Banking Group, a US-based financial data and training firm, has said that only good corporate governance could guarantee shareholders investments in banks. Reacting to the public discourse over alleged plans by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to sell the eight banks whose chief executives were sacked and in which it said it had injected about N620 billion, the banking expert said share or bond holders often lose out when management fail to run the bank properly, especially as the 'banking system is the most important to protect'

In an e-mail exchange with The Guardian, Kendis said the current issues in the banking sector struck a nerve not just for Nigeria, but all around the world, as efforts were often made to ensure that depositors do not lose their money.

He queried: "What about other bank customers - especially the small companies (again not just in Nigeria but all around the world) - who need bank loans and other services to function and, at the same time, create jobs?

See ful Article.

The Profound Puzzles of Effective Management

Sudoku and the Sunday crossword can teach us a lot about leadership.

I have never tried Sudoku. I don't even know how to pronounce it. Yet every time I get on a plane, there's someone next to me scribbling away. On one flight I got curious and asked my seatmate, who had a giant book of puzzles, why she was so enthralled with it. "What do you get when you win?" I asked.

She seemed confused. "Nothing. You get a sense of satisfaction and then you get to do another one."

Seems odd, right? Why would we work so hard on something when the only real reward is a sense of satisfaction and more work?

This is the same question I have been asking my Better, Faster, Cheaper workshop participants for more than 10 years. In the workshop, I give them a fictionalized government process, equipped with all the handoffs, CYA, batching, bottlenecks and policy limitations we see in the real world. The participants have 10 minutes to redesign the process.

Se full Article.

IAS Plus International Accounting Standards: IFRS Financial Statements, Disclosure Checklist, Compliance Questionnaire

Deloitte's IFRS Global Office has published our IFRS Compliance Questionnaire for 2009. This 347-page questionnaire summarises the recognition and measurement requirements in IFRSs issued on or before 30 June 2009. It may be used to assist in considering compliance with those pronouncements. It is not a substitute for your understanding of such pronouncements and the exercise of your judgment. Users of the questionnaire are presumed to have a thorough understanding of the pronouncements and should refer to the text of the pronouncements, as necessary, in considering particular items in this questionnaire. The items in this questionnaire are referenced to the applicable sections of the IFRSs. Click to download:

See full Information.

Climate change 'will raise bills'

Property insurance could become more expensive and harder to obtain as a result of climate change, an insurance body has said.

The Association of British Insurers said the cost of flood and windstorm damage would rise for insurers as global temperatures increased.

This would lead to higher premiums for consumers and a restriction of cover as insurers would need more reserves.

Wales and the south-west of England would be worst hit, the report said.

See full Article.

World Experts Meet In Dubai To Discuss Means To Improve MENA Corporate Governance At Hawkamah-OECD 4th Annual Conference

When: November 8-9, 2009
Where: Dubai, UAE

Regional and international experts on corporate governance are gathered in Dubai to review the progress in reforming corporate governance frameworks in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries and to discuss ways to speed up their implementation process in the region.

This two-day regionally-focused Annual Conference organised by the Hawkamah Institute of Corporate Governance in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is being held from today at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

The Hawkamah-OECD Annual Gathering theme of ‘Emerging Middle East Markets and the Corporate Governance Imperatives’ has been specifically chosen to impart a sense of urgency regarding the adoption, strengthening and effective implementation of corporate governance frameworks in the region in the upcoming post-crisis era.

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