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Directors want more regulations. They also think chief execs should never be chairmen. And privately they admit that they lack training. Hard to believe but that's what directors told a survey for the Institute of Directors in Ireland. Seven out of ten of Ireland's directors believe increasing regulation is the only way to improve corporate governance standards. The report also found that 3 in 5 admit they need further training for their role as directors and that 45pc of directors do not have independent non-executive directors on their company boards. SMEs are less likely to have independent non-executive directors in place, with less than 2 i
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The Government is working on developing a new loan guarantee scheme for small firms that have been locked out of credit by the banking crisis. But just hours after Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O'Keeffe announced the Government was working on a loan guarantee scheme, one of the key players in the ongoing dispute over the availability of credit to SMEs said he does not favour a loan guarantee scheme. The Irish Independent reported that John Trethowan, who heads up the Credit Review Office, said he was "sceptical" about how effective a loan guarantee scheme would be and warned it was being portrayed as a cure for all small firms' problems when this was not the
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“Irish companies are set to discard the UK accounting rules they have been moored to for decades and adopt an international accounting code - the so called IFRS - for small and medium sized businesses,” says BusinessWorld. Are you one of them? Quoted companies already use IFRS, but so called “Non public Interest” or unquoted companies will have to adapt IFRS for SME in 2012/2013. Reported profits will be different under the new rules, for some businesses it will be higher and some lower; it depends on what business the company is undertaking, explained Aidan Clifford, ACCA's (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Advisory Services manager. For example, a company with a lot of intellectual property will have a different affect on their profi
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The sight and sound of AIB begging for an extension to the state banking guarantee probably did not engender a great deal of sympathy from SMEs. It certainly did not from this correspondent.
RTE business editor David Murphy says the fact AIB is “calling for it, shows things would be very difficult if the bank guarantee was not there”.
As long as AIB, and other banks in the scheme, are protected under the bank guarantee they are able to borrow money at a decent rate on the wholesale market – and keep lending to customers.
Across the corporate and household sector, the impact of a great storm cloud of indebtedness is now being felt. The figures are quite startling. Last year, the consultancy Amarach Research produced a report entitled: 'The Debt of the Nation : How we Fell in and out of Love with Debt." This study estimated that in Ireland, the ratio of household debt to disposable income had risen from just 48% in 1995 to 176% last year, making us one of the indebted countries in the world, even when public debt is excluded from the equation. Since the downturn, the number of insolvencies has soared, along with the number of 'problem' debts across the banking system. More than 1,400 companies were declared insolvent in 2009 alone, almost five hundred of these being construction firms. The scale of the crisis i
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Top US Business Author Presents a Free Workshop to Business Leaders
edoyle, Jun 04, 2010
Featured CategoryVistage Ireland chair Etain Doyle will be hosting a member guest day at the Fitzwilliam Dublin Hotel on the 23 June. The international speaker Gary Markle will present his session 'Catalytic Coaching - A performance management system that works.' In this highly interactive workshop tailored specifically to meet the needs of Vistage participants, Gary makes his case for the abolishment of conventional methods of performance evaluation and teaches participants how to replace them with a more effective and efficient system that he calls “Catalytic Coaching”. The workshop will give participants a complete overview of an employee development system designed to accomplish five key business objectives: • Change behaviour • Motivate employees
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They never said it would be easy. Just when it looks that Ireland's battered economy is turning the corner, a storm builds to crisis proportions on the Euro zone's South Eastern periphery. The crisis has unfolded in distinct phases. The first consisted of German Government foot dragging over the go ahead for a €45bn rescue package that helped to spark panic in the bond markets, with resulting contagion effects for Portugal, Spain, and to a degree, Ireland. It is fortunate that the National Treasury Management Agency has prefunded much of this year's financial requirement, but the impact of the crisis on confidence, and on the cost of funds to the Irish banking sector, and by extension on borrowers, is real. The cost of the bailout swelled as the Germans prevaricated during
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Few doubt that small firms, the backbone of local communities, have been hit hard by the credit crunch. Many firms which would be viable when viewed from a long term perspective, have been forced prematurely to the wall, having been cut off at the knees by newly risk averse, cash strapped banks. Crunching Hard and Deep The accountancy group Mazars, has carried out a series of studies on credit availability. The latest review, published in mid April, indicates that while we have entered a period of stabilisation, the crisis remains very real. According to a statement issued by Ian Talbot, CEO of Chambers Ireland: "We note with concern that 35% of all loans granted to SMEs are now behind on payment. This figure is likely to act as deadweight on future loan applications and approvals, p
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Jo Haigh is coming to Dublin this week to give a workshop to Vistage members and guests on ‘Finance for Non-Accountants’. Many CEOs get to the top because of their expertise in their profession, in sales/marketing or operations or whatever. They would not have survived without grasping the financial basics. However, especially in difficult times, they can find their discomfort with finance and what their accountants are presenting to them a source of worry rather than information to act on. Jo provides a crystal clear and no-nonsense guide to banish that discomfort and to enable participants ask the questions that get the revealing answers..... Kyran Fitzgerald interviews Jo Haigh A bestselling author of business books, Ambassador for a middle s
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