Accounting's diary: The Edge of Reason
The week in review by Taking Stock
TS has always considered itself of a Bridget Jones type in those more depressing moments. If we’re not making a horrendous mess of our personal life, we’re stuffing our faces or drinking heavily to forget about it, while making rash decisions that we regret almost immediately, much to the amusement of our colleague and peers.
Link: Taking Stock blog
So it’s comforting to know that the rest of the business world is just as screwed up and impulsive, if this week’s news is anything to be believed.
Take the Spanish, who this week introduced proposals that would see directors having to air their dirty linen in public, if they chose to get the company financially involved with anyone they were ‘affectionately’ involved with. TS didn’t see the exact definition of what this meant, but we suspect it may be a bit more than someone you know from the golf club.
The DTI, sorry DPEI, sorry again, DTI has also been at it this week. A post election cabinet shuffle was also partnered by an equally intriguing name dance for the government’s business representative. Sometimes something that feels forward-looking and all encompassing actually ends up sounding a bit stupid. But fair play to them for sorting it out quickly.
There are some unscrupulous souls though, that are willing to take advantage of our weaknesses. Grabbing cash for overindulgence looks to be an increasing trend.
In Detriot, home of Motown and minimalist techno, you’d think everyone was dancing too much to be overweight. But it’s just not the case, and the council is looking to introduce a fast food tax to counter the problems. They may claim they’re trying to do good, but a quick look at their balance sheet may suggest otherwise.
Others are trying to tax us on the side effects of overindulgence. A bar in Brazil is charging customers that can’t keep their beer down, or their mates, if that isn’t working. Fair enough you might think, but if they’re doing it in the toilets, you wouldn’t have thought that it would be worth the upheaval, so to speak.
TS is off now to drown our sorrows about our latest, thankfully undisclosed, failed romance, but we’ll be doing our consoling at home from now on.
