I'm quite sure no one at HMRC would agree with me, but surely there can be few better days at work than to compare these ridiculous excuses? They qualify as better entertainment than the telly anyday! They must be quite sorry when they get past them...the rest of the year wouldn't have much to recommend it!
Well done for publishing such a thoughtful & insightful article
I echo others in commending your courage in admitting to it. I've suffered on and off for a few years, but find it very difficult to be open about it and only my other half really knows. I haven't involved the doctor, simply because I felt they would only refer me to a counsellor that I'd have to pay for and I don't have the money. You've made me think I should review the matter with them at least: thank you.
Thank goodness you've arrived! I was starting to think I was operating in a parallel universe or something! I never advocated dumping the stats, but they aren't necessarily the best tool for management decisions, even if they are a good context for something that is, so that you can sense-check it. In particular, when presenting financials to people who have no knowledge whatsoever of statutory accounts, etc - they just want to know what they need to know and several of these measures look very helpful to me.
Whilst Zuora may imply that you should dump the old-style reports, these are required by statute and no sensible FD would stop using all the old measures. However, it is reasonable, given the rise of subscription-based operations, to look at what manages those best and I can see ways in which the measures proposed are superior. For example, the distinction between renewals and churn is especially relevant to my client. I can see nothing Enron-esque in this.
I love these measures, which are far more relevant to one particular client I have and I have been thinking about what measures they should be reporting instead to improve their planning,so this article couldn't have come at a better time! However, I have two questions:
How do you define non-growth spend in this model? For this client, I would say non-growth spend is very small, despite growth spend not being large enough IMO.
When measuring Growth Efficiency, are you only measuring growth spend? What constitutes good news: as low as possible?
Many thanks, especially if you answer fairly fast!!
In this climate, money should be allowed to talkmore than voters
I don't think it's a major surprise that 50% tax rate is earning anything for the government - I think a lot of people out there are saying "I told you so!". If you're earning that much, you'll get an accountant to help you "lose" some, to get below the limit.
As someone else pointed out, Singapore and Hong Kong have very low taxation and their economies aren't suffering at all. It's all very well saying the rich should pay more than the poor but, at 40%, they already were and there is no virtue in flogging them further. In the USA, where taxes tend to be lower overall, there is a culture of expectation among the super-rich that they should support community projects in some way and we would do much better to promote that than just take the money away from them. Would Bill Gates have done as much if the US government had just taxed him blind? Would they have had as much effect? I doubt it.
As a base principle of human nature, taxes should never be so punitive as to make you work more for the state than for yourself. This was a purely political move to attract those who are hard of thinking.
My answers
A wonderful start to the year!
I'm quite sure no one at HMRC would agree with me, but surely there can be few better days at work than to compare these ridiculous excuses? They qualify as better entertainment than the telly anyday! They must be quite sorry when they get past them...the rest of the year wouldn't have much to recommend it!
Well done for publishing such a thoughtful & insightful article
I echo others in commending your courage in admitting to it. I've suffered on and off for a few years, but find it very difficult to be open about it and only my other half really knows. I haven't involved the doctor, simply because I felt they would only refer me to a counsellor that I'd have to pay for and I don't have the money. You've made me think I should review the matter with them at least: thank you.
Extra management reports
Thank goodness you've arrived! I was starting to think I was operating in a parallel universe or something! I never advocated dumping the stats, but they aren't necessarily the best tool for management decisions, even if they are a good context for something that is, so that you can sense-check it. In particular, when presenting financials to people who have no knowledge whatsoever of statutory accounts, etc - they just want to know what they need to know and several of these measures look very helpful to me.
Enron type of transactions?
Whilst Zuora may imply that you should dump the old-style reports, these are required by statute and no sensible FD would stop using all the old measures. However, it is reasonable, given the rise of subscription-based operations, to look at what manages those best and I can see ways in which the measures proposed are superior. For example, the distinction between renewals and churn is especially relevant to my client. I can see nothing Enron-esque in this.
Non-growth spend and growth efficiency
I love these measures, which are far more relevant to one particular client I have and I have been thinking about what measures they should be reporting instead to improve their planning,so this article couldn't have come at a better time! However, I have two questions:
How do you define non-growth spend in this model? For this client, I would say non-growth spend is very small, despite growth spend not being large enough IMO.
When measuring Growth Efficiency, are you only measuring growth spend? What constitutes good news: as low as possible?
Many thanks, especially if you answer fairly fast!!
In this climate, money should be allowed to talkmore than voters
I don't think it's a major surprise that 50% tax rate is earning anything for the government - I think a lot of people out there are saying "I told you so!". If you're earning that much, you'll get an accountant to help you "lose" some, to get below the limit.
As someone else pointed out, Singapore and Hong Kong have very low taxation and their economies aren't suffering at all. It's all very well saying the rich should pay more than the poor but, at 40%, they already were and there is no virtue in flogging them further. In the USA, where taxes tend to be lower overall, there is a culture of expectation among the super-rich that they should support community projects in some way and we would do much better to promote that than just take the money away from them. Would Bill Gates have done as much if the US government had just taxed him blind? Would they have had as much effect? I doubt it.
As a base principle of human nature, taxes should never be so punitive as to make you work more for the state than for yourself. This was a purely political move to attract those who are hard of thinking.