Comments for Martin Quinn's management and financial accounting blog

Comment on Driverless cars? by lecturersnotes

lecturersnotes — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:26:02 +0000

I wrote something about that right here

http://lecturersnotes.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/drive-by-cloud-computing/

Comment on The balanced scorecard – making it public?? by Josh M @ lutonairportparking.com

Josh M @ lutonairportparking.com — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:19:16 +0000

The balanced scorecard is all well and good (and I am an ACA, so I studied this), but in the current economic climate – and in any climate for a PLC – cash is king and profits are the main target. I realise that improvements in the figures should lead to better profits (in the longer term), but if you offered the owners of Heathrow an improvement in their cleanliness score or profit, which do you think they would pick? They could have outstanding cleanliness now – just employ more cleaners – but this would reduce profits. They could have more seats by closing some of the shops, but this would too. The balance business scorecard is a ‘nice to have’; profit and cash are essential. That’s my view anyway.

Comment on How business models can (climate) change by Jon Flatley

Jon Flatley — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:54:52 +0000

Climate change will begin affecting (if not already) other areas of agriculture as well. Zones of where flora and fauna prefer will shift pole-ward with time.

So – the nuanced affects (preferred growing regions for grapes/wine production) are the first to be noticed but it will definitely not stop there.

Comment on What is a “business model”? by lecturersnotes

lecturersnotes — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:11:34 +0000

Paper.li is making money through the ads on they daily newspaper sent out (ads are already introduced) as well as from some feeds they are linking to, thus increasing their traffic, thus getting a little from that cake.
The more interesting point with Twitter and Paper.li is, however, that these make most of their cash with a “by-product”, not with their main one.

Comment on Using rail freight to reduce CO2 emissions by martinjquinn

martinjquinn — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:21:37 +0000

Not sure if Tesco trade or need to trade in CO2 permits, but aside from CO2 “savings” which may or may not be costed, there will probably be a cost saving in real hard cash in terms of rail hauling more for less money. Yes, an estimate could be made of the costs saved, but it is complex

Comment on Using rail freight to reduce CO2 emissions by lecturersnotes

lecturersnotes — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:41:31 +0000

Alright, not as easy as I made it out above, since a few factors are missing. There is some data on the two new rail connections, and some on all four (two existing, two new) – we might be able to proxy the missing data, or just wait for the annual report 2012, where an effect should be visible and promoted.

Comment on Using rail freight to reduce CO2 emissions by lecturersnotes

lecturersnotes — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:33:26 +0000

Shouldn’t it be possible to estimate this? Cost per road mile (source: road pricing? mpg? detailed P&L?) * 72,000 less cost per cargo rail mile (source: cargo rail KPIs?) * rail miles = cost savings?

Plus: Does Tesco trade in CO2 – certificates? Otherwise, that is no real cost to them.

Comment on Institutionalised practices – a simple example by lecturersnotes

lecturersnotes — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:27:46 +0000

And sometimes the external conditions and circumstances are so unusual that they leave no other choice than change. You can’t play a video game with a hammer, so go and buy a controller!

Comment on Thanks! by John Donovan

John Donovan — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:20:38 +0000

That’s fantastic. Congrats.

Comment on Thanks! by lecturersnotes

lecturersnotes — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:16:06 +0000

Congratulations!