Current AccountThe man leading the drive for a new transparent and global set of accounting standards was in town this week. Sir David Tweedie, whose name has become synonymous with accounting reform, initially in Britain and now on the wider international stage, was giving the keynote address at the second Horwath Bastow Charleton Accounting Lecture.
The chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board took time out from spreading the message of "convergence" between international rules and US standards to meet that arch exponent of pragmatic accounting, Charlie McCreevy.
Quite what he might make of the Minister for Finance's track record of tearing up standard accounting theory by turning to one-off items to balance the budgetary book on current spending - the Central Bank reserves and the Social Insurance Fund and various one-off gains from revenue investigations come to mind - is not known.
Perhaps the two men decided instead to concentrate on Mr McCreevy's other enduring trait - a determination to look forward and anticipate an optimistic outcome.
Sir David will hope that the Irish presidency of the European Union will stiffen the resolve of the European Commission in facing down demands from the French to water down provisions of the new accounting rules that could undermine the whole project.
Datalex's Wilson reaps benefit of trophy house
Mr Neil Wilson, the canny Scot who built the Irish software firm Datalex into a $400 million company at the height of the dotcom bubble, is moving from his luxurious house on Howth Head.
The trophy house, complete with large gym and indoor swimming pool, is on the market for €8 million and should net Mr Wilson a tidy profit, given that he paid €1.65 million for it in 1996. Because he used the house as a principal residence, Mr Wilson should not be liable for any capital gains tax - making the house, named Drumleck, a big earner.
But with all the talk of an Irish property bubble, is it possible that the new owners could lose their shirt on the stately pile?
Datalex shareholders who bought into the firm at its initial public offering (IPO) in October 2000 at a price of €6.84 have endured a grim three years. The shares fell to a record low of 22 cents in 2002 and are still spluttering around the 60 cents mark, creating a few headaches for Datalex's early investors.
Meanwhile, Mr Wilson has done rather well from the Howth-based travel software company. He has cashed in €2 million worth of Datalex shares in the past six weeks alone, and made a €4.4 million bonanza during the IPO.
That is the same level of profit that Mr Wilson - who recently left Datalex to pursue a new career in property development - stands to make from selling his home.
Let's hope that the new owners of Drumleck enjoy better fortune in Howth than Datalex's long-suffering shareholders.
The transparent CRH
Hats off to CRH for continuing to head the class in terms of plc transparency.
Included in this year's annual report, for the first time, is a table showing attendance at board and board committee meetings during 2003 which makes for interesting reading.
Chairman Pat Molloy may have been paid a hefty €300,000 for his work with CRH last year but his attendance record was perfect. Current Account was pleased to see that he turned up for all of the 26 meetings he was due to attend.
Other non-executive directors at CRH who receive top marks for their attendance at board and committee meetings are Tony O'Brien and Dutch director Wil Roef. Don Godson and Kieran McGowan attended all eight board meetings and turned up for the 10 audit committee meetings held during the year, while each missed just one of the six meetings of the acquisitions committee on which they sat.
But Howard Kilroy's performance was less impressive. As well as missing one of the group's eight board meetings during the year, he managed to attend just six of the 10 audit committee meetings - despite the fact that the board has determined that he is the Audit Committee financial expert. He did manage to attend all four meetings of the nomination committee and all five meetings of the remuneration committee. David Kennedy also missed a few meetings. He attended seven out of eight board meetings, four out of six acquisitions committee meetings and nine out of the 10 meetings of the important audit committee.
