01 March 2002

Good apples, too Not all energy companies are Enrons. BP's CEO John Browne announced yesterday that the corporation would make no more political donations, anywhere in the world. Few of the UK's big companies (including BP) make donations in Britain, so the announcement applies principally to the US, where BP inherited a political donation pot with its takeovers of Arco and Amoco. Here's what Browne had to say: "We must be particularly careful about the political process, not because it is unimportant -- quite the reverse -- but because the legitimacy of that process is crucial both for society and for us as a company working in that society." 5:02:13 PM

CFO for US Inc John Kay also has problems with Alan Greenspan, or more accurately the entire approach taken to national accounting in the US. He reckons that aggressive accounting could make up all of the so-called productivity miracle in the US. "USA Corp capitalised much of its software expenditure, revalued that expenditure at the highest price it might ever have paid, calculated its profits without any depreciation of revalued assets and announced stunning results to its investors on the basis of these assumptions." 4:56:55 PM

© Copyright 2002 Lance Knobel.