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PC aims to cut deficit, clarify taxes

Short of presenting another budget, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today spelt out a huge mid-year course correction for the economy, at par with that taken in crisis years like 2008.

Less than a week after stepping into the ministry, he said that on his agenda was an aggressive road map for revamp of fiscal policy, including a rollback of the retrospective tax laws and removal of policy impediments for key sectors, both of which have crippled investment. To show that he meant business, the minister has again asked Vijay Kelkar, the author of India’s GST road map, to redraw the fiscal consolidation plan for the new team at North Block.

Just hours after he met RBI Governor D Subbarao, Chidambaram indicated rate cuts were on way. “Interest rates inhibit the investor and are a burden on every class of borrowers. Sometimes it is necessary to take carefully calibrated risks in order to stimulate investment and to ease the burden on consumers. We will take appropriate steps in this regard,” he said.

In a prepared statement, the Finance Minister described investment as an act of faith in the economy. He promised a reassurance on that score and set a target of raising investment to 38 per cent and savings to 36 per cent — levels that were last achieved by the economy before the global meltdown of 2008.

He said foreign investors would soon see “clarity in tax laws, a stable tax regime and a non-adversarial tax administration” through corrective measures to be taken by his ministry.

#Budget Deficit #Fiscal deficit #management trends #management issues

Italy's budget deficit yawns but the Trevi Fountain rakes it in

Italy may be sliding deeper towards the economic abyss but one area of the country at least is awash with cash - the Trevi Fountain in Rome.

Tradition dictates that tourists should toss a coin into the Baroque fountain, where Anita Ekberg famously cavorted in a strapless black dress in the 1960 Fellini classic 'La Dolce Vita', to ensure that they return to the city.

The custom appears to have weathered the global financial crisis – a record 540,000 euros' (£420,000) worth of small change has been dredged out of the fountain so far this year.

Rome's authorities say the increase is partly down to the fact that they have cracked down on the thieves who use to gather up the coins in pre-dawn raids, wading into the knee-deep water with rakes and buckets.

Financial Year

When one illegal coin collector was confronted by an Italian film crew last year, he exploded in rage and shoved the reporter into the fountain.

Budget Deficit

But the record number of coins also suggests that visitors to the capital still have cash to spare to honour a tradition that was popularised by films like Three Coins in a Fountain, made in 1954 and featuring three American women looking for romance in the Eternal City.

The figures were released by Caritas, the Catholic charity which collects the coins and uses the money to buy food for the homeless.

In the first six months of the year, with the summer tourist season barely underway, 540,000 worth of coins were recovered from the fountain, weighing more than 17,000kg.

If the trend continues, more than a million euros will have been fished out of the popular tourist attraction by Christmas.

That compares with 838,000 euros recovered in 2010 and 951,000 euros in 2011.

#Fiscal deficit #financial problems #Financial Year #Budget Deficit

Federal budget deficit hits $904 billion in June

Through the first nine months of the budget year, the federal deficit totaled $904.2 billion, the Treasury Department reported Thursday.

President Barack Obama is almost certain to face re-election having run trillion-dollar-plus deficits in each his first four years in office.

Obama and Republicans remain at odds over how to lower the deficit — disagreeing on how much to spend, where to cut and whether tax increases should be on the table. The gridlock has left a package of expiring tax cuts and scheduled spending increases in limbo, another threat to an already weak U.S. economy.

The Congressional Budget Office predicts the deficit for the full year, which ends on Sept. 30, will total $1.17 trillion. That would be a slight improvement from the $1.3 trillion deficit recorded in 2011, but still greater than any deficit before Obama took office.

One positive sign this year is the deficit is growing more slowly than last year.

Deficit over $1T for fourth year

In June it was 6.8% behind the pace for the same period in budget year 2011. And a key reason for that is that revenues are up 5.2% this year, while spending is down by 0.9%.

But the modest improvement has not cooled the budget debate in Washington.

Obama submitted a budget request to Congress in February that sought $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade through a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes.

A key part of his proposal is to allow tax cuts to expire for couples earning more than $250,000. He has called for extending similar cuts for people earning less than that.

Obama would also set a 30% tax rate on taxpayers making more than $1 million.

Republicans have rejected the tax increases. They want more cuts in government programs. The GOP-controlled House has approved a budget that calls for deep cuts in Medicare and other programs and a new round of tax cuts that would favor wealthy Americans.

#Budget Deficit #financial problems

Budget deficit surpasses 8 percent of GDP

Pakistan’s budget deficit has surpassed eight percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), equivalent to Rs 1652 billion, following a shortfall in both tax and non-tax revenues as well as overrun in expenditures during the last financial year, sources said on Monday.

However, the Ministry of Finance has not yet officially released budget deficit figures for the last financial year as they blame the continued strike by Auditor General of Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) officials, who are blocking the way of reconciliation of figures of total revenues and total expenditures.

The AGPR employees are on strike and demanding special allowance, which the government had promised to provide but has failed to fulfill.

According to provisional figures, which are in the process of finalisation and were shared by one top official of government, the reconciled tax collection of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) stood at Rs 1,902 billion against the desired target of Rs 1,952 billion.

On non-tax revenue side, the official said, there was a massive shortfall in the wake of non-materialisation of Coalition Support Fund (CSF) from USA, auction of third generation (3G) technology and from other heads in the last fiscal year ended on June 30, 2012.

The expenditure overrun on subsidies also negatively impacted the fiscal imbalance of the country, said the official and added that the power sector subsidies had ballooned out of proportion, making lives of economic managers more difficult.

Secretary Finance Division Wajid Rana said that the budget deficit has not yet been finalised and it would take some more time to unveil the exact crucial number for FY12.

#Budget Deficit #fiscal deficit

Monti to raise Italy's budget deficit from 1.3% to 2% ‎

"Italy will have a deficit of around 2% this year," Monti said following talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The deficit was 3.9% in 2011 and Italy aims to cut it to 0.5% next year.

Financial Year

Earlier he said that eurobonds must be accompanied by increased buget EU level budget control.

Budget deficit

"We need a partial mutualisation of debt, but also more central control of national budgets," Monti told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

"Without proper control it would be irresponsible to burden others with a share of your own debt," he said. "Germany and Italy take the same line on this and are prepared to surrender national sovereignty," he added.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Monti in Rome following perceived tensions between the two leaders at last week's EU summit.

But Monti played down any differences. "For several months now, the German and the Italian governments have both been working at a number of European summits to steer the EU onto the path of growth while still adhering to budgetary discipline," Monti said.

#Financial Year #Budget deficit #Italy budget

HSE West hospitals in 'serious financial problems' (Financial Year - irishtimes)

A SENIOR HSE official has stated that acute hospitals in the HSE West area “are in serious financial problems”.

Liam Minihan, assistant national director for finance with the Health Service Executive, made his comment after confirming that net expenditure across the HSE West area – stretching from North Tipperary and Limerick north to Donegal – is €26.3 million over budget for the first quarter of this year.

Mr Minihan confirmed the spend on hospitals was €20.4 million over budget, with the community sector €5.5 million over. As a means of addressing the overspend at the acute hospitals, Mr Minihan said cost-containment plans were in place “and are planning significant seasonal closures”.

Mr Minihan confirmed that the overspend for the Midwest hospitals was 13 per cent, or €4.5 million over budget, with the overspend at Galway and Roscommon Hospital Group at 10 per cent or €4.1 million. He said the spend in the first three months of this year was €480 million – €26.3 million over the permitted budget of €453.65 million.

He said that by the end of March, 361 people had retired from the HSE West, which would save €34 million this year. The first-quarter spend was €17 million down on the same period last year, he added.

“The big problem for us in the community is the Fair Deal occupancy levels in nursing homes. We need the nursing homes to have 95 per cent occupancy to get our maximum commissioning funding and avoid incurring a deficit. We are running at 10 per cent below the 95 per cent and we are not recovering our costs there.”

#financial problems #financial year #west ho #HSE West hospitals

BlueCrest hires Russell consultant (efinancialnews - Management Issues)

Greg Clerkson, who came to Russell in August 2010 from Royal Bank of Canada Investment Management, joined BlueCrest Capital Management as head of global consultant relations in January, according to two people familiar with the move. He reports to Bob Shea, the firm's London-based head of sales and marketing.

Clerkson declined to comment. A spokesman for BlueCrest confirmed the hire. A spokeswoman for Russell said that Clerkson's responsibilities have been absorbed by Nick Spencer, a director in the firm's consulting business.

At BlueCrest, Clerkson is charged with spearheading UK institutional coverage. The firm's strong performance and institutional infrastructure have made it a favourite of consultants and pension funds alike. It took in more money than any other European hedge fund manager in 2010, growing assets from $16.2bn to $24.6bn. It raised a further net $4bn in assets last year.

Over the three years to the end of 2011, the flagship BlueCrest Capital International – a fixed income global macro hedge fund – annualised at 20.30%, while the systematic BlueTrend has annualised at 6.69% in the same period.

Against a backdrop of surging assets, however, BlueCrest has struggled to hang onto sales staff. Shea is the fourth person to hold the head of sales role in the past three years. Separately, about a year ago, Kerry Duffain, a partner and head of UK institutional, left to be in charge of business development at startup hedge fund manager Markham Rae.

Russell's hedge fund solutions business covers three areas: funds of hedge funds, customised solutions and hedge fund advisory, where Clerkson worked. In 2008 the firm was forced to shut down its fund of funds business – which managed $6.8bn at its peak in 2007 - due to liquidity problems but last year decided to resurrect it.

Under Len Brennan, Russell's chief executive officer, who replaced incumbent Andrew Doman last summer, it is understood that the firm has been focusing on its asset management business. Within hedge fund solutions, the focus is increasingly on finding managers for the fund of funds business, rather than for advisory clients, a person familiar with the situation said. Hedge fund advisory can take several forms, including search activity, operational due diligence and monitoring investments.

#management issues #Management Issues chennai #management trends

IBM Releases Beta BYOD Management Tool (Infoboom Management Issues)

IBM recently released its beta version of Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices. The tool is their attempt at solving the prominent issue of the "bring your own device" (BYOD) movement. This is pretty self-explanatory and not even really news, considering frequency with which employees use their own laptops. However, smartphones and tablets have presented greater security and standardization issues. Because of this, it's a unique issue that IBM is hoping to solve for all enterprises, including small and midsize businesses (SMBs).

The Big Fix

This tool resulted from IBM's acquisition of Big Fix, which created a management tool for IT to handle mobile devices. IBM claims that Endpoint allows businesses to remotely control, wipe, manage, and secure devices that run Windows Phone, Symbian, iOS, and Android. They also claim it can be used to create policy compliance and remote control apps and it can sync apps for employee devices. Endpoint includes various security services as well, according to Tech Republic.

Management Issues

Countless mobile device management (MDM) services are out there, but one that provides in-house IT workers with the tools to create BYOD management-centric apps is unheard of. This brings up the next point: Though those countless MDM services have been out in the wild for a while, the companies created them primarily for smartphones before tablets became really big in business. True, the two biggest names in tablets (Android, iOS) run the same operating systems on both their tablets and smartphones, but MDM services weren't really created with the BYOD mindset and all of its inherent issues. Not to mention, you can use tablets in a greater variety of ways, primarily due to more screen real estate. Naturally, this translates into more issues associated that need addressing, particularly in the app space with its lack of standardization. Giving IT an easy way to solve that problem is a wise move.

#Management Issues

Exclusive Management Issues

Cooperation + Competition = Coopetition!

Necessity is the mother of innovation. It is in difficult times that the entrepreneurs and managers are getting to their innovative best. Goes well with the old adage, if you cannot beat them join them! That is exactly what some of the start-ups are doing. First I was reading about a news report that a couple of retail companies had set up a game plan for greater back end cooperation that could bring about the much needed cost efficiencies in a business that that increasingly getting difficult with low margins and high overhead costs!

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