IAS Latest News

IASB and FASB announce membership of Financial Crisis Advisory Group
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today announced the membership of the Financial Crisis Advisory Group (FCAG). The FCAG is the high-level advisory group set up by the boards to consider financial reporting issues arising from the global financial crisis.

Web presentation introducing the exposure draft on Consolidation
Alan Teixeira, Director of Technical Activities, along with Patrina Buchanan and Michael Buschhueter, Project Managers, will be introducing the exposure draft on Consolidation in a live Web presentation on 8 January 2009, followed by a question and answer session.

Postponed - Live web presentation introducing the Discussion Paper on Revenue Recognition
Due to unforeseeable circumstances the web presentation introducing the Discussion Paper on Revenue Recognition had to be postponed. The two web presentations on 3 February 2009 have been cancelled and will now take place on 10 February 2009 at 9am and 3pm London time.

If you have already registered for the web presentation on 3 February 2009 either at 9am or 3pm London time, you do not need to register again. You have automatically been registered for the respective presentation on 10 February. To access the presentation on the 10 of February you can use the link that was sent to you in the email confirming your registration. You will also receive an email reminder on the day of the presentation.
If you have not previously registered but now want to participate you will need to register.

10 February 2009 at 9am (GMT, London time)
Web registration - Register here
If you want to listen to the presentation over the telephone - Register here
10 February 2009 at 3pm (GMT, London time)
Web registration - Register here
If you want to listen to the presentation over the telephone - Register here

IASB proposes amendments to IFRIC Interpretations
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published today for public comment proposals to amend IFRIC 9 Reassessment of Embedded Derivatives and IFRIC 16 Hedges of a Net Investment in a Foreign Operation.

Trustees enhance public accountability through new Monitoring Board, complete first part of Constitution Review
The Trustees of the IASC Foundation, the oversight body of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), today announced important amendments to the organisation’s Constitution, as well as a summary of other agreements reached at the Trustees’ meeting in New Delhi, India, on 15 and 16 January 2009.

IASB proposes amendments to clarify the accounting for embedded derivatives
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) today published for public comment proposals to clarify the accounting treatment for embedded derivatives.

IASB January 2009
We are pleased to announce that IASB Update for January is now available:

• IASB Update January 2009
• IFRIC Update November 2008

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

Personal Income and Outlays: December 2008
Personal income decreased $25.3 billion, or 0.2 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $25.1 billion, or 0.2 percent, in December, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $102.4 billion, or 1.0 percent. In November, personal income decreased $44.0 billion, or 0.4 percent, DPI decreased $33.9 billion, or 0.3 percent, and PCE decreased $77.8 billion, or 0.8 percent, based on revised estimates.

Gross Domestic Product: Fourth Quarter 2008 (Advance)
Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- decreased at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP decreased 0.5 percent.

New OECD releases

REALISING SOUTH AFRICA'S EMPLOYMENT POTENTIAL
ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT WORKING PAPER No. 662
By Geoff Barnard

Unemployment in South Africa is extremely high and unevenly distributed, being concentrated among young less skilled blacks. The legacies of apartheid can explain part of the increase in labour supply and inability of the economy to absorb it which produced the extreme levels of unemployment, but more could have been done to unwind those legacies and other policies and institutions have contributed to the dysfunction of the labour market.

This Working Paper relates to the 2008 OECD Economic Assessment of South Africa

Making the most of Norwegian schools

ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT WORKING PAPER No. 661
By Romina Boarini

Traditionally, the Norwegian compulsory education system has focused strongly on the linked goals of equal opportunities to learn, comprehensive and inclusive education. While some of these objectives have been met successfully, a number of educational outcomes, notably measures of pupil performance at the end of compulsory schooling, are unsatisfactory.

New Releases from African Development Bank

Zoellick Calls for ‘Vulnerability Fund’ Ahead of Davos Forum

World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick has a message for the world as heads of state, CEOs, policy-makers and economists gather in Davos, Switzerland, for perhaps the gloomiest World Economic Forum in the meeting’s 39-year history. Don’t leave developing countries “out in the cold.” Zoellick wants developed countries to dedicate 0.7 percent of their economic stimulus packages to a “Vulnerability Fund” for developing countries suffering in the global downturn.
Such a fund could speed resources to existing World Bank, United Nations and regional development bank safety-net programs that give the poor access to health, education and nutrition services; build infrastructure such as roads, bridges and low-carbon technology projects; and support small and medium-size businesses and microfinance institutions that lend to the poor, says Zoellick.

World Bank to Launch Development Marketplace for the African Diaspora in North America (DMADA)

The Africa Region of the World Bank on February 27, 2009 will launch the “Development Marketplace for the African Diaspora in North America” (DMADA), as part of its ongoing “Mobilizing the African Diaspora for Development” initiative.
DMADA will be implemented with the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and will seek proposals from members of the African Diaspora living in the United States and Canada, who wish to implement projects related to Youth and Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa countries.

Mauritius - Economic Transition TA

The following project was approved today by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors:

IBRD Loan: US$18 million
TERMS: Maturity = 15 years; Grace= 5 years
Project Description: The project will strengthen the investment climate of Mauritius and advance public enterprise reform in order to encourage supply-side investment.

For project documents, please click here.

Burundi Reaches Decision Point under the Enhanced HIPC Debt Relief Initiative

The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have agreed that Burundi has made sufficient progress and taken the necessary steps to reach its completion point under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Because of this agreement, Burundi becomes the 24th country to reach the completion point under the Initiative.

Debt relief under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative from all of Burundi’s creditors has been revised upward to US$832 million in net present value (NPV) terms[i] from US$825 million estimated at the time of the decision point document. HIPC debt relief committed by IDA and the IMF amounts to US$425 million and SDR 19 million (US$27 million) in NPV terms, respectively.

In reaching the HIPC completion point, Burundi also becomes eligible for further debt relief from the IMF, IDA, and the African Development Fund (AfDF) under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). MDRI relief net of HIPC assistance would lead to a nominal[ii] reduction of debt owed to IDA and the IMF by US$90 million and SDR 9 million (US$13 million) respectively.

New Project to Strengthen HIV/AIDS Prevention Efforts in Botswana

Botswana’s efforts in combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic received a welcome boost, thanks to an innovative US$50 million project that includes a “buy-down” design being implemented for the first time in Africa.

Botswana, one of the countries in the region most afflicted by HIV/AIDS, is facing an uphill challenge in combating the epidemic. An estimated 283,000 Botswana adults, many in their prime are suffering from the debilitating disease. The national adult prevalence rate is nearly 24 percent.

“The Government of Botswana is committed to intensifying the battle against HIV/AIDS,” said Hon. Baledzi Gaolathe, Botswana’s Minister of Finance and Development Planning, at a project signing ceremony held in Gaborone today. “The funds will help us to increase the coverage, efficiency and sustainability of our interventions.”

Mapping decline and recovery across sectors

Different sectors enter and emerge from downturns at different times. A look at past recessions suggests how some industries may fare.
Bin Jiang, Timothy M. Koller, and Zane D. Williams

In an ideal world, every company would enter a recession led by a team of grizzled executives who could draw on their experiences of past downturns to guide it through the current one. Many companies don’t, however, and even for those that do, it can be difficult to rise above the crisis to ponder the lessons of history. Yet in a recession, developing accurate strategic plans is usually a high-stakes effort. False assumptions about the pace, scale, and timing of growth may slow progress in good times but could be fatal now.

Read More

Business ethics and OECD principles

What can be done to avoid another crisis?
The global economic crisis was partly caused by a failure of business ethics. In response, the OECD is developing a framework to help countries enhance transparency in areas like finance, competition, corporate governance, taxation and pensions, building on instruments such as its Principles of Corporate Governance and Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

IASB & FASB propose joint approach for revenue recognition

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) published for public comment a discussion paper setting out a joint approach for the recognition of revenue.


Revenue is an important number to users of financial statements in assessing a company’s performance and prospects. However, revenue recognition requirements in US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) differ from those in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) and both are considered in need of improvement. The requirements in US GAAP comprise numerous standards—many are industry‑specific and some can produce conflicting results for economically similar transactions. Although IFRSs contain fewer standards on revenue recognition, its two main standards have different principles and can be difficult to understand and apply beyond simple transactions.



The discussion paper is open for comment until 19 June 2009.



Preliminary Views on Revenue Recognition in Contracts with Customers is available on the ‘Open for Comment’ section on http://www.iasb.org/from today

New releases from the OECD

Financial crises: Past lessons and policy implications
This overview paper examines the financial crisis in light of past country experience and economic theory and draws preliminary policy recommendations. A number of facets of the crisis are detailed, including its origins and spreading factors as well as crisis resolution polices and their associated gross and net fiscal costs.

The challenge of the financial crisis and faith in multilateralism
The crisis has shown the vulnerability of a global economy based on the idea that ever increasing production and consumption were the key to success, says OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría. But this crisis is “a big opportunity for change, a colossal opportunity to bring about a greener economic growth and a more inclusive and reliable globalisation.”

University news from Africa

EGYPT: Corpse shortage affects medical students
Ashraf Khaled
When he applied to attend the medical school of Cairo University, Egypt's biggest public institution, Ahmed Masoud never dreamed he and fellow students with limited economic resources would face the problem of a shortage of corpses for autopsy training. "This badly affects our medical skills," says Masoud. "And, with examinations nearing, we are left with two options: either to buy corpses ourselves or attend private tuition classes in anatomy. Most of us cannot afford either."

ZIMBABWE: Universities demand US dollars
Clemence Manyukwe
Universities and their lecturers are demanding payment in foreign currency, with the institutions charging dollar tuition fees of US$700 and $1,500 per semester, as inflation in the crisis-torn southern African country plays havoc with the local currency and the education and health sectors collapse. Students are not sure whether they will get their results after lecturers declined to mark examination scripts, citing poor salaries and working conditions.

NIGERIA: Government in court over ruling councils
Tunde Fatunde
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, the ASUU, has dragged the N igerian government before the Federal High Court, challenging as illegal President Shehu Musa Yar'Adua's failure to reconstitute the governing councils of federal universities. All councils were dissolved in 2007 and the lack of the decision-making bodies has hampered university operations. The court action has jolted the presidency which claims to champion the rule of law.

UGANDA: Students protest 'discriminatory' fees
Kayiira Kizito
Late last year, Kenyan students enrolled at Makerere University, Uganda's most famous institution, protested against 'discriminatory' foreign student fees and other charges. As with many other universities around the world, Makerere charges differential rates for domestic and international students with those from East Africa pay around 1.5 times the local rate.

TUNISIA: Conference discusses Averroès project
Mobility of university students and teachers, and joint studies and diplomas, were on the agenda at the University of Sousse during a three-day conference to discuss the Euro-Mediterranean Averroès programme, reported La Presse of Tunisia

SENEGAL: Alumni demand dismissal of UCAD rector
The alumni association of the Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) of Dakar, Senegal's biggest university, last week demanded the immediate departure of rector Abdou Salam Sall, claiming he was the "principal obstacle to a calm academic year". If he did not leave, they said, they would "paralyse the university".

CAMEROON: Forgers of Slovakia university papers bust
A network of forgers who extorted large sums of money from parents hoping to enrol their children as students in Slovakia has been uncovered in Yaoundé and Douala, say newspaper reports.

MALAWI: Plans for a Muslim university
Malawi's former President, Bakili Muluzi, is planning to open a Muslim university. The institution will join other church-run universities - the Catholic University and Livingstone University (which is run by the Presbyterian Church) - to outnumber Malawi's two public institutions, the University of Malawi and Mzuzu University.

ZAMBIA: University to charge 'economic' fees
The University of Zambia will begin charging 'economic' fees this year after submitting proposals to the government. Vice-chancellor Professor Steven Simukanga said that although the government wanted affordable student fees, this was not possible because government grants were inadequate said.

University News from the West

GLOBAL: Ban sex between lecturers and students?
Paul Rigg
When Professor Istvan Pogany, 57, began a consensual relationship with one of his students at Britain's University of Warwick, he did what many would consider 'good practice' and informed his line manager. But the student, who is in her 30s, then fell pregnant and her subsequent anguished decision to have an abortion led to lurid headlines that raised the question again whether intimate relationships between academics and students should be more strongly discouraged, or even prohibited.


US-INDIA: Boosting private-public partnerships
Geoff Maslen
A high-powered taskforce set up by the US Asia Society to expand interactions between India and the new Obama administration has called for the creation of education partnerships between the two nations to cope with India's burgeoning higher education and secondary school populations. In a new report*, the taskforce says the training requirements for India's large population exceed current capacity, "a challenge uniquely suited for linkages with US institutions".

INDONESIA: Students swindled and stranded
David Jardine
A scandal involving 49 Indonesian students who sought places in Egypt's prestigious Al-Azhar University has been revealed. Instead of enrolling in the Cairo university, the students ended up in Malaysia where 15 were discovered doing odd jobs to support themselves.

BANGLADESH: Private universities meet demand
Mahdin Mahboob
The system of private universities is a relatively new concept in Bangladesh. Because of the ever-growing demand for education at the university level, and the fact that existing public universities could not meet the need, the government passed a Private Universities Act in 1992. Starting with a handful, the number of private universities has grown rapidly and stands at 54 to date, compared with 21 public universities.

UK: Reskilling and upskilling
Diane Spencer
The higher education sector should play a greater part in the government's agenda of improving skills of the workforce, says a new report* by a parliamentary select committee. MPs looked at the review of leading businessman Lord Leitch, published in 2006, which was based on depressing statistics revealing the level of skills among the UK working population.

GLOBAL: New African research resource
A new online search portal called the HERANA Gateway provides access to the latest research on African higher education. Using Google technology, the Gateway returns focused search results from more than 15 sites worldwide - including University World News and the Centre for Higher Education Transformation in South Africa - making it one of the most specialised resources of its kind.

PHILIPPINES: Trikes spread telecommunications
Five young Filipino graduates are building the country's first self-contained and wireless-enabled mobile telecentres using the national mode of transport - the three-wheeled motorcycle called a Trike.

FRANCE: Inter-university information service
Jane Marshall
Nearly 150 librarians from 14 Parisian university libraries have banded together to open Rue des facs, an online documentary information service for students and academics. They can send in questions - in French - and should receive a reply by email within three days.

Here Comes the Flood
How to handle the constant pileup of scholarly publications? Scott McLemee takes a look at two alternatives.

Half Empty or Half Full
New report attempts to gather key data on women in higher education -- students, faculty, administrators -- and to analyze key issues. In just about every category, study finds progress and disappointments.

Assessing Assessment
New center with backing from key education groups will compile data and case studies on evaluation of student learning. And new coalition plans to speak on higher ed's response to demands for accountability.

'I Am Less Patient and Dress Better'
Research project outlines the changes -- positive and negative -- experienced by faculty members who become administrators.


The language of competition
Continental business schools are spearheading the attempt to access the lucrative market for higher education in English. Matthew Reisz reports

Get wise to the product
'Knowledge for its own sake' is as narrowly utilitarian a remit for universities as the business-facing alternative, argues Gary Day

When it comes to the crunch...
The economic downturn is affecting most sectors in the UK, including higher education. But, writes Hannah Fearn, it is not necessarily all bad news

The support troops are getting flak
Social scientists deployed in war zones to engage with civilians and advise US military commanders are under fire from their peers, writes Jon Marcus

The queue's the thing
National Theatre-going regular Rivka Isaacson finds compelling drama in the early morning cast of characters waiting to buy day tickets

Happy to be here
Times Higher Education's annual Student Experience Survey highlights a host of institutions bent on making the university experience first rate in every way. Rebecca Attwood reports

Key Findings released

P6343.2 - Motor trade sales, November 2008

Motor trade sales for the three months ended November 2008 decreased by 0,2% compared with the three months ended November 2007, while the corresponding growth for the same period in 2007 was 6,0%. This decrease was mainly the result of the general decrease in new vehicle sales (contributing -6,2 percentage points). However, the negative growth was counteracted by the positive growth experienced in the form of sales of fuel and sales of accessories (contributing 3,8 and 3,1 percentage points respectively).

P6141.2 - Wholesale trade sales, November 2008

Wholesale trade sales, at constant (2000) prices, for the three months ended November 2008 increased by 2,7% compared with the three months ended November 2007. The annual growth rate for the corresponding period in 2007 was 6,0%. Seasonally adjusted wholesale trade sales, at constant (2000) prices, for the three months ended November 2008 increased by 0,3% compared with the three months ended August 2008.

Africa World Bank releases

Benin- Fifth Poverty Reduction Support Grant (PRSC-5)
WASHINGTON, January 22, 2009 - The following project was approved today by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors:

IDA Grant: US$30 million
Project Description: This grant aims to support implementation of Benin’s poverty reduction strategy. Specifically, it would support: (i) modernizing the regulatory framework and policy environment for private investment and infrastructure; (ii) increasing progress toward the MDGs by raising the quality, efficiency and access for basic social services; and (iii) promoting better governance through public financial management reforms.

Improving Access to Basic Services and Enhancing the Investment Climate in Benin
The World Bank Group Board of Executive Directors today approved the Fifth Poverty Reduction Support Grant for the Republic of Benin. The $30 million equivalent grant resources will support the implementation o f the Government’s reform agenda in the following areas: (i) improving the regulatory framework and policy environment for private investment and infrastructure; (ii) pursuing progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by improving access to basic services and ensuring greater efficiency o f public expenditures on human capital formation; and (iii) promoting better governance, notably through public financial management reforms.

Botswana-Botswana - Morupule B Generation and Transmission Project


World Bank appoints new Country Director for Kenya
The World Bank is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Johannes Zutt as Country Director for Kenya, Comoros, Eritrea, Rwanda, Seychelles and Somalia.
Mr. Zutt, a Dutch national, joined the World Bank in August 2000, where he has held various positions in the Africa department, the East Asia department, the office of the Managing Director, and most recently the Integrity department. Mr. Zutt has wide-ranging experience in Africa, having served as the country program coordinator for Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. He has also been the Bank’s country program coordinator for China and Mongolia.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Zutt was involved in program planning, monitoring and evaluation in various countries in eastern and southern Africa. He has also served as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi. He holds a law degree from Harvard University and a doctoral degree from Oxford University.
Mr. Zutt’s top priority in the countries under his responsibility will be to strengthen the Bank’s cooperation, with a view to accelerating and sustaining poverty reduction.
His appointment became effective on January 12th, 2009, and he will be based in Nairobi.
Mr. Zutt replaces Mr. Colin Bruce, who served as Country Director until June 2008.

What your clasroom will look like in future

The 2009 Horizon Report describes the continuing work of the NMC’s Horizon Project, a long-running qualitative research project that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within Higher Education.

You can also view the reports for 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 if you'd like to check how accurate their predictions were.

So expect more of the following in your classrooms in the next:

One year or less:

• Mobiles

Mobiles are already in use as tools for education on many campuses. New interfaces, the ability to connect to wifi and GPS in addition to a variety of cellular networks, and the availability of third-party applications have created a device with nearly infinite possibilities for education, networking, and personal productivity on the go; almost every student carries a mobile device, making it a natural choice for content delivery and even field work and data capture.

• Cloud Computing

The emergence of cloud-based applications is causing a shift in the way we think about how we use software and store our files.
Educational institutions are beginning to take advantage of ready-made applications hosted on a dynamic, ever-expanding cloud that enable end users to perform tasks that have traditionally required site licensing, installation, and maintenance of individual software packages. Email, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, collaboration, media editing, and more can all be done inside a web browser, while the software and files are housed in the cloud.

Already, cloud-based applications are being used in the K-12 sector to provide virtual computers to students and staff without requiring each person to own the latest laptop or desktop machine; a handful of basic machines, provided they can access the Internet and support a web browser, are all that is needed for access to virtually unlimited data storage and programs of all kinds.

Two to Three years:

• Geo-Everything

Everything on the Earth’s surface has a location that can be expressed with just two coordinates. Using the new classes of geolocation tools, it is very easy to determine and capture the exact location of physical objects — as well as capturing the location where digital media such as photographs and video are taken. The other side of this coin is that it is also becoming easier to work with the geolocative data thus captured: it can be plotted on maps; combined with data about other events, objects, or people; graphed; charted; or manipulated in myriad ways.

A sampling of location-aware applications across disciplines includes the following:
Literature.

Geotagging and virtual geocaching can be used to create annotated maps and real-world locations related to works of literature, enhancing the experience of reading the story. For instance, out of personal interest, one reader created a map of the course described in The
Travels of Marco Polo, including passages from the text, photographs of the places mentioned (historical and contemporary), annotations and links, and other information

Medicine.

The University of Florida has used a 2-dimensional web-based Transparent Reality Simulation Engine to teach students how to operate medical machinery for several years. Recently, the addition of a GPS-enabled tablet device has allowed learners who are spatially challenged to experience the transparent reality visualization overlaid directly onto the real machine, enabling them to use the machine’s controls rather than a mouse as input to the simulation. Geolocation is used to track the tablet and align the physical machine with the visualization on the tablet.

Games-based Learning.

The Local Games Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is developing "local games," learning experiences set in real-life neighborhoods and ecological habitats. Combining geolocation and alternate reality games, local games immerse the learner in a physical space as they explore the unique characteristics of the location and its inhabitants.

• The Personal Web

Armed with tools for tagging, aggregating, updating, and keeping track of content, today’s learners create and navigate a web that is increasingly tailored to their own needs and interests: this is the personal web.

The tools that enable the personal web are also ideal toolsets for research and learning. The ability to tag, categorize, and publish work online, instantly, without the need to understand or even touch the underlying technologies provides a host of opportunities for faculty and students. By organizing online information with tags and web feeds, it is a simple matter to create richly personal resource collections that are easily searchable, annotated, and that support any interest.

Four to Five Years:

• Semantic-Aware Applications

The idea behind the semantic web is that although online data is available for searching, its meaning is not: computers are very good at returning keywords, but very bad at understanding the context in which keywords are used.

The capability of semantic-aware applications to aid in searching and finding has implications for research, especially in light of the rate at which web content is being created. As semantic search tools continue to develop, it will be more common to see highly relevant results that display desired information in the hit list summary itself, saving time that is now spent clicking through to each page in turn. Semantic search also promises to reduce the number of unrelated or irrelevant results for a given search and to facilitate natural-language queries, both potentially useful features for researchers.

• Smart Objects

Smart objects are the link between the virtual world and the real. A smart object "knows" about itself — where and how it was made, what it is for, who owns it and how they use it, what other objects in the world are like it — and about its environment. Smart objects can report on their exact location and current state (full or empty, new or depleted, recently used or not).

There are very few examples of smart objects in use in academia, although significant research is being done into how to create and track smart objects and how they might eventually be used.
A sampling of applications for smart objects across disciplines includes the following:
Archaeology.

The way that a single smart object connects to a network of information is useful for many disciplines. Consider a student or researcher examining a group of objects from an archaeological dig. A tag attached to the label of each object, when scanned with a mobile device like a camera-enabled phone, would instantly bring up photographs of other objects from the dig, video of the dig site, maps, and any other media or information associated with the area.

Health Care.

Researchers and students at the University of Arkansas have created a simulated hospital environment in the virtual world of Second Life to test the practical and social implications of tagging and tracking patients, hospital staff, supplies, and locations.

Oncology

At Purdue University, researchers have developed a tiny smart object designed to be injected into a tumor. Once placed there, the device can report on the doses of radiation received at the site where it is implanted and indicate the exact location of the tumor during treatment.

New releases from StatsSA

StatsSA released their newest statistics:

P6242.1 - Retail trade sales, November 2008
Retail trade sales decrease in real terms
Retail trade sales, at constant (2000) prices, for the three months ended November 2008 decreased by 4,0% compared with the three months ended November 2007. Retail trade sales, at constant (2000) prices, for the same period in 2007 increased by 1,1%.

Retail trade sales at constant (2000) prices for November 2008 also decreased by 4,0% compared with November 2007. Retail trade sales at constant (2000) prices for the first eleven months of 2008 reflected a decrease of 2,4% compared with the first eleven months of 2007, while growth for the same period in 2007 was 5,8%.

Retail trade sales at current prices, for the three months ended November 2008, increased by 11,4% compared with the three months ended November 2007. The major contributors to this increase were general dealers (+5,7 percentage points), retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (+2,1 percentage points), retail trade in specialised food, beverages and tobacco stores (+1,8 percentage points), and all other retailers (+1,2 percentage points).

Retailers in household furniture, appliances and equipment contributed negatively (-0,6 of a percentage point) to the change in retail trade sales.

Retail trade sales at current prices for November 2008 increased by 10,7% compared with November 2007, while sales for the corresponding period in 2007 increased by 8,7%.

P0041 - Civil cases for debt, November 2008
The total number of civil summonses issued for debt for the three months ended November 2008 increased by 5,2% compared with the three months ended November 2007. However, there was a decrease of 4,2% between November 2007 and November 2008. The total number of civil judgements recorded for debt for the three months ended November 2008 decreased by 12,9% compared with the three months ended November 2007. There was also a decrease of 16,4% between November 2007 and November 2008. The total value of civil judgements recorded for the three months ended November 2008 decreased by 3,4% compared with the three months ended November 2007. However, there was a 13,3% y/y increase in the value of civil judgements recorded for debt in November 2008.

P5041.1 - Selected building statistics of the private sector as reported by local government institutions, November 2008
The value of recorded building plans passed by larger municipalities (at current prices) during January to November 2008 decreased by 4,8% (-R3 649,1 million) compared with January to November 2007. This was due to a decrease of 15,1% (-R6 290,7 million) reported for residential buildings. However, the decrease in residential buildings was partially counteracted by increases reported for non-residential buildings (17,0% or R2 475,7 million) and additions and alterations (0,8% or R165,8 million).

The preliminary estimates indicate that the value of buildings reported as completed to larger municipalities (at current prices) during the above-mentioned period increased by 9,3% (R4 000,9 million). Increases were reported for additions and alterations (25,2% or R1 912,9 million and non-residential buildings (24,4% or R2 100,0 million). Residential buildings decreased marginally by R12,0 million.

Business/Economics E-Reference Ratings

The Library Journal recently published an article comparing the various Business/Economic E-resources available. Each database is rated based on the seven criteria librarians consider the most when making purchasing decisions:

• Scope - range and breadth of content


• Writing -quality of the writing; consideration of the audience


• Design - visual appeal; strengths and weakness of the interface


• Bells & Whistles - inclusion of multimedia files, interactive maps, blogs, and other features


• Ease of Use - logic behind the organization; efficiency of the search mechanisms


• Linking - cross-searchability with other files; ability to integrate with and link to other products


• Value for money - Value is a relative term, taking into consideration not only cost but myriad related factors. If a product is expensive, does its comprehensiveness and quality warrant the high cost? Are too much time and energy required to find material, given the price?

Below is the results in table format. (Click on image to enlarge)

Of the 14 databases used in the comparison UJ used to subscribe to 3:

1. ABI/Inform - which we've cancelled. In the LJ comparison ABI/Inform did not receive a high rating for value for money, scope or writing. It did slightly better for ease of use.

2. Business Source Complete - the Library subscribes to the Business Source package from Ebsco (the Complete package includes a few more journals). This database was rated as excellent in terms of scope and value for money; it also scored high in the other categories

3. Emerald EMX - Emerald scored quite high for the linking they provide and also managed a good/plentiful rating for the other six criteria

Here is the comments from LJ regarding the two databases we still have (Business Source and Emerald):

1. Business Source: Visually attractive and easily searchable, this business resource offers everything a user would expect from a native EBSCO product. Searches can be limited to academic journals, trade publications, magazines, newspapers, books/monographs, company profiles, SWOT analysis, country reports, industry profiles, market research reports, and product reviews. With over 4000 titles (3000 full text), the product is well worth the price. If your library can afford only one business resource this year, give this one a try.


2. Emerald has brilliantly combined its web site and online database into a single platform to provide 85,000 full-text articles from 175 peer-reviewed journals as well as web site content. Search results can be limited by clicking on articles, abstracts & reviews, Emerald site, or other content tabs. Current journal issues are easily located from the journal list, which are displayed with cover images, and links to RSS, latest issue, editorial team, and submission guidelines.

The future of the Global Financial System

The World Economic Forum released its initial report from the New Financial Architecture project, The Future of the Global Financial System: A Near-Term Outlook and Long-Term Scenarios to explore the driving forces that are shaping the global financial system and how these forces might affect governance and industry structure.



Key conclusions from phase one report – “The Future of the Global Financial System”
The phase one report identifies a near-term industry outlook characterized by an expanded scope for regulatory oversight, back to basics in the banking sector, some restructuring by alternative investment firms and the emergence of a new set of winners and losers.

Over the long-term, a range of external forces and critical uncertainties will further shape the industry. In particular, our study found that the pace of power shifts from today’s advanced economies to the emerging world and the degree of international coordination on financial policy are the two most critical uncertainties for the future of the global financial system. The report therefore explores four challenging scenarios.

Driving forces and critical uncertainties
In phase one of the New Financial Architecture project, the World Economic Forum engaged more than 250 industry practitioners, policy-makers and academics in workshops, interviews and participation in a survey to identify and prioritize the key driving forces expected to shape the future of the global financial system between today and 2020. The engagement process resulted in an inventory of 34 prioritized driving forces:

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Four scenarious for the future of the global financial system

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1. Financial regionalism is a world in which post-crisis blame-shifting and the threat of further economic contagion create three major blocs on trade and financial policy, forcing global companies to construct tripartite strategies to operate globally.
2. Fragmented protectionism is a world characterized by division, conflict, currency controls and a race-to-the bottom dynamic that only serves to deepen the long-term effects of the financial crisis.
3. Re-engineered Western-centrism is a highly coordinated and financially homogenous world that has yet to face up to the realities of shifting power and the dangers of regulating for the last crisis rather than the next.
4. Rebalanced multilateralism is a world in which initial barriers to coordination and disagreement over effective risk management approaches are overcome in the context of rapidly shifting geo-economic power.

Phase two priorities

In phase two of the New Financial Architecture project, the World Economic Forum will work closely with industry stakeholders to delve deeper into the implications of this analysis, with the goal of exploring collaborative strategies and areas of systemic improvement. This will involve an examination of the potential future sources of systemic risk, as well as opportunities to reposition the industry for sustainable, long-term growth in ways that maximize the stability and prosperity of both the financial and real economies.

New releases from IASB

IASB publishes proposed new Consolidation standard as part of comprehensive review of off balance sheet risk
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) today published for public comment proposals to strengthen and improve the requirements for identifying which entities a company controls.

Change in effective date of restructured IFRS 1
At its December 2008 meeting the Board decided to change the effective date of revised IFRS 1 First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (published in November 2008) from 1 January 2009 to 1 July 2009.

Leading investor appointed as IASC Foundation Trustee
The IASC Foundation announced today the appointment of Scott Evans, Executive Vice President, Asset Management and Chief Executive Officer of TIAA-CREF Investment Management LLC, as a Trustee of the IASC Foundation.

IASB publishes revised proposal to eliminate unnecessary disclosures for state-controlled entities
The IASB today published a revised proposal to simplify the disclosure requirements that apply to state-controlled entities.

New releases from the African Development Bank

Nigeria: Commercial Agriculture Development Project (S)
Friday, January 16, 2009, 12:07:44 AM
WASHINGTON, January 15, 2009 - The following project was approved today by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors:

IDA Credit: US$150 million
TERMS: Maturity = 40 years; Grace= 10 years
Project Description: The project will support the government in strengthening agricultural production systems and facilitating access to markets for participating small- and medium-scale commercial farmers in the targeted states. The project has two components, namely, (i) Agricultural Production and Commercialization; and (ii) Rural Infrastructure. The project will also finance Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation and Studies.

Nigeria-Nigeria - Public/Private Partnership Initiative
Mozambique-MZ-Energy Development and Access Project (APL-2)
Cameroon-CM-Community Development Program Support Project Phase-II

All eyes on Washington tomorrow

The presidential inauguration is the official day that the President of the United States is sworn into office. The purpose of this inauguration is to honor the incoming president with formal ceremonies, including: a Presidential Swearing-in Ceremony, an Inaugural Address, and an Inaugural Parade.

The inauguration will take place tomorrow on January 20, 2009 in Washington D.C. on the steps of the United States Capitol and will be covered by all the big news channels on DSTV. The swearing-in ceremony starts at 19:00 (Africa time) with the Inaugural Parade starting at 21:30

President-elect Barack Obama will take the oath of office, which states the following:

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

The theme for the inauguration is The Birth of a New Freedom and keeping with the Election 2.0 style the Obama Inauguration already has an impressive website running with blogs, videos, bios etc.

IMF recent releases

Working Papers:

Recent French Export Performance: Is There a Competitiveness Problem?
Author/Editor: Kabundi, Alain N. ; Nadal-De Simone, Francisco
Summary: Recently, the export performance of France relative to its own past and relative to a major trading partner, Germany, deteriorated. That deterioration seems related to the geographical destination and product composition of trend exports. Faced with an increase in unit labor costs or in its terms of trade, France adjusts relatively less via price and wage changes, and more via employment changes. Given that SMIC convergence resulted in a significant increase in unit labor costs, foreign sector difficulties might be structural. Trade flows relevance and euro area policy constraints highlight the importance of structural reforms that increase markets flexibility.

Banking Stability Measures
Author/Editor: Segoviano Basurto, Miguel A. ; Goodhart, C. A. E.
Summary: This paper defines a set of banking stability measures which take account of distress dependence among the banks in a system, thereby providing a set of tools to analyze stability from complementary perspectives by allowing the measurement of (i) common distress of the banks in a system, (ii) distress between specific banks, and (iii) distress in the system associated with a specific bank. Our approach defines the banking system as a portfolio of banks and infers the system's multivariate density (BSMD) from which the proposed measures are estimated. The BSMD embeds the banks' default inter-dependence structure that captures linear and non-linear distress dependencies among the banks in the system, and its changes at different times of the economic cycle. The BSMD is recovered using the CIMDO-approach, a new approach that in the presence of restricted data, improves density specification without explicitly imposing parametric forms that, under restricted data sets, !
are difficult to model. Thus, the proposed measures can be constructed from a very limited set of publicly available data and can be provided for a wide range of both developing and developed countries.

Yen Bloc or Yuan Bloc: An Analysis of Currency Arrangements in East Asia
Author/Editor: Shirono, Kazuko
Summary: This paper examines the role of Japan against that of China in the exchange rate regime in East Asia in light of growing interest in forming a currency union in the region. The analysis suggests that currency unions with China tend to generate higher average welfare gains for East Asian countries than currency unions with Japan or the United States. Overall, Japan does not appear to be a dominant player in forming a currency union in East Asia, and this trend is likely to continue if China's relative presence continues to rise in the regional trade.

A European Mandate for Financial Sector Supervisors in the EU
Author/Editor: Hardy, Daniel C. L.
Summary: The EU is deliberating the introduction of an explicit "European mandate" for financial sector supervisors to supplement national mandates. Suggestions are made on (i) the formulation of a European mandate; (ii) the policy areas to which it should apply; (iii) which institutions should be given a European mandate; (iv) the legal basis for the mandate; (v) how to implement the mandate in practice; and (vi) how to achieve accountability for fulfilling a European mandate. Decisions on these issues are needed if the introduction of a European mandate is to have a substantive positive effect.

Surveys:

Hungary: Markets Have Stabilized, but Long Road Ahead
Hungary's financial markets have stabilized since the IMF approved a $15.7 billion loan to back a program designed to ease financial market stress and support economic activity. But the road ahead is long, says James Morsink, the IMF's mission chief for Hungary.

IMF Helping Counter Crisis Fallout in Emerging Europe
The financial crisis has hit Europe hard. In an interview, IMF European Department head Marek Belka talks about Europe's prospects for recovery and the principles that guide the Fund as it seeks to help Europe's emerging economies counter the fallout of the crisis.

Economic Crises Hit Workers Hardest, Labor Conference Told
Workers, farmers, and the poor are likely to be among the groups worst affected by the current global recession, an IMF and World Bank meeting with global labor unions heard. The poor were also likeliest to spend any extra liquidity, the meeting was told.

IMF Makes $800 Million Available to El Salvador
In an interview, the IMF's mission chief for El Salvador, Alfred Schipke, talks about the impact of the global financial crisis on El Salvador, the precautionary nature of the economic program, and the challenges surrounding the future of the country's economic policies.

Country Reports:

Cape Verde: Fifth Review Under the Policy Support Instrument - Staff Report; Staff Supplement; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Cape Verde

United Republic of Tanzania: Fourth Review Under the Policy Support Instrument - Staff Report; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for United Republic of Tanzania
Senegal: Second Review Under the Policy Support Instrument, Request for a Twelve-Month Arrangement Under the Exogenous Shocks Facility, and Request for Waivers and Modification of Assessment Criteria -Staff Report; Staff Statement; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Senegal
Palau: Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes - FATF Recommendations for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism
Republic of Madagascar: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper - Annual Progress Report - Joint Staff Advisory Note
Sierra Leone: Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix
Liberia: 2008 Article IV Consultation, First Review Under the Three-Year Arrangement Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, Financing Assurances Review, and Request for Waiver and Modification of Performance Criteria - Staff Report; Public Information Notice and Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Liberia