Gary Kleyn

SOLUTIONS straight out of the university textbooks provide the modus operandi for David Day as he applies well-honed accounting and auditing skills to the dust and sweat of a timber-machining workshop.

THE Australian Prudential Regulation Authority used the release of its annual report last week to highlight the stricter regime it is imposing on financial institutions.

THE WA Government has been pulling out all stops to shore-up its multi-million dollar investment in the success of Emirates Airline, which began operating a direct route from Perth to the Middle East in August.

THE Regional Forest Agreement introduced two years ago was expected by many to lead to ongoing timber price increases and a consequent rise in the cost of housing.

WITH life expectancies increasing and superannuation funds taking a battering due to stock market downturns, people are being forced to work longer.

THE WA Government is under renewed pressure to foster a competitive resource environment after recent slides in global commodity prices have pulled the sector back a peg.

With the baby boomers getting older and dwindling numbers of younger workers to replace them, there has been a sudden interest in the ageing of Australia’s population.

IAN Williams must have savoured the moment when he first met members of the United Credit Union at last week’s annual general meeting.

WA is becoming the place of choice for many business and skilled migrants, who collectively are bringing millions of dollars into the State.

AS an area that has been responsible for Australia’s largest export success, the Burrup Peninsular is viewed as a valuable national asset.This week, however, it has become apparent the area also is geographically vulnerable to terrorism.

BIOTECHNOLOGY listed outfit pSivida could make an exciting prospect for investors willing to back local technology.

AUSTRALIAN bankruptcies may have fallen during the past quarter compared with the corresponding period last year, but the Federal Government is continuing its campaign to tighten bankruptcy and insolvency laws.

THE level of personal wealth currently being wiped off investors’ portfolios by the world market slowdown is the largest loss in more than 50 years.

WA sheep farmers are facing a dilemma – meat and wool prices are approaching 50-year highs and the State is fast running out of sheep.

AUSTRALIA’S $8.6 billion grain industry will move onto an electronic trading platform by April 2003 if the plans of a group of Queensland businessmen and politicians come to fruition.

THE Federal Government might gloat but, across the Tasman, New Zealand is also holding up against the global slide.

INVESTORS in interest rate securities have an ever-expanding selection to choose from.The securities being offered by AMP (see main article) are known as ‘resetting preference shares’ and are a relatively recent innovation.

USING current positive sentiment toward parent company Tantalum Australia NL as a backdrop, and after months of waiting in the wings watching other resource companies come and go through the initial public offer phase, Savannah

CONTINUING uncertainty in world equity markets has put the focus squarely back on gold. And views about the precious metal’s prospects are wide and varied.

The annual reporting season has begun, providing investors with the opportunity to confront their company directors over issues of concern. But new strategic tactics are emerging this year, driven by the Wilderness Society and managed funds.

ADVERTISING by fund managers is unbalanced and focuses unduly on short-term historic returns, an academic study has found.

PERTH-based Surpac Software International has merged with ECS International as it fights to maintain its dominant position as one of the world’s largest mining software systems providers.

“It has been going into property and the churches have been very secretive about how much money they have.”

PERTH business migrants will have access to a one-stop-shop help desk with the launch of the Business Migration Centre –the first of its kind in Australia.

WITH many investors spooked by the weakness in global share markets, investment banks have responded by developing a swag of creative ‘capital guaranteed’ products.

CHURCH members are following the lead of environmentalists and unions in taking their spin on business into the nation’s board-rooms.

THE Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics has forecast the net value of farm production to fall a massive 63 per cent to $3.7 billion in 2002-03.

GOLD punched above $600 an ounce once again last week, the third time in the past 12 months.Punters expect the price to head up another $50 an ounce over the next six months.

COST cutting is on the cards at Bunnings with a major review of its operations under way as the company beds down last year’s $2.2 billion acquisition of Howard Smith.

THE disclosure of fees and charges in the managed funds industry is inconsistent and inadequate, a new report has found.

THE Ethical Investment Association board has a new front man with the election of Michael Walsh as president at its third annual general meeting last week.

JOINT-VENTURE parties formed for the exploration of mineral deposits can now register as a GST joint venture, simplifying the GST accounting for the entities involved.