Staff Reporters

THE major accounting firms have a captive niche in the corporate finance market, but they all aspire to move up the value chain.

NEDLANDS-BASED software developer HarvestRoad has signed an enterprise-level agreement with the Defence Department for the provision of web content and workflow management applications

TWO prime sites are up for sale in Henderson, including the landmark pub The Ship and Dock Inn, and the former Eagle Aircraft property.

303 Advertising managing director Stephen Wells has resigned after 12 years with the agency.The surprise announcement follows a difficult year for the local advertising industry which has sustained a 30 per cent cut in Government spending.

WESTERN Australia lost a popular national resources conference to the eastern states this year.

THE completion of the Burswood International Resort Casino’s extensions and the opening of the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre are good news for the MICE market, and also for some of Perth’s best convention destinations – the five-star hotels.

BIBLE House at 161 St Georges Terrace, opposite King Street, is on the market, with analysts suggesting the site is worth around $5.5 million.

THE amount of investment choice offered by superannuation funds is highly varied, a report by research house InTech has found.

Aquarius Platinum, preparing to move from the Alternative Investment Market to the full board of the London Stock Exchange before mid-year, has expressed confidence in the health of world platinum markets this week.

CONVENTION delegates generate substantial revenue for tourism and related businesses in WA, according to the results of convention delegate expenditure research for the Perth Convention Bureau.

COLES Myer this week announced the outcome of its five-month strategic review of the company, looking forward to the next five years.

AUSTRALIA is an increasingly popular destination for events and conferences, so we asked the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs about its role in this burgeoning business.

LOCAL electronic component manufacturer Miri Engineering is moving its operations to the Wangara Business Estate.The move will locate the business closer to its plastic injecting work, which also is completed on the estate.

TWO key bodies representing small businesses, the Combined Small Business Association of WA and the Small Business Alliance, have merged.

JUST months before its final launch the David Jones store is on the market with a $95 million price tag.The department store is owned by Bellenville, a joint venture between Victorian developer MAB Corp and investment bank Babcock & Brown.

THE State Government’s abolition of workplace agreements may not be set in stone yet, but businesses are already jumping from the flexible industrial relations system.

BE prepared for a new Internet buzzword in coming years – peering.Demand on Internet bandwidth will continue to increase as more users (and providers) rely on large telcos’ data cables for transmission.

THE winners of the annual WA Information and Telecommunications Awards will be announced at a function tomorrow evening.

THE need for rationalisation of WA’s nickel laterite industry is no secret.

A big week for football off the fieldTO paraphrase Eddie McGuire – what a week it has been in football. The Australian national game has been embroiled in crime, drugs and sex scandals.

A REVIEW of Pahth Telecommunications Ltd’s operations has cleared the company of breaching the Corporations Act in its half-yearly report to December 31 2001.

A NEW city station at the west end of the CBD will support the swell of commercial development and the inevitable westward thrust of the business district.

THE Perth City Rail Advisory Committee has handed down its findings to the Government on the South West rail line.

WA cleaners may have won a test-case industrial relations appeal last month but the real victors now appear to be the unions.

EPRA and Mirvac Fini have announced a $30 million hotel development at Claisebrook Cove’s southern bank in East Perth.

THE police service was embarrassed this week when it was revealed that the company sub-contracted to implement a $95 million communications program was forced last week into administration.

ST Quentins retirement village in Swanbourne remains empty more than five months since it was first taken off the market.

SKYWEST has confirmed it is in serious negotiations with Virgin Blue to thrash out a deal for the terminal space at Perth airport and flight paths around the State.

Some may still shy away from the E-word in WA, but the hunt has just begun again for the state and national entrepreneurs of the year.

IN an unprecedented step, the New South Wales Government allowed the US flag to fly from the steel-framed Sydney Harbour Bridge to mark the six-month anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US.

AN international trade matching service from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA is now available in Business News every week.

THE table that hosted some of the biggest (and perhaps more questionable) deals in the heady ’80s appears to have gone to a good home.