Public Agenda - Case Studies

The World In 2050

In March 2006, we published a report highlighting the rapid growth and increasing global significance of what we called the E7 emerging economies: China, India, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey. By 2050, we estimate that the E7 economies could be larger than the current G7 by between 25% and 75% depending on the measure used.

As they increase in relative size, these emerging economies will increasingly provide the motor for global growth, but can the world sustain such rapid growth without serious adverse impacts on its climate.

In September 2006, we published a new report which extended the long term economic model to incorporate the effects of world GDP growth on global energy consumption and carbon emissions. In this report, we put forward technological and policy strategies for mitigating global carbon emissions without requiring a serious sacrifice of economic growth. Its conclusions were consistent with those of the Stern review which was published later in the year, in concluding that richer OECD economies may need to take the lead in developing new technologies and reducing their emissions over the next two decades, given that it may not be realistic to expect the emerging economies to do so themselves until later in their process of economic development.

Report Leadership – Rethinking The Reporting Model

In support of our long term agenda to improve corporate reporting we helped create the multi stakeholder Report Leadership Group who came together to influence the debate on the current reporting model by creating practical ideas for how it could be improved. The group comprises the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), PwC, Radley Yeldar Limited and Tomkins plc.

The output from the group is an engaging report which highlights what information investors want and how an effective bridge can be built to the information that management use to run the business. In responding to investor needs the issues covered were grouped under three main headings: modelling the future, rethinking the financials and effective communications.

The document provides practical ideas that are intended to be today’s reality rather than tomorrow's pipe dream. For some companies the content and disclosures may have gone too far, but our intention was to challenge established thinking and further the debate about what accounting and reporting are trying to achieve.

Total Tax Contribution

In 2005 we undertook the first Total Tax Contribution survey for The Hundred Group; the results were well received by business and stakeholders, including Government. The survey has been repeated for 2006 and extended to cover more areas. The Total Tax Contribution Framework developed by the firm has benefited from input from a wide variety of interested parties including investors, NGOs and Government.

The 2006 survey covered 22 business taxes, both borne and collected by the corporate sector. The 78 companies who participated in the 2006 survey paid total taxes of £20.8bn, representing 4.5% of all government receipts. Taxes collected totalled £40.1bn, representing almost double the amount of taxes borne.

The purpose of the survey, as in 2005, is to put more data into the public domain on the business taxes paid and so to assist in the debate about the development of the UK's tax system. Business and Government have a mutual interest in ensuring the UK remains tax competitive, able to attract new business and capital and to reduce the reasons for companies to move head offices and important operations overseas to more favourable tax jurisdictions.

The full results have been discussed with a number of interested parties, including HM Treasury, HM Revenue & Customs, the DTI, trade associations and the Oxford University centre for Business Taxation at the Said Business School.