Update

OWNER-MANAGERS of small businesses could boost their profits by paying their suppliers more quickly, says a survey by Manchester Business School. The study shows that many of these businesses have a reactive approach towards working capital management and planning, which can ultimately lead to cash-flow problems and exposure to volatility in profits. It suggests that, if companies took a more proactive approach, they would be able to take advantage of supplier discounts in order to reduce costs and so increase profits.

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THE INSTITUTE of Chartered Accountants is urging the clarification and simplification of the law on directors' interests relating to loans, share dealings and other transactions. In a response to the consultative paper on company directors' interests and duties published by the Law Commission and the Law Commission of Scotland, it also calls for a broad indication of the duties owed by a director to his or her company.

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ERNST & YOUNG, the accountancy firm, has launched a virtual business school in partnership with Henley Management College. In addition to offering accredited MBAs to E&Y employees, the Networked Business School will link consultants with Henley academics to work on joint research and publications and enable the use of the latest information technology in management development. The firm also announced this week that its worldwide revenues increased by just under 20 per cent in the year to the end of September 1998, to $10.9bn (pounds 6.5bn). It has followed other leading accounting firms in strengthening its global management.

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REVELATIONS OF an increase in internal fraud in councils around the country, combined with the changes to government policies on local authority management announced in the Queen's Speech, have led the Institute of Internal Auditors to issue new audit guidance to all local authorities. This gives advice to all bodies wishing to implement the most rigorous internal control and risk management processes to meet the new guidelines.