More Than a Number

Business needs to rise to the challenges that have developed and find a way forward through the storm. But where to start? Economist Anna Leach and futurist Susan Cox-Smith look at how companies across the economy have rapidly adapted and what we can learn from them.

Bonus extra. During Pol Pot’s short regime, millions of people were executed, including most professionals like doctors, lawyers, accountants and teachers. This has had a long and devastating effect on the country. Dr Mark Campbell, Director of ICAEW International Capacity Building, shares the work he and his team have done in Cambodia to restore the profession and help rebuild the economy.

Why is the Western banking system so appealing for kleptocrats and what are we doing to stop it? Corruption is hollowing out countries, depriving them of education, healthcare and infrastructure. Max Heywood from Transparency International and Mark Campbell from ICAEW join Bill Browder to discuss.

The cost of corruption is around $3.6tr a year. But there’s another cost: the lives of the victims of corruption. Bill Browder was a financier, but after the loss of his friend Sergei Magnitsky, he vowed to fight for justice. Here’s how he’s doing it.

Is genetic modification one of the answers? What are some of the latest tech advancements that are helping farmers? And what do Tom, Dick and Harry have to do with this? Carl Atkin and Janet Ranganathan pick up the conversation. 

Can we sustainably feed an extra two billion people by 2050? Yes, but there’s no single solution, say Janet Ranganathan from the World Resources Institute and Carl Atkin, an international agribusiness consultant, as they list the opportunities. Good news alert: you don’t have to become a vegan.

Following his visit to the World Economic Forum, ICAEW’s Chief Executive shares the conversations and moments that captured his attention, and considers the key take outs for the sector. 

More episodes are coming soon. Join us as we explore the stories behind some of the most influential numbers in the world today. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss an episode.

The UK has an ageing workforce – and this presents a tremendous opportunity for employers. Ed Humpherson from the UK Statistics Authority and Sarah Crofts from the ONS set the scene, while Andy Briggs, the Government’s Business Champion for the Ageing Society, and Aviva’s Alistair McQueen talk about the potential for businesses and mature employees.

Government spending affects how we vote and the structure of our tax system affects how we live. Our tax system is a critical – and complex – issue, hear Paul Johnson from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Philip Booth from the Institute of Economic Affairs and economist James Meadway tackle the subject, and Kathryn Cearns from the Office for Tax Simplification makes the case for a simpler system.

By popular demand, here’s our unabridged, exclusive interview with Unilever CFO Graeme Pitkethly and financial journalist Louise Cooper.  

How can achieving just four of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals unlock US$12 trillion of opportunities for business? Graeme Pitkethly, CFO of Unilever, Lord Malloch-Brown and Friends of the Earth CEO Craig Bennett weigh in.    Ready to act? ICAEW has a host of resources designed to help members and businesses respond to climate risk now. Discover more here.   

Is inequality in the workplace inevitable? Of course not – but why are we not seeing improvement in the 11.9% gender pay gap (the average for UK businesses with over 250 employees)? Why do women lose out when it comes to bonuses? And are there instances when a low gender pay gap could be a bad thing?    This episode’s panel holds nothing back. Find out why LGIM’s Dame Helena Morrisey believes that men having more life choices is key to women’s equal pay; why Liz Benison, the MD of Arriva, likens women self-selecting out the system to skiing in a whiteout; why the ICAEW’s Dr Jane Berney thinks that quotas are not a good thing (while others disagree) and why the CEO of the Fawcett Society, Sam Smethers, cautions against a one-size-fits-all-women approach to diversity in the workplace.   Business journalist Louise Cooper is back in the chair in this latest episode from ICAEW’s More Than a Number. While guiding the conversation, she gathers a lot of really helpful advice. Dame Helena guides on how best to negotiate a pay rise; Liz shows how very simple amends to language usage hugely increased the number of women taking up development courses; and the panel discusses the benefits of not asking candidates to disclose their current salary in job interviews.   Dame Helena Morrisey was Head of Personal Investing at Legal & General Investment Management at the time of recording.   ICAEW is a world-leading professional membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports over 181,500 chartered accountants and students worldwide. We provide qualifications and professional development, share our knowledge, insight and technical expertise, and protect the quality and integrity of the accountancy and finance profession.   Ready to act? Inequality is not inevitable, but we have to create faster change. ICAEW has resources to help you improve diversity within your workplace. Find out more here.    All views expressed on this podcast are those of the contributors and don’t necessarily reflect those of ICAEW or its members.

Numbers are subverted to manipulate people and policy – we know this, history has plenty of evidence of this happening. But will numbers always be subverted? Is there anything we can do to stop that?    We start with £350 million – the famous number at the centre of the 2016 EU Referendum debate and hear from Ed Humpherson, the UK Statistics Authority’s Director General of Regulation, about how both sides stepped out of line – and what he did about it. Andreas Georgiou, former President of the Hellenic Statistical Authority, shows us how standing up for the truth of numbers can have life and death consequences; Sir David Spiegelhalter tells us why police-reported crime statistics have lost their designation as national statistics; and Will Moy, Chief Executive from Full Fact, discusses what he and his team are doing to help the public sift fact from fiction.   Numbers are being subverted – but many are on the case to put this right. Why? ICAEW Executive Director Robert Hodgkinson reminds us that this is fundamentally a conversation about ethics – what you measure, how you measure and how you communicate it frames the public debate.     Join Louise Cooper and her guests as they explore £350 million – Truth, Lies and Numbers in the new podcast series from ICAEW.    ICAEW is a world-leading professional membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports over 181,500 chartered accountants and students worldwide. We provide qualifications and professional development, share our knowledge, insight and technical expertise, and protect the quality and integrity of the accountancy and finance profession.   Want to know more? Find out about the ICAEW’s regulatory role and how we work to protect the public interest here.  

What is society demanding of businesses? How is value going to be measured in the next few years? And what’s the cost of recalibrating our business models? Our guests from Part 1 return to continue to explore if business is ill-prepared for climate change.    Find out how the world is perfecting capable of financing the change that’s needed, how we shouldn’t shy away from the big numbers we see in the media and how there is a monumental opportunity for first adopters of this type of business change.    Financial journalist Louise Cooper is back in chair, hosting guests in the ICAEW’s new podcast series More Than a Number.   ICAEW is a world-leading professional membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports over 181,500 chartered accountants and students worldwide. We provide qualifications and professional development, share our knowledge, insight and technical expertise, and protect the quality and integrity of the accountancy and finance profession.     Ready to act? ICAEW has a host of resources designed to help members and businesses respond to climate risk now. Discover more here.   

Are businesses ill-prepared for climate change? Let’s just say the report card for the five million UK businesses would read “can do better”. But there is so much opportunity available and tools to help – that’s what Maersk’s John Kornerup Bang and ICAEW CEO Michael Izza discuss with Mardi McBrien from the Climate Disclosure Standards Board and Amelia Womack from the Green Party.   Find out what energy providers, the finance sector and policymakers can do to help businesses, how climate change can be embedded in risk management and reporting, and how Maersk isn’t worried about changing weather patterns – they can deal with that – it’s the bigger picture that they’re working on.   Business journalist Louise Cooper is in the chair, asking the difficult questions we all want answers to, in the new podcast series More Than a Number from ICAEW.   ICAEW is a world-leading professional membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports over 181,500 chartered accountants and students worldwide. We provide qualifications and professional development, share our knowledge, insight and technical expertise, and protect the quality and integrity of the accountancy and finance profession.     Ready to act? ICAEW has a host of resources designed to help members and businesses respond to climate risk now. Discover more here.