Leif Edvinsson, Skandia's vice president and corporate director of intellectual capital has won this year's Brain Trust Brain of the Year Award for his "new age" accounting methods. As world's leading expert on intellectual capital he managed to beat Bill Gates and Paul McCartney to the honour, which the Brain Trust describes as recognition of "superlative mental achievement".
The trust's judges described Edvinsson as one of the pioneers in the search for prime economic indicators which will predominate in the millennium, and described his concept as a radical re-evaluation of traditional accountancy. The candidates were judged by eight requirements, including pre-eminence in one's field, contributing major new creative developments, and demonstrably contributing to society.
The 51-year old Swede is passionate when it comes to accounting. "We don't have a clue about what's going on in the world because of a lack of accounting systems." Edvinsson stresses that present accounting methods are medieval and we need "a new tool for a new age". Which is where intellectual capital comes in.
Intellectual capital shifts the accounting perspective from the company's present product to its future value to include items such as customer relations, information technology, networks and competence levels.