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In a recent report that compares the quality of corporate ratings given in continental Europe and the US by Moody's, the rating agency, it is shown that ratings in continental Europe were found to be more accurate than their north American counterparts. The European ratings, according to the report, are more efficient in ranking default risk in absolute terms and relative to market-based credit measures, specifically in the one-year and three-year horizons.

Barclays Capital has appointed Christoph Cleve as a managing director and member of its board in Frankfurt, reporting to Rainer Stephan, chairman of the German board. Cleve joins a BarCap team that is expanding in an effort to increase its corporate finance coverage in the German market.

The planned reshuffle of the management structure at Royal Dutch/Shell, the multinational oil group which had until recently operated a dual management structure for the past century, has been hailed a success by S&P's Governance Services. Instead of two management entities ? one based in the UK, the other in the Netherlands ? Shell will create an ultimate parent company which will be incorporated in the UK and headquartered with tax residence in the Netherlands.

Despite being only nine months into 2004, exit value has been confirmed as the highest ever recorded.

As CFOs take on more responsibility in the corporate structure, treasurers are taking a greater role in strategy, according to a survey by recruiting firm Crist Associates.

The effective management of tax rates and the days sales outstanding (DSO) process can save finance executives almost $6.5 million for every $1 billion of revenue, claims a recent publication by the Hackett Group, the provider of process benchmarking for corporates. Companies with world class finance operations ? classified by Hackett's empirical evaluation ? show lower effective tax rates of 29%, compared with the peer average of 32%. Similarly, the management of DSO at efficient corporates shows an average of 42.2 days against 49.2 days for their peers.

The Gherkin might be London's most celebrated new building but it isn't popular with all those who work in it.

FSA renews pressure on equity research

www.breakingviews.com

In a move that will sit well with the start of formal accession negotiations with the EU in a new era of low inflation, Turkey will start 2005 with a slimmed down New Turkish lira.

Are Russians getting soft? Mikhail Gorbachev tried - unsuccessfully - to curb vodka drinking. These days, though, it's the hazards of a boom in beer drinking that exercise legislators

Rating agency Moody's Investors Service has detailed the effects it expects to see on European corporate credit ratings from the introduction of International Accounting Standards in January next year.