In truth, we should hope it didn't. Even the keenest profession-watcher would rank the stability of global markets, the emerging food crisis and soaring oil prices as more pressing.
Yet Powell's ascendancy to the summit of what is the second biggest practice within the world's largest professional services firm is an important bellwether for two reasons.
One, he's a business recovery expert, having worked on such celebrated, if that's the right word, failures as cable operator ntl, Marconi and MG Rover. At this fragile point of the economic cycle, what does the fact that his fellow partners appointed as their leader an insolvency specialist (ahead of a pair of auditors and a taxman)?
Second, Powell's appointment highlights the dangers of reading too much into things. In case that sounds undermining, I'm not dismissing the art of interpretation altogether. I'm simply saying that with everyone searching for 'The Sign' that we have tripped from slowdown into full-blown recession - whether it's house prices, retailer results or even Google's traffic - we need to be sensible.
Yep. It's got so bizarre that Google activity is now being monitored because of a presumption - wholly misplaced in my view - that people will search the web less in a slowdown. So, let's pay close attention to indicators, but let's be a bit less hysterical about it.
That said, we're beginning the painful process of collecting numbers for this year's Accountancy Age Top 50. And if anything is going to provide an indication of where we are heading…
Damian Wild is editor-in-chief of Accountancy Age
Not if the flurry of gloomy predictions made in recent weeks are anything to go by 10 Jan 2008
Does accountancy’s glass ceiling remain firmly in place? If so, who maintains it, repairing the cracks while ensuring it stays unseen? 07 Jun 2007Corporate social responsibility has come a long way in the 25 years since Milton Friedman labelled it a 'fundamentally subversive doctrine' 24 Apr 2008Have the wheels come off the accountancy juggernaut? 20 Sep 2007
Building giant details plans to develop three more commercially viable zero carbon homes over next three years 16 May 2008
Toyota claims the iconic hybrid vehicle has helped cut global carbon emissions by approximately 4.5m tonnes in the last decade 16 May 2008
More news
After two decades of development countless nanotechnologies are fast approaching commercial viability – and they have the potential to redefine the clean tech sector 16 May 2008
Green business courses are springing up think and fast, but as Vanessa Crossgrove Fry warns it could still be several years before we see Green MBAs take their place in the largest firms 14 May 2008 More in-depth
Post your comment
Send an email to the Business Green editor at feedback@businessgreen.com
