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Tag: Ernst

  • Air India and UNEP come together to protect the environment

    Mumbai, September 5, 2005: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has found a strong Indian ally in the form of Air India, India’s flagship carrier. Air India has established a corporate Environment Core Group under the Chairmanship of Mr. V. Thulasidas, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India. The Group will act as the focal point with whom UNEP would interact on various environmental issues. The Group is meeting in Mumbai starting today till the 8th of September, 2005 at Air India headquarters, Nariman Point, Mumbai to address environmental and social responsibility issues.

    This new development has received a boost by this meeting of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) partners. GRI is an international multi-stakeholder process to develop guidelines for companies on how to do environmental and sustainability reporting (similar to their annual financial reporting). The GRI Guidelines is currently undergoing its 3rd revision process.

    The working group comprises of about 30 participants, which includes global players like, Hewlett Packard, British Petroleum and Price Waterhouse Coopers, Shell and Indian companies like Tatas, ITC, Rallis, Essar, KPMG, Ambuja Cement, Ernst and Young, Confederation of Indian Industries. This will provide an ideal opportunity for Air India and other Global Compact company participants from India to be introduced to Corporate Social Responsibility management, reporting and the GRI.

    In this regard, Mr. Thulasidas said, “As India’s national carrier, we are a part of our country’s effort to ensure ecological stability and environmental well-being of our country, and the world as a whole. As responsible global citizens, we have teamed up with UNEP to ensure sustainable development and progress of mankind.”

    UNEP is a world body that is at the forefront of protecting the global environment. It works with governments, industry, non–governmental organizations and the public to set a flight path towards a sustainable future for all. Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director, UNEP, said, “UNEP commends Air India for taking a proactive role in raising awareness of environmental sustainability. The invention of the airplane remains one of humankind’s greatest achievements. With ingenuity and commitment, humankind broke free of gravity. With the same creative energy, we can overcome the challenges of environmental sustainability.”

    This association with UNEP will give Air India the opportunity to meet other leading companies in the world and understand the environmental issues that they are addressing.

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  • Digitisation key to media & entertainment: Ernst & Young

    Digitisation key to media & entertainment: Ernst & Young

    MUMBAI: Digitisation is the single most important technology trend that is continuing to reshape the media and entertainment landscape in the more developed markets of Europe and the US, according to the consulting firm Ernst & Young.

    Digital cable and satellite, digital video recorders (DVRs), online content distribution and the mainstreaming of electronic games are likely to impact companies working in old world models.

    “The cable and satellite story is powerful, but other sectors will thrive as well,” remarks the Ernst & Young report on “Fast Forward: Technology propels media and entertainment CEOs into the Future” .

    Cable companies have high earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and are growing twice as fast. Broadcast TV, radio and margin operate on margins hovering around 40 per cent, while the other sectors bunch up between 8-15 per cent.

    Technology will put the industry on fast forward, the report said. DVR will be the only technology that will have the maximum impact on the future of media and entertainment over the next few years. Balsara pointed out that studies have shown that DVRs are going to slow down and even bleed the broadcast TV industry. DVRs resulted in the TV industry letting go of 1.7 per cent of advertising revenue in 2003. That is going to balloon to a fat 12.5 per cent by 2007.

    Ernst & Young interviewed 23 global media and entertainment CEOs, CFOs and leading financial stakeholders for compiling the report. The companies that participated in this global study accounted for combined annual revenues of $214 billion (FY03).

    Presenting the report on Tuesday, Ernst & Young head of media and entertainment practice Farokh Balsara said broadband Internet access and online advertising would become a key source for entertainment advertising.

    Ernst & Young had invited CEOs and senior executives of Indian companies to a function where the report was presented. AP Parigi was the chief guest, while Ernst & Young’s John Harley and Indiantelevision.com CEO Anil Wanvari were among those who spoke on the occasion.

    And industry turned up in large numbers: Sony Picture’s Uday Singh, NDTV’s Raj Nayak, Media Turf’s V. Ramani, Lodestar Media’s Nandini Dias, Hansa Consulting’s Pravin Tripathi, Triton Communications’ Ali Merchant, TAM India’s Atul Phadnis, Aaj Tak’s Nikita Tulsian, Lemon’s Ravi Deshpande were amongst the ones who graced the evening.

  • Ernst & Young submits report on BBC’s financial systems

    Ernst & Young submits report on BBC’s financial systems

    MUMBAI: Accounting firm Ernst & Young has submitted its revenue to the BBC board of governors about the financial functions of the UK pubcaster.

    While the review has concluded that the BBC’s system of financial controls and procedures is fundamentally sound at the same time a number of specific controls need tightening. Some budgetary processes need to be reviewed in the interests of improved accountability and value for money.

    The review said the BBC’s policies about discretionary expenditure – including travel, accommodation and staff expenses – covered all the relevant topics. “However, they are often broadly defined and can, therefore, give rise to a range of interpretations.” The firm recommended that the policies be defined more closely.

    There was also concern about the number of people who have access to the computer system that manages the BBC’s procurement system – currently 3,000 staff out of a total of 28,000 BBC employees. “Given that inappropriate access increases the potential for corruption or fraud, we recommend that a review of user access is implemented with a view to reducing the extent of access, as appropriate” stated the report.

    Responding to the review, BBC chairman Michael Grade said, “The BBC must be conscious always that it is funded by public money. As the custodians of this public money, the Governors have a duty to monitor the BBC’s financial controls.

    “The Governors are reassured that this review by Ernst & Young has found the BBC’s overall system of financial controls to be fundamentally sound. As part of our new governance arrangements, the Governors are committed to strengthening our methods for monitoring the BBC’s financial performance and this will include commissioning ad hoc reviews of this type.”

  • Nielsen’s revised ratings system for NY gets thumbs down

    Nielsen’s revised ratings system for NY gets thumbs down

    MUMBAI: The efforts undertaken by Nielsen Media Research to change the way it measures television ratings in New York City have been dealt a setback by a leading industry association – the Media Rating Council (MRC) – that audits ratings services.

    According to a media report, MRC declined to accredit the new system, using what are known as local people meters, until Nielsen addresses unspecified “noncompliance and performance issues” that turned up in an audit by Ernst and Young.

    One media report however said that the decision by the council would not affect Nielsen’s plans to proceed with the change, which the company said would provide local stations more accurate ratings figures. The numbers are used to help set advertising rates and determine programming lineups.

    Nielsen had postponed the change, to measure viewership with electronic meters rather than the current combination of meters and paper diaries, from 8 April after critics complained it would result in undercounting of black and Hispanic viewers.

    The ratings service has used the electronic boxes since 1987 to gauge daily viewing patterns on a national basis according to age, gender and ethnicity. But Nielsen only recently decided to apply the system to local ratings, starting with Boston in 2002, said another media report.

    The MRC panel represents nearly 50 broadcasters, cable organisations, advertising agencies, and trade groups that are Nielsen clients.

    Its refusal to recommend accreditation to the MRC board of directors marked a victory for media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Ltd. and a coalition of civil rights activists and politicians who are seeking to block the roll-out of people meters in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to one media report.

    Critics opined in some media reports that the local “people meters” undercount minority audiences compared with the old system of measuring local viewer habits through pen-and-paper diaries recorded four times a year for the “sweeps” and have urged Nielsen to delay expansion of the system until an independent review can verify its accuracy.

    However, Nielsen insists the new system is sound and that News Corp. is encouraging minority opposition because its Fox television stations in cities like New York and Los Angeles stand to lose local ratings through the more accurate people meters.

  • CII-E&Y action report on media to be ready 16 October; moots pricing model for channels

    CII-E&Y action report on media to be ready 16 October; moots pricing model for channels

    When the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-organised Enter Media 2001 conference ended in Mumbai on 9 August, it had been declared that a white paper would be produced by CII in conjunction with Ernst and Young to go into practical ways of addressing some of the key issues that had been thrown up during the two-day conference.

     

    Well, that report is almost ready and the final touches are being made to it by the CII in conjunction with Ernst and Young. According to Biren Ghose, CEO of UTV Interactive and chairman of the task force assigned the task of preparing the report, it will be out on 16 October.

     

    The report will first be presented to the information and broadcasting ministry before being made public, Ghose says. The dates of the meeting with the I&B ministry officials are yet to be finalised though.

     

    Among the recommendations that are being finalised in the report as far as the television industry is concerned are: 1. The present foreign direct investment ceiling of 49 per cent on broadcasting companies be removed.

     

    2. The government needs to bring in some clarity on direct to home broadcast.

     

    3. The problem of cable operators underdeclaring their subscriber base as well as the interlinked issue of addressability is also being covered in the report, Ghose says.

     

    4. But what is by far the most innovative and unique of the recommendations has got to be a pricing model for channels that the panel is trying to formulate. According to Ghose, the idea is to have a formula whereby, based on a number of parameters, the mean price of any channel can be ascertained. The value that is derived for any channel could form the basis for negotiations between a broadcaster and MSO vis-a-vis subscriber rates. What exactly is the formula the panel is using to derive its pricing mechanism is awaited.

     

    One common thread that ran through the two days that made up the conference was the issue of piracy. Queried as to what measures were being envisioned to address this, Ghose said first the film industry would have to get more involved. Expecting the government to deal with the problem was not realistic. The panel is looking to an anti-piracy corpus made up of contributions from within the industry that will finance the maintenance of an enforcement force whose responsibility it will be to tackle piracy. It will be proposed to the government that it set up some nodal agency that can follow up on any piracy complaints brought to its notice.