Editorial comment.

AuthorHayward, Cathy
PositionEditorial

Summer's here, but some of us won't be spending the traditional fortnight on a beach with a bucket and spade behind the wind-breaker. Instead, a third of small business owners will be sweating it out in the office without a day's break. And a quarter will only have a week away from the paperwork, according to a survey from www.startups.co.uk.

And it's not only entrepreneurs who will be pale and drained come September. It's likely to be a troubling summer for Manchester City Council, which, having signed off the first government-backed housing contract under the private finance initiative, is now facing delays reaching financial close (page 4). The justification for using PFI has changed from a way of extending public provision without extending public borrowing to a way to achieve value for money in providing services. But PFI projects remain a bone of contention, and new research from CIMA has been looking at where projects are going wrong--and at how they can become more effective (page 33).

Another area of controversy, the Higgs report, has divided British boardrooms since its publication in January. The revised Combined Code, which will include most of the report's recommendations, is expected to be published by the autumn. Derek Higgs, who admits he was surprised by the amount of criticism he has received, is looking forward to a time when the spotlight won't be on him (page 16).

But how boards are constructed and communicate with their shareholders is only half the battle. A strong set of corporate values can help a company to become more profitable (page 22), but too many firms pay lip-service to such...

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