Introduction

A belated Happy New Year, with a flood of work coming in the newsletter had to be put on the back burner for a while, but we are back and hope you will find this edition informing.

With the state elections behind us and with the local elections around the corner, this newsletter is sprinkled with some relevant quotations, like the following few classics:

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter”.Churchill

“Democracy: The substitution of election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few”.George Bernard Shaw

"It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it... anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job".Douglas Adams

New staff at ORION

Due to the increasing workload ORION is undergoing expansion. This month we welcomed Martin Pavelka, our new Financial Analyst. Martin has a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) and a Master of Commerce (Professional Accounting), both from Queensland University, and has previous consulting experience in Europe. His new role will strengthen our financial modelling and analysis services, while offering very competitive rates for technical work.

"The employer generally gets the employees he deserves." J. Paul Getty

New Office

We have run out of room at our current location, and are seeking an office in the Brisbane CBD. We will keep you posted with new contact details.

New products

Water Cross Subsidies model
Plant Hire Rates model
Fees and Charges model
Full Cost Budget
Corporate Treasury Debt model
25 Year Financial model

See samples Click Here

"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods". H. L. Mencken

Current and Recent projects

Costing and pricing review
Water costing and pricing model
Dividend policy
Electoral and governance review
Logistics review
Community Financial Indicators and Reporting
Fee and charges reviews
Financial Modelling
BMAP/CoAG Water etc
Annual Report revamp
Impact modelling for Tender options

"Our elections are free, it's in the results where eventually,we pay".Bill Stern

By David Spearritt Director ORION

Featured Articles

- Funny Depreciation Debates

- Economic Outlook

- IFRS-The deadline was yesterday

- National Inquiry into Cost Shifting

Professional Development

David conducted “Reporting on a Page” workshops for CPA Australia in Adelaide on 23 February and Brisbane on 24 February. A lunchtime seminar on the same issue was held in Brisbane on 11 February.

‘Performance Measurement for the Public Sector’ is under development and will be released later in the year.

David is presenting papers on Shared Service Providers for CPA Local Government Day in Sydney and Melbourne in February/March.

Click Here (pps 152kb)

"Train your head and hands to do, your head and heart to dare". Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr.

"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything".Joseph Stalin