Fás executives fight back after audit criticismTension between internal auditors and executives makes it more difficult to assess what is going on in the State body and how worried the public should be about its financial controls, writes Colm Keena, Public Affairs Correspondent
Tackling our sterling crisisECONOMICS:YOU DON'T hear much mention of the sterling/Irish pound exchange rate these days. That's mainly because the Irish pound no longer exists. Still, even if it has only a notional status, the sterling/Irish pound exchange rate hasn't gone away and, after sterling's precipitate decline of recent months, it may yet come back to haunt us.
The next crop of entrepreneursPLATFORM:THE ECONOMY needs to change its diet, and quick. For years, it's been a fast-food junkie - bulking up on property and multinationals. Of course, there's no long-term nutritional value in any of that rubbish and now, after a forced detox, the economy's a mess.
Planet BusinessA sideways view at business this week
Timely auditPeter Carroll, BDO Simpson Xavier:PETER CARROLL'S appointment as managing partner of BDO Simpson Xavier, the country's fifth-largest accountancy firm - just below the "big four" practices - was apt given the current climate.
ON THE RECORDName:Peter Carroll
Duty free operator bags €291m profitSHANNON-BASED duty free operator Aer Rianta International (ARI) continues to fly high, judging by accounts filed recently with the Companies Office. These show ARI’s pretax profit soared to €291 million in the 12 months to the end of 2007 from €17.5 million in the previous year.
AIB Kentucky treat all the credit crunchierCREDIT CRUNCH or no credit crunch, AIB has decided to press ahead with a plan to take “major customers” to Louisville, Kentucky, later this month on a corporate jolly for the 37th edition of the Ryder Cup.
Irish duo ring up success abroadHAVING DIALLED up decent returns selling ringtones in Ireland and Britain earlier this decade, brothers Gavin and Iain McConnon are hoping to repeat success in Australia and South Africa.
Fyffes mystifies O’ReillyDAVY’S MEDIA-SHY food group analyst John O’Reilly pulled no punches in his assessment of Fyffes’s recent profit warning in the broker’s morning meeting note on Monday.
O’Byrne takes up the MaceAFTER SEVEN years in telecoms, O2’s head of wholesale Willie O’Byrne is returning to the grocery trade. O’Byrne has been appointed by Dublin-based wholesaler BWG to the newly-created post of managing director of convenience store operator Mace.
Drawing on good customer serviceUNDER THE RADAR James Nelson, drawingincWHEN JAMES Nelson returned from a year away in Australia, the then 26-year-old graphic designer was faced with the choice of many returning travellers - what to do next? For some, it can be difficult to settle down after a year or two travelling the world.
ON THE RECORDName:James Nelson

Today's Selected Stocks		15:30
FIRST DERIVATIVES PLC - IEX	2.71	0.19
INDEPENDENT NEWS & MEDIA PLC	1.65	0.12
ELAN CORPORATION PLC	9.11	0.11
ALLIED IRISH BANKS PLC	7.81	-0.60
C R H PLC	17.521	-0.699
ICON PLC	27	-0.71

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