Partap’s attorneys are contending that there was no statutory authority for field sobriety testing and refusal to take the test could not be illegal.

Partap in 2013 was found guilty of refusing to subject himself to a breathalyser test and was fined $5,000 by Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar.

He has appealed both the conviction and fine.

In submissions before Justices of Appeal Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Mark Mohammed yesterday, Partap’s lead counsel ,Ravi Rajcoomar argued that there was a difference between a field sobriety test and a breath test. He noted that in other jurisdictions, a field sobriety test included giving a sample of breath and “walking the line or touching your nose”.

He said the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act specifically stated police were required to request a “breath test” and not a field sobriety test if they suspected someone of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

He said Partap, who was driving a black SUV after leaving the nightclub, was stopped by police and asked to submit himself to a field sobriety test which he refused.

Busby in his reply said Partap knew what was required of him when he was stopped by police.

He said it did not matter what words were used by the police, so long as the person understood the request being made of them.

“It is not how it is said, it is what the accused understood,” Busby submitted.

He pointed to the evidence that Partap, while at the Belmont Police Station, told acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams that officers had stopped him and requested a breath test.

“When the commissioner explained to him it is either he take the test or if he refuse he will be charged, he said ‘I refuse to take the test.’ It was then that the commissioner told Sgt Brandon John to charge him. When he heard the magic words ‘charge him’ then he said ‘I will take the test,’” said Busby.

According to other evidence presented at his trial, police claimed they saw Partap drinking from a bottle of alcohol while leaving the nightclub.

They testified that Partap got into his SUV, turned on the flashing blue lights and attempted to drive away before they stopped him.

Police claimed Partap refused several requests to submit to a breathalyser test as he said he would wait to speak to then Police Commissioner Stephen Williams and his lawyer.

Partap was eventually taken to the Belmont Police Station.

Partap was fired from Cabinet by then Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, after he was charged.

The appeal continues next week Wednesday.

Nothing should be more important to the food industry than protecting their customers and employees. To this end, there are a number of requirements for facilities and processes that are highly specific and targeted at food safety. However, food and beverage facilities are oft en wet places in which to work, which introduces a crucial consideration for people safety – slip resistance.

In general, a slip occurs when there is a loss in traction between the walking surface and the shoe; or contact with another object. If the slip extends for more than a few inches it may lead to a fall.

The considerations to risk management for areas where wet operations occur are different from dry operations and are more critical when focusing on slip resistance.

For the food and beverage industry, proper sanitation is needed to control bacteria growth, remove contamination and prevent slippery floors. More oft en than not people associate rough floors with slip resistance, and shiny or polished floors with slippery floors. While for some surfaces a roughly textured surface can increase the traction on a floor/walkway, that can however impede the effectiveness of a cleaning regime. A compromise is therefore needed to achieve adequacy for both slip resistance as well as ease of cleaning.

The Cycle of Walkway Management emphasizes 5 aspects: Design, Plan, Build, Maintain, Insure. A slip can result in minor damage to a person or property; or on the other extreme a slip can result in serious injury or death. The risk of injury or death to a person whether employee or customer is unacceptable and should be given priority from as early as the design stage for a facility. A food and beverage facility, whether engaged in processing, packaging or retail sales will at some point require people or equipment traffic within the operations area for actual operations, maintenance or cleaning purposes.

It is the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of all his employees. The OSH Act stipulates that employers are to ensure that as far as reasonably practical, persons not in his employment are not exposed to risks for their safety and health.

Food and beverage facilities should therefore be so designed to allow operations and maintenance processes to occur without incident and in an optimal way. The design should take into consideration the type of activities, materials/ products and the environment.

For instance, materials such as powders, flours, oils and liquids are easily capable of creating slippery surfaces. The floors in areas with these and similar products must therefore be designed and maintained to accommodate safe work in the area. The floors themselves are to be even and have clear access, proper stairway and ramp design and inclusion of guard and hand rails are among the items that encompass a comprehensive walkway design.

The selection of flooring surfaces as mentioned must address both food safety and people (customer and employee) safety. Apart from safety, the flooring finish can have an effect on productivity. This can be evaluated by determining how oft en maintenance has to be done on the floors, the duration of the maintenance and the downtime of operations to facilitate this.

With usage and harsh cleaning processes the surface of your floor can become worn thereby reducing traction and creating floors with a higher potential for slippage. In the cleaning processes, the types of chemicals used can leave residues that are not visible but can be slippery. Coatings and polishes that are placed on the floors all have some effect on the slip resistance of the floors. Whether they are intended to add some layer of protection to the underlying surface, increase traction or purely for aesthetics, you should know how the application affects the floor to ensure a reduced risk of slips.

Are you a food or beverage producer, processor, packager or retailer? Are your products frozen, greasy, powdery or liquid? Do you own or operate a bakery, restaurant or food establishment? At CARIRI we are now trained and ready to assess the slip resistance of floor tiles before and aft er installation to verify the coefficient of friction. These values will allow you to assess whether the tile is appropriate for use to avoid slips. We can also conduct walkway audits for instances where you have had slips, or even areas of concern.

We want to help you reduce your risks of accidents and incidents related to floor safety. Don’t set yourself up to being sued for a slip and fall accident. Reduce your risk by managing it proactively.

Our Caribbean Food Safety Centre is outfitt ed to address your food safety concerns and can guide you through the HACCP Process.

Our goal is to help you make your operations and facility safer.

For more information, please contact out Industrial Materials Unit – Civil at 285-5050 ext 3190 or email us at lramoutar@cariri.com or awilliams@cariri.com

The sponsorship is being made possible through two Nestle brands – Svelty and Nescafe Dolce Gusto.

A total of 61 female golfers are expected to participate, including 19 overseas golfers from Antigua, Barbados, Curacao, Canada, St Kitts, Suriname and the United Kingdom.

A new winner will be crowned this year as two-time defending champion Ysabelle Lawrence will miss this year’s tournament due to studies abroad.

The annual two-day competition will be played in three flights over 36 holes and culminate on Sunday.

The series is also being used as a qualifier for players to be selected on the national team for international action.

On hand to present the sponsorship cheque at the launch were Elisa Doldron, Nestle’s head consumer marketing; Rae-Ann Clement-Harper, senior consumer marketing manager, Nestle Dolce Gusto and Vashtie Bharat-Gyan, consumer marketing specialist Dairy and Milk Powder.

St Andrew’s women’s captain Angela Hodgkinson as well as treasurer Elizabeth Lawrence received the cheque and thanked Nestle profusely for their continued support.

The AG said he indicated to his audience that Government will be bringing a host of legislation to Parliament, some of which is already on the Order Paper, in the coming months. He explained that this legislation will be scrutinised by Parliament as it always is and where there is the need for a special majority, it will have that endorsement.

Al-Rawi said Government seeking to bring legislation to Parliament which does not need a special majority is not the same as Government not bringing any special majority legislation at all.

“The most incredible, illogical argument is being advanced,” he observed. Al-Rawi said it is common knowledge that not every piece of legislation requires a special majority.

He said it is also common knowledge that all legislation, simple or special majority, goes through several stages of vetting in Parliament before it is eventually passed. He said for the Opposition to be making comments on this issue, demonstrates they are, “strangers to the truth of the real process of legislation.” Legislation in TT can be passed by simple, three-fifths, twothirds or three-quarter majorities depending on the nature of the legislation. Al-Rawi said the Opposition’s argument is flawed because for there to be subterfuge in any piece of legislation, they must have sight of specific legislation in question and they do not have that oversight at this time.

Stating the Opposition continues to operate in the realm of hyperbole, slash and burn and illogic, Al-Rawi described their criticisms as, “observations in a vaccum based on speculation” and an attempt to scandalise the proper procedure by which this country’s laws are fashioned.

Reiterating Government’s commitment to ensuring good law is brought to Parliament and adherence to the parliamentary process, Al-Rawi said this is in sharp contrast to the obstructionist intent which the UNC has demonstrated in several instances when it comes to passing laws in the country’s best interest.

Once approved by Cabinet, the 2016 – 2021 Country Strategy will have a starting budget of approximately US$250 million.

That’s a cut of more than 75 percent from the estimated US$1.5 billion the IDB allocated to TT in its 2011 – 2015 Country Strategy.

The IDB’s Country Representative to TT, Tom?s Berm?dez, told Business Day the budgetary cutback was largely due to “a lot of projects not being fully executed” during the last five-year plan. “So, we’re trying a different approach now – allocate a smaller amount, on a piece-by-piece basis, for ready-to-go projects.” Berm?dez assured that the smaller budget “is not really a ceiling in any way” because if there are additional projects that can be executed in a timely manner, the IDB “could do a bigger (budget).” He said the Dr Keith Rowley administration is “very much aligned with this (because) they realised it’s a better approach, especially in times of fiscal constraint. It’s also a better way of managing the budget for the IDB.” The 2011 – 2015 Country Strategy proposed, as the IDB states on its website, “a significant increase in lending.” The priority areas included financial sector regulation and supervision, public sector management, education, social protection, climate change, energy, water and sanitation, and transport.

“TT’s development challenges are addressed in a cross-cutting manner, with a special focus being given to the priority areas of energy, climate change, and water and sanitation,” the IDB stated.

While not everything identified in the 2011 – 2015 plan will ‘carry over’, water and sanitation projects are among those that will be included in the upcoming plan.

Berm?dez told Business Day the IDB’s “interventions, in general, will be in areas of modernisation of the State; so water and sanitation are going to be big, crime and security is another important element.” “Innovation too – the new strategy is geared towards diversification of the economy, finding ways of generating income outside of the energy sector. We understand TT is going to continue to be an energy economy for a long time but we need to find other sources of income to compensate for down times.” The IDB has identified, through research, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector as a viable path for TT’s much-needed economic diversification.

“TT has particular advantages in ICT services. We’re working on a programme to develop and bring in high-tech companies like Google, Airbnb. (Find out) their specific needs and try to do a finishing school of ‘Trinis’ to provide services for those companies.” “Giving ‘Trinis’ the tools,” Berm?dez explained, “to be able to work in a high-skilled, valueadded, type of industry (while) creating a niche for ‘Trinis’ and people from the rest of the Caribbean to invest in and build this sector.” Health is another item high on the agenda for 2016 – 2021, specifically how best to address the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the four main types of NCDs are cardiovascular diseases; such as heart attacks and strokes, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases; such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma, and diabetes.

Revealing that the IDB is “really proud” of how it makes a difference in people’s lives through the projects it funds, Berm?dez said the bank is “working with the Ministry of Health to launch an NCD programme that we’ve been working on for a while.” Lamenting how NCDs can have a debilitating effect on a person’s quality of life, Berm?dez said the State is also affected when more and more persons seek treatment for preventable diseases.

“There’s been an explosion of NCDs in the region; over 400 percent, in the last few years. So it’s important to have the kind of intervention TT is (undertaking) because NCDs can led to a health crisis down the road, with huge financial implications for the Government as well… all from something that is perfectly preventable,” Berm?dez told Business Day

She said that in addition to development of the park itself, the Government anticipates that there will also be peripheral development in terms of housing and businesses in such nearby communities as Sangre Grande, Cumuto, Manzanilla, La Horquetta-Talparo, D’Abadie and Arouca/Maloney.

She was speaking with journalists following a tour of the park last Friday. Several high commissioners and ambassadors based in Trinidad were invited to join the tour so they could collect information about the park and transmit that information to companies in their home countries that may be interested in doing business in Trinidad and Tobago.

The tour was organised by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. In her feature address, Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said that when the People’s National Movement left office in 2010 more than 75 percent of the project had been completed.

She said the previous government had tried to outfit the Flagship Building on the park but placed “little or no emphasis” on developing the lots to be leased to companies.

She said that in September 2015, the Ministry of Trade and Industry through the Evolving Teknologies and Enterprise Development Company Limited (eTeck) prioritised the completion of the park and particularly the civil engineering works on 21 lots which covered more than 74 acres.

She said although it had been a decade since the idea for the park was conceived, the Government was ready to fully realise its vision of a “worldclass Science and Industrial Park” at Tamana.

Robinson-Regis said that with the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) and Alutech as anchor tenants at the park, the government anticipates that it will attract a wide range of industries such as the biomedical industry and with large lots the park will be able to accommodate all types of interests.

“Our focus really is to ensure that we develop Trinidad and Tobago as the area that people want to come to and I want to make the point that it is not only North American-based companies, we are looking at South/South co-operation.

We are looking at areas like Africa, we are looking at the Far East, we are looking at developing those kinds of relati onships.” In response to a questi on from journalists, Gopee-Scoon said the Chinese are interested in working on the park as well as with the UTT. “So we are very excited about it, invesTT is working very hard on it. We are very excited for the people of the areas surrounding here. It means a lot for the development of the enti re East-West Corridor, for employee creati on as well, foreign exchange earnings – many of the businesses that will be in here would be businesses that would be substanti ally exporters.” Pointi ng out that Google has already provided training to locals, Robinson-Regis said the government was not just interested in companies coming into the park but also in contributi ng to the development of the people so that they would be able to do their own development in the future.

In additi on, she said there was a local company that was interested in developing animati on soft ware that was specifi c to Trinidad and Tobago and that initi ati ve was being encouraged by the government as part of its Global Services Programme to encourage local development of the Informati on, Communicati on and Technology (ICT) sector.

Also addressing the tour parti cipants was Professor Emeritus Ken Julien, chairman of the Board of Governors of UTT, which is building a large campus on the park which Professor Julien said would become its core campus.

He said that UTT was not developed along the lines of a traditi onal university but its programmes had to be aligned with the needs and the perceived and projected needs of the country.

“We are looking at gaps, things that are not now being done or are not being done properly.

The whole area of the aviati on industry, that’s a gap there. We at UTT are providing work at the certi fi cate levels as well as the Bachelor of Science in Aircraft Maintenance and Management – it’s a need that’s there.” He said the whole questi on of security of food was becoming another area of importance and a priority in the country because Trinidad and Tobago imports a lot of food which is becoming diffi cult. He added that UTT is working on an acti ve bioscience agriculture and food technologies programme which is based at UTT’s Eastern Caribbean Insti tute of Agriculture and Forestry (ECIAF) campus at the moment but is one of the programmes the university would want to move into the park.

He also referred to the training of teachers, saying UTT had moved away from a two-year programme of training teachers to a four-year programme – a full Bachelor of Educati on but with an emphasis on the training of teachers and not just the academic element of a BA.

He said UTT was looking at other areas such as security and public safety to which he said it needed to accord a higher profi le and begin to train, educate and research to treat with the current crime situati on.

He said it was also important train at all levels – including the certi fi cate, diploma and bachelor levels – people who can contribute to law enforcement and the reducti on of crime.

He said another area in which the UTT could contribute to the development of Trinidad and Tobago was in the area of sports.

Recalling the country’s “dismal” showing at the 2016 Olympics games, Professor Julien said “we feel at UTT knowing the talent that we have that given the right training opportuniti es and with a very defi nite programme, maybe not four years from now, but maybe eight years from now because you have to have that kind of very planned programme.” He said that against this background UTT had taken on sports development as a challenge and developed the Elite Performance Group, which would identi fy top performers in sport and house and feed them. The university would pay for it and would insist that they are coached every day in their chosen fi eld and that they follow an academic programme so that they would have something to fall back on at the end of their sporti ng career.

This was revealed by the Central Bank’s Manager of Banking Operations, Sharon Villafana, on Tuesday in response to Business Day’s question about the bank’s outreach programme for merchants.

“At the present rate of usage from the commercial banks, we see our present stocks lasting us until into April. We are envisioning not ordering any more coins after that and we hope to have reached out sufficiently (by then) to the stakeholders, to be able to introduce those rounding guidelines as the one cent coin is phased out.” Villafana added that the bank is “still currently finalising our outreach programme but we’ve already had initial discussions with a specialised group of persons from the commercial banks; with the currency managers, to sensitise them as to where we were going in terms of the cent.” “We have several other stakeholders we have in mind to reach out to and there are several other initiatives coming on stream in terms of our redemption drive, et cetera. So, we have a lot of work to do in terms of our communication with the public going forward.” Villafana said “merchants and consumers must be comfortable and must agree in going forward with a rounding arrangement so that the debt is completely extinguished when the consumer is at the (cashier) of a retailer or other merchant.” “We have to make sure these rules give that level of certainty to the public in their cash payments. We have to make sure that the mechanisms are open and transparent, and that merchants can display some sort of evidence that they are participating in rounding, so that consumers are pre-notified that they will be subject to a rounding of their cash payments.” Villafana provided an update on the bank’s plans during the first instalment of the 2017 edition of the bank’s “Know Your Money” seminars, Main Conference Room, Level 16 of the Central Bank, Eric Williams Financial Complex, Independence Square, Port-of- Spain.

On January 22, the Central Bank announced it would stop minting one cent coins because it costs more to make than the coin’s actual monetary value.

Each cent costs 21 cents to mint and each year, the bank minted an average of 45 million 1 cent coin pieces.

The bank also plans to save money by changing the metal composition of the 5, 10 and 25 cent coins. Villafana and other senior officials from the Central Bank yesterday assured that the 5, 10 and 25 cent coins will look and feel the same. No specific date was given for these changes but the new coins are expected to be introduced at the same time that the 1 cent coin is phased out of circulation.

While the bank will stop minting one cent coins, Villafana on Tuesday assured that it remains legal tender. As such, “consumers who still have one cent pieces will still be able to pay/tender their one cent pieces, subject to the agreement, of course, of the merchant.” Breaking down how cash rounding works, Villafana said “rounding is the lesser or greater adjustments of a financial cash payment to the nearest five or ten cents.” This would apply to the total bill of cash payments only; not to the price of individual items, so merchants do not have to adjust the prices of their goods.

All “non-cash forms of payment; credit and debit cards, will still require the full value of the payment to be made.” Financial institutions may also stop “giving a one cent again, in terms of actual withdrawals over the counter,” Villafana said.

“They will be implementing rounding as well. So as the one cent becomes less and less available, we hope that more and more persons will be able to adopt these guidelines.” Villafana gave two examples of how cash rounding would work if your total bill ended in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents and if it ended in 3, 4, 8 or 9 cents. “If you have payments ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents, those will be rounded down to the nearest 5 cents.

Example, total bill of $32.37. All the cash prices for the individual items have remained the same.

We’re looking at the total now to be paid, which is $32.37. That is rounded down to $32.35.” “Similarly, when you look at payments ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9 cents, these will be rounded up to the nearest 5 cents (.05 or .10). The total of the bill is $32.38 (so) we’re rounding that bill up to $32.40.” Business Day also spoke with the Central Bank’s Senior Manager of Operations, Alister Noel, about how rounding up and down affects the bottom line of customers and merchants.

Asked if customers would end up on the losing side of rounding, Noel said everything would balance out from transaction to transaction.

“For example, if your final bill is $98.98 it would be rounded up to $99 so the merchant will look at that as revenue but on another transaction, if the total bill is $98.02, the merchant will take $98 from the customer, so they would lose two cents. In the end, whatever they receive, they would pay taxes on and on average, everything (revenues and losses from cash rounding) ‘washes away’,” Noel explained.

The reasons why people are violated and yet stay in abusive situations can be complex. In some cases there might be financial dependence or considerations for children, though this is not always the case. Many professional, well-remunerated women continue to secretly live in fear of abusive partners, while men may continue to hide the abuse for fear of seeming less masculine.

Domestic violence is a multi-faceted social problem, and may be considered symptomatic of the wider problem of crime currently affecting this country. Horrific acts are committed behind closed doors, only because of the perpetrators’ own fears, inadequacies and frustrations.

Sadly, domestic violence can be a self-perpetuating cycle with far-reaching societal consequences.

Research has shown that children in abusive situations, or those who have witnessed it, all too often grow up to become abusers themselves, or seek partners who are abusive. Abusers may follow their partners into workplaces, causing embarrassment and disruption. Men who are abused may be mocked or humiliated by friends, colleagues and family. The abused in turn very frequently find it difficult to concentrate on school, work and other productive endeavours, often leading to loss of earnings or of career-advancing opportunities.

Communities can play a valuable role if neighbours and family were to look out for one another. The use of social media as an intervention strategy has been interesting in this context, because while it has served to highlight a number of cases that might otherwise have remained hidden, it has also created scenarios with the potential to expose the victim to further trauma, should the matter become the subject of national gossip. With this in mind, the exposure needs to be approached with sensitivity.

Abusers may be anyone – our colleague at work or a friend with whom we socialise. They may be people who are hardworking, personable, thoughtful, religious … until they retreat behind closed doors and give vent to rage.

Do they want to be abusers? Quite often they do not; and just like the victim, they may suffer from shame, regret and helplessness. Could some intervention at an early stage be directed towards the abuser as well the abused, and be geared towards reform, while ensuring that the victim is protected? Campaigns targeting the abuser who consciously wishes to seek help might be worth exploring.

There is no easy solution to the problem of domestic violence, and it is unlikely that it can be eliminated completely from society. However, it is not impossible to build a healthier society and provide care and support for the abused, the abuser, and others who may have been affected by their actions. Evidently, a tremendous amount of time and money must be invested to get it right. Can we afford it at this time? Perhaps the question really is: can we afford to allow anger and violence continue to become the norm in our society?

Historically, finance shared services leadership roles have been perceived in some organisations as career limiting for anyone that aspires to become a CFO. But the traditional path to becoming a CFO is no longer attractive to most finance professionals so shared services leaders, building upon a strong grounding in finance, now have increasing career options.

ACCA surveyed over 260 shared service leaders to gain their insights about what attracts them to a finance role in shared services or in a more encompassing Global Business Services (GBS) model. With over 44% of respondents saying that it is becoming more attractive to work in shared services or GBS organisations, and high levels of satisfaction voiced by the interviewees, it is apparent that shared services models diversify career options for finance professionals around the world.

ACCA’s research uncovered six observations about shared services: 1. Shared services roles are increasingly seen as an attractive career choice: For many finance professionals, a move to shared services is an opportunity, not a mandatory rotation or a requirement before moving on to desirable retained finance roles. More than half of survey respondents see potential for a long-term career as the function matures, gains scope, and becomes a critical component of best-practice service delivery.

2. More than half plan to follow a shared services career path: Perhaps the commitment to a shared services career pathway is due to the growing maturity of the model, the increasing influence of shared services and GBS, or perhaps our respondents and interviewees have found a high level of career satisfaction in their capacity as leaders. In any event, our findings confirm that finance leaders electing to pursue shared services careers are challenged and engaged by the variety these roles offer, and are not necessarily looking for a path out.

3. The skills required for success in a shared services leadership role generally start — but do not end — with finance: Leaders for the most part acknowledge that command of the subject matter is critical to shared services leadership, but that finance mastery alone is insufficient. Broader business and particularly soft skills such as influencing, communicating, change management and a keen sense of the customer are of paramount importance.

4. Influence of shared services/GBS in large organisations is slowly increasing: Both our survey data, and our interviewee’s opinions suggest that shared services, and their leaders, are slowly growing in stature in their organisations, getting closer to the top table when it comes to shared services being seen as a strategic imperative and a real creator of business value, and by association, their leaders.

5. Yet the finance shared services model is sometimes still perceived as a ‘transaction factory’ to the organisation: While shared service respondents and interviewees are bullish about their career opportunities and the business value they create for the enterprise, they still believe that their retained team colleagues and the business do not always understand the concept or the value of shared services.

6. Technology as the main purview of the finance shared services organisation may change the game: Respondents see the role of finance shared services as that of innovation and believe that the application of technology, namely automation is the natural purview of shared services operations charged with continually improving processes and create efficiencies. More than half of the respondents plan to follow a shared services career path as they find themselves challenged and engaged by the variety of roles on offer. A move to shared services is seen as an opportunity as the function matures, gains scope, and becomes a critical component of best practice services delivery.

The findings suggest that taking up a role in finance shared services is no longer viewed as career limiting, but rather a unique opportunity to broaden the capabilities and soft skills increasingly sought by the business.

There are indications that both finance and the enterprise are starting to value careers or rotations in shared services, given the growing influence that the respondents say that their operations are attaining in their organisations.

Yet some believe this cannot be fully achieved until organisations demonstrably nurture and export well-rounded finance (and business) talent.

However, organisations that have not yet fully institutionalised and accepted careers in or through finance shared services as critical creators of business value are lagging behind the trend.

Ultimately shared services models are here to stay as a vital component of the finance function. Their leaders embrace and harness change, demonstrate strong business acumen, and are passionate about transforming the way finance operates. And that’s a great way to ensuring success in any organisation.

Additional notes The full report entitled: Finance shared services careers: opportunity or end game? can be found here: http://www.accaglobal.com/uk/ en/technical-activities/technical-resourcessearch/ 2017/february/finance-shared-servicesopportunity- or-end-game.html

However, I would delve a little deeper to provide more specific examples of what could be done in various real life scenarios.

The question posed to me by an international reader was based on a scenario she encountered: she was invited to a dinner party in France, where after they were seated at the dinner table, the host offered her a glass of wine with her starter. She stated that she did not drink alcohol and instead requested a glass of juice. She stated her host appeared visibly upset, and she could not understand why. Now this example, though set in France, can be replicated in any corner of the globe – it particularly resonated with me, as I, also, do not drink alcohol. I have been in many a scenario where a quick judgment call had to be made.

In the above circumstance, a number of considerations must be taken into account.

These include the location (France), their customs, norms and mores (drinking wine), the indicators by the host (offering the wine), and your role as a guest (not to cause insult to the host). Taking a number of these considerations into account, the options available to the guest will be to simply recognize that it is virtually unheard of to dine in France, particularly in the circumstance described, without the use of wine. Even if you do not place the wine goblet to your lips, simply accept the offer, and even if you lift the glass during the meal, at least your host would not have been offended by the refusal – don’t worry, I am almost certain, a water goblet would accompany the meal, and as such, would provide the necessary accompaniment for the meal.

I have had to apply the theatrical technique in various social circumstances. At cocktail receptions, particularly where a toast is expected, possessing a glass of wine whilst mingling does not necessarily mean the contents will be consumed. The cocktail setting provides the opportunity to request an alternate and suitable libation– please note the dining experience provides a very different challenge.

Understanding your host and the customs of the host is extremely important in these scenarios. I recall on a visit to China, a delegation was invited to lunch, and the host proceeded to order on behalf of the delegation. Understanding the culture, it is considered impolite to interject with your personal meal preferences when being hosted. As such, you simply adjust to suit. Your level of interaction depends on who you are with.

If you are present with close friends and associates, etiquette guides are flexible However, if your objective is business-based, it is always better to be on the side of doing the right thing. In conclusion, there are several factors to take into consideration when employing entertaining theatrics.

These include, the relationship with your host, the nature of the meeting/engagement, the culture of the host/host country, and the objective for the interaction. Always consider the host. And perhaps, in like manner, your host may also consider “What would make my guest comfortable?” To Sarah J, who submitted this question on how to employ theatrics whilst being hosted, I hope this provides the necessary guidance