Horizon

Just what I was thinking!

"Let's deduct compensation payouts from profit for tax purposes, but use just raw profit when it comes to calculating our bonuses."

Yeah, right.
 
Surely the raw profit should be income-expenses. Compensation is an expense. Ergo less profit. Unless there is something in tax law that means compensation isn't a legitimate expense for tax purposes. Any way you look at it the PO are extracting the liquid waste.
 
EEPhil said:
Compensation is an expense.
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No, not with regard to tax liability – fines/compensation are counted as ex-gratia payments, and you can't be allowed to avoid tax by giving money away. There's a list of allowable tax-deductible expenses; companies/individuals can't just spend on whatever they like and get a tax rebate.

By the same token, neither can you make lots of money for a business and be awarded a bonus on the strength of that when you've given a large chunk of it away!

For "given" read "done something inappropriate which has caused the outgoing unnecessarily".
 
hazfiend said:
Not watched. Not much point when I was there, particularly when it seems at least one of the non-fictional revelations is meaningless in the first place (Fujitsu having access to the server they are contracted to maintain).
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My experience with serving database systems is that such access to change database entries is tightly controlled and restricted to specific staff, and the way the PO case is being portrayed by those who saw data being changed is that this wasn't the case for this database. This also seems to have been known to PO staff AIUI and yet things went on just the same.

I also can't understand why anyone within Fujitsu would want to be doing this, but it does seem to have been a sort of game.
 
The point @hazfiend is missing is that Fujitsu were not just maintaining the server, they were actively interfering with the client side – gaining remote access to the individual postmasters terminal systems and altering the ledger in a manner which appeared to be the postmasters themselves. This is not a legitimate way of working, and smacks of trying to cover up... and it was continually denied to be going on or even possible. The only way it would be acceptable is if there is an audit trail.

Not watching the programmes because "I was there" indicates a blinkered attitude almost as bad as those in the frame. There was plenty of misinformation at the time, and much suppression of information.
 
Black Hole said:
altering the ledger in a manner which appeared to be the postmasters themselves. This is not a legitimate way of working, and smacks of trying to cover up...
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as proven by the firing of that union bloke who saw the 'unauthorised access' at F and whose visit was erased from the book.
 
SemiRamis said:
That risk never existed before this barcode scam. Not for bulk buying type of people.
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What? It always existed. All you have to do is over-estimate your requirement, which was easy to do because of the dramatic shift to electronic means of communication. Yes, introduction of bar codes obsoleted old stock, but even before that you could expire before your stock (to the benefit of those clearing up the estate – been there done that).
 
SemiRamis said:
That risk never existed before this barcode scam. Not for bulk buying type of people.
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Course it did. Stamp (and cash) designs and validity have changed before and there's always an option to exchange any stock you have for the new one.

Anyone who has invested in a significant amount in anything should review it regularly to make sure it is still valid and meeting their needs. Hedging is not without risk.
 
That's a good question. I can't think of an adequate answer. Either there were discrepancies that were covered up or there were no discrepancies. Something smells
 
Black Hole said:
What? It always existed. All you have to do is over-estimate your requirement, which was easy to do because of the dramatic shift to electronic means of communication.
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Absolutely not true. The dramatic shift in email had happened way before the Superdrug deal. I knew exactly my needs and time to pension. As for the other thing, God has been helpful.
 
SemiRamis said:
The dramatic shift in email had happened way before the Superdrug deal.
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I imagine that absent the shift to e-mail the deal wouldn't have happened. (ie. Superdrug got a deal from 'the post' to sell more stamps and encourage snail-mail.)
 
Black Hole said:
Where are the examples of actual fraud/theft now having been committed under the cover of a supposed Horizon error?
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There are also the cases of actual fraud/theft which were not detected by Horizon as the perp was too good at covering their tracks.
 
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