The UK Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, delivered his Spring Budget today (06 March 2024). Although the Chancellor’s focus was on cutting personal tax to attract voters ahead of the near term general election, he emphasised his commitment to improving UK business growth and productivity.  A number of business measures were announced though many were tidying up points rather than fundamental changes to the UK business tax arena.   Capital Allowances: Full Expensing on Leased Assets  The government intends to extend Full Expensing to assets for leasing when fiscal ..read more

A financial model audit is often a formal due diligence requirement of investors in major infrastructure transactions. It is an essential part of the process, but it has the potential to come with a hefty price tag. Understanding how to streamline this process can lead to significant cost savings without compromising quality. In this guide, we’ll unveil key strategies to optimise your financial model audit, ensuring you meet investor due diligence requirements both efficiently and economically. 1. Choose the right financial model auditor Specialist financial model audit firms are typically che ..read more

If you are in the market for a financial model auditor, here are some of the things you should know. Choosing a reputable model auditor You need to be sure that you are choosing a credible provider.  Your board and investors will want confidence that you are going with someone they can have confidence in to do a thorough job. The default safe pair of hands choice is often to choose one of the major-4. In the world of model audit, the prominent 4 firms are present but it’s not their main focus. The leading players in audit consist of a handful of specialist firms for whom model audit is th ..read more

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work” – Thomas Eddison If you have modelling or AI-related news, resources, or events that you’d like to share with 48,000+ of the world’s best modellers, please email cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com. AI // What’s really going on at OpenAI? Sam Altman returned as OpenAI’s CEO after his firing last week, following 700 of the company’s 770 employees threatening departure. The crisis is a reflection of some of the core fears around AI; is it a force for good or ill? The coup that led to Altman’s departure was spearheaded by Ilya Sutsk ..read more

On 22 November 2023, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, delivered his Autumn Statement. Full details of the Autumn Statement measures can be found here. The Chancellor emphasised his commitment to improving business growth and productivity.  He introduced measures around capital allowances and late payment of invoices that could affect companies operating in the project finance sector.  Capital Allowances The business headline measure in the Autumn Statement was the extension of the Full Expensing regime for capital allowances indefinitely. This scheme had been due t ..read more

“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” – Thomas Jefferson If you have modelling or AI-related news, resources, or events that you’d like to share with 48,000+ of the world’s best modellers, please email cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com. AI // Transforming East Africa’s agriculture industry Boomitra’s AI-powered soil carbon-monitoring technologies have the potential to revolutionise East Africa’s agriculture industry. The project, which is organised under the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), aims t ..read more

“Blaming speculators as a response to financial crises goes back at least to the Greeks. It’s almost always the wrong response.” – Lawrence Summers If you have modelling or AI-related news, resources, or events that you’d like to share with 48,000+ of the world’s best modellers, please email cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com. Finance // Is an AI-triggered financial crash unavoidable? US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler predicts that the growing reliance on AI systems could lead to a financial market crash in the next decade. “I do think we will in the future have a finan ..read more

Imagine a ‘Where’s Wally’ (or Waldo in the USA) picture, but rather than a few hundred people, you have many thousands. To make things worse, the variability of each individual person can be huge, and you don’t know what Wally is wearing! To make things worse again, there may be many Wallys, or none at all. To make things even worse, imagine you have to find all of the Wallys under time pressure, with potentially millions of dollars riding on the outcome. This characterises the cell-by-cell approach to financial model audit. It can be achieved, but is time consuming and not without risk that ..read more

“Marginlessness is the disease of the new millennium; margin is its cure.” – Richard Swenson If you have modelling or AI-related news, resources, or events that you’d like to share with 48,000+ of the world’s best modellers, please email cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com. AI // The fragility of deep learning models The Bank of England conducted an analysis of deep learning models in the financial sector. Their report raises concerns about the opaque nature of the models and the reliability of their results. It found that subtle changes in settings can lead to similar predictions but with var ..read more

“We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.” – Barack Obama If you have modelling or AI-related news, resources, or events that you’d like to share with 48,000+ of the world’s best modellers, please email cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com. Climate // Financial services models underestimating key risks Climate-scenario modelling has evolved rapidly in financial services and is becoming mainstream. This report from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries notes that there are some significant problems with cl ..read more