Summary: Interview with Doug Sleeter from the Sleeter Group as he talks about the impact of technology on accounting. Interview with economist Nicholas Gruen on public private partnerships Leon and Garry analyse issues including: · The OECD warning that Greece will remain mired in recession in 2014 for a seventh straight year, and is likely to need more financial assistance and the IMF saying that the economic recovery touted by Greece's embattled government is "fragile" and more austerity measures are needed. At the same time, European Parliament President Martin Schulz says he is in favour of providing additional aid to Greece if the debt-wracked country achieves a primary surplus. · But the evidence is suggesting that Spain is on track to post its first current account surplus for any year since 1986, a payoff of the country's export boom and the return of international investors to its slowly-mending economy · Speaking at a conference on productivity and infrastructure, Reserve Bank of Australian Deputy Governor Phillip Lowe is warning that Australians might have to get used to a lower standard of living. He says Australia has enjoyed a period of strong growth off the back of commodity prices, which have fuelled decades of economic expansion. And it could be about to change. · Goldman Sachs releasing a bearish take on the domestic economy over the course of 2014 in a 50-page outlook for 2014 under title Australia The Odd One Out. It forecasts just 2.3% growth as the mining cliff will be steeper than the market and budget forecasts expect. Employment will be more subdued than expected, household incomes more restrained, government spending pared back further and even buoyant housing prices won’t assuage Australian saving patterns. · Bank of Queensland Ltd chairman Roger Davis warning broad-based recovery is still up to 12 months away and challenges in the year ahead include slowing economic growth and "frustratingly high" foreign exchange levels. · All this will mean some unpalatable solutions. · To balance the budget, the Productivity Commission is suggesting raising taxes, lifting the retirement age to 70, and taking a slice of a pensioner's home to pay for Australia's ageing population. · The Grattan Institute proposing to deny Australians access to both superannuation and the age pension until they turn 70. Its report identifies 20 proposals to repair the budget, and finds lifting the pension and super access age the most attractive of the lot. It would save an extra $12 billion a year in today's dollars when the benefits were fully realised - about a fifth of the $60 billion annual shortfall it says the budget faces. It would also boost economic activity by up to 2 per cent. As part of the assault on aged welfare, the institute would also add to the pension means test the value of the family home. · Finance Minister Mathias Cormann saying the federal budget is still in crisis and the magnitude of the problem will be spelled out in the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO) before Christmas.
