People and Business: Only fooling

I NOTICED a report on an accountancy newswire on the Internet yesterday that, following the recently announced merger between Arthur Andersen and KPMG's Canadian accountancy operations, two other bean-counting giants have been prompted to wed: Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Touche have "rocked the accountancy world by announcing that they are to merge", says the newswire.

The firms will have equal roles in the new merged firm and the name will reflect this, the report continues. "It is to be called DeloitteErnstToucheYoung, or DERTY for short."

Can I suggest a motto for the enlarged firm? "Where there's muck there's brass."

Yesterday was, of course, April Fool's Day. You can read the japes for yourself on http://www.accountingweb.co. uk/derty.html.