Monday 17 September 2007

Mark Otty: shelter from the credit storm

Mark Otty is the UK chairman of Ernst & Young and he reckons accountancy firms will be able to make big money in the emerging markets, thus avoiding the problems brought about by the current credit squeeze in the City.

This sounds great, but has Mr Otty thought about the shamans and mystics working in the emerging markets of China and India? As I mentioned last week when writing about Tom Healy's new job in Abu Dhabi, mystical workers in these cultures probably do not operate in the same way ours do here in the West. I don't even know if they use tarot cards in India. No doubt Mr Otty and his colleagues at Ernst & Young are familiar with Big Herb and his way of doing business, but India is Ganesh's territory. How are they going to deal with a god who looks like an elephant? These things need to be considered very carefully.