Arithmetic
A tax return by one of Australia's top 100 companies had listed its stocks as a deduction, leading to "an arithmetic error in excess of $80 million. It was only after numerous tax office requests and some 20 months had elapsed that the taxpayer was able to provide a reconciliation of the figures." — Retiring commissioner of taxation Trevor Boucher, responding to accusations that the tax office is too tough on large companies.
The other half
"I reckon he would have spent more than $1 million in the six months before he was finally declared bankrupt." — Robert Ramsay, the accountant appointed to investigate the failed business empire of Alan Bond. Among matters Ramsay is looking into are around $31 million worth of gifts distributed to friends over a period of six years and a $2.7 million superannuation fund, of which Bond is the sole member, and whose assets include several luxury units, eight blocks of land at Yanchep, and $340,000 in cash.
Grand plan
"I'll make mistakes because I'll get up every morning and try to do something." — US president-elect Bill Clinton.
Corporate objectives
"Whilst the bill before the house will dramatically reform public sector management and public sector employment, the government is conscious of the need to protect public employment from politicisation." — Victorian premier Jeff Kennett on his government's Public Sector Management Bill, which clears the way for sacking thousands of public servants and requires the public sector to adopt "clear corporate objectives".
Brutal
"It's going to be brutal ... If the unions won't cooperate, GM will have to play real hard ball ... We aren't going to be thinking great thoughts." — A US General Motors director on plans to close at least 21 plants in North America, cut 120,000 jobs and reduce labour costs by around $2360 per car.
Benefits of superannuation
"Super is a sitting duck for confiscation because of its mandatory nature." — Monica Pfeffer, a planning officer for the Victorian Older Persons Planning Office, on recent federal government proposals to seize part or all of the retirement savings of public servants convicted of corruption. Next cab off the rank: "illegal" strikes?
Stop press A special Vatican commission last week decided that the church had erred in 1633 when it branded Galileo a heretic for declaring that the earth moves around the sun.