October 12, 2007
Fewer accountants, more engineers
Tony Hayward, BP’s new chief executive, has been given a rave review by the markets for his plan to reshape the company he inherited from Lord Browne. (Helped, it must be said, by a new record oil price.)
In the full transcript of his interview, he agrees that what he wants is fewer accountants and more engineers. For a company that certainly seems to have been over-dominated by accountants, that must sound like a good thing. But accountants have their uses, especially if you are trying to control costs. BP’s share price stands at a deep discount to ExxonMobil’s for a reason, and part of that reason is that Mr Hayward has yet to prove that he can deliver the improved financial performance he wants. He may be saying all the right things, but cash says more about a company than strategy statements ever can.
