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If it has, join us in Bologna, Italy for some serious eating Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. It is the seventh largest city in terms of population and it is the heart of a metropolitan area of about 1,000,000 inhabitants. It is home to the world’s oldest university, fifth-largest church and 24 miles of elegant porticos. The problem is that you can miss them because of the temptation to spend all your time eating. Bologna is the culinary capital of a country that celebrates food.   The sights In a nation of Premier League city breaks, Bologna is still on the bench, over-shadowed by the crowd-pleasers Florence, Venice and Rome. But it deserves a place on the pitch, and not just for the food. Piazza Maggiore and the adjoining Piazza Nettuno are the centre of the action. But there aren’t postcard stands or tour groups to be seen. Instead, businessmen bustle past and young Bolognese flirt around Neptune’s fountain. There is a great gelateria right there. Opposite the medieval palace on one side is the vast San Petronio Basilica, which you will admire between licks of ice cream.   The church Work on the world’s fifth-largest church started in 1390, and it was designed to be grander than Saint Peter’s in Rome. But apparently when the Vatican got wind of this, funds were switched elsewhere. Its facade is still incomplete, but the lofty interior is worth seeing. The porticos are another feat of local craftsmanship. There is an uphill trek along a 2 mile long portico to the Sanctuary of Madonna di San Luca. At the end of the return journey you will find the Trattoria Meloncello, which serves the best meatballs in town. There’s no menu: a waiter lists the options, including the city’s most famous export. Don’t order spaghetti Bolognese here. It is a la ragu and served strictly with tagliatelle, a local pasta considered the perfect size to soak up the sauce.   Evening By evening, Bologna bubbles. Walk along the shop-lined Via Independenzia, which leads to the main square. Here you will observe the passeggiata, the Italian evening stroll, to see, be seen and enjoy an aperitif or two along the way.   Nicknames The city has three nicknames: la dotta (the learned), la grassa (the fat one) and la rossa (the red one). The learned are everywhere, the city’s students, a powerful force here since the university was established in 1088. The red refers to Bologna’s terracotta roofs and pinky-orange walls, but it also describes Bologna’s politics.    A rich city The city of Bologna was selected to participate in the Universal Exposition of Shanghai 2010 together with 45 other cities from around the world. Bologna is also one of the richest cities in Italy, often ranking as one of the top cities in terms of quality of life in the country: it was ranked 5th in 2006, and 12th in 2007, out of 103 Italian cities. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, and it has spectacular history, art, cuisine, music and culture.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) released the latest Scottish Insolvency figures this week, for the second quarter of 2011/12 (July to September). The figures show that there were fewer bankruptcies than during the same period last year, but significantly more Trust Deeds and Debt Arrangement Schemes (DAS).

Overall, there were 5,378 personal insolvencies in Scotland, which is 4% more than in the same quarter last year.

You can find more information on debt management plans and Scottish debt solutions such as Trust Deeds and Debt Arrangement Schemes here.

Scottish bankruptcy figures

There were 2,852 awards of bankruptcy in the second quarter of this financial year. That represents an 8% decrease on the same period last year. There were far more cases where people petitioned for bankruptcy themselves – rather than being made bankrupt as a result of creditor petitions.

In fact, 6% more people petitioned for their own bankruptcy in Q2 this year than in Q2 last year. T

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The flock of British shoppers to Aldi for their weekly shop has resulted in increased profits for the discount supermarket chain. Aldi Stores reported operating profits of £18.7m and a 4.6pc jump in sales compared to the previous year. By comparison, Aldi Stores recorded an operating loss of £21.2m in 2010.

Shoppers found favour in Aldi Stores during the early days of the credit crunch. Initial concerns over finances drove many families to discount stores such as Aldi and Lidl. Aldi managed to bask in the dull glow of the global financial crisis until about 2008. But similar fears over an impending second round of the global financial crisis are sending shoppers en masse to cut their shopping bills and seek for bargains.

A survey conducted in September by a retail research group revealed that 29pc of British shoppers planned to shun supermarkets like Tesco for their weekly shop. Frozen food store chains Iceland and Farmfoods are also enjoying a higher percentage of shoppers coming in. T

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There was a time, not that long ago, when your spending power depended on the amount of cash you actually had there and then in your wallet or purse. In those days, if you wanted to go shopping you needed to make sure you had enough cash on you to pay for whatever it was you were looking to buy.

If not, you needed to take yourself off to the bank, stand in a queue, cash a cheque, and then leave with the cash to buy whatever it was you needed or wanted. What’s more, if you wanted to go on an overseas trip then you either needed to make sure you took some cash with you or else you took traveller’s cheques (which, again, you most likely needed to arrange with your bank before leaving), which you then exchanged into cash at a bank or exchange.

Today things are very different. Now, if you want to go out and buy a television, you can do so, impulsively, simply by giving the store assistant your “flexible friend” – the plastic in your wallet or purse. Likewise,

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Another school holiday is coming around again, which unfortunately means extra costs for parents. If it’s not taking time off work to look after the kids, it’s paying for someone to look after them for you. If you have taken the time off, then covering the costs of extra activities and essentials like food etc can be expensive. Especially if you have a large family, a week’s worth of daily activities like swimming, the zoo or theme parks can all add up. Not only this, but add onto those costs things like train/bus prices or even petrol, it’s not surprising that many parents will be heading into this half term with some dread. Even the extra cost of being at home during the day, so using extra gas and electricity can all add up.

If this sounds familiar and you are struggling to cover the costs of half term activities, then Payday Power could help. Even if you just need £50 to cover travel costs all the way up to around £1250 for much larger expenses, you could have a quick cash loan within an hour. All you h

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Roth-IRA, the individual retirement scheme is the most sought after scheme by people of today. It has it’s own features for making one opt to this retirement plan. For more about the scheme and how it actually works ,visiting roth-ira.org

Now, one might wonder if conversion of retirement account is possible to an upgraded version of Roth-IRA. Well , it can. And by doing so, one can recieve the benefit of tax-free growth and tax-free distributions in the years to come. In the year 2010 , the adjusted gross income limitation of $1,00,000 was scrapped off from the system meaning which anyone and everyone can upgrade their regular scheme to a Roth-IRA account. Read more…

Saying she’s not quite sure how she got there, Laurie Lawhorne credits her endless curiosity about the business world with propelling her successful career.

After receiving an accounting degree from Texas A&M University in 1986, Lawhorne went on to hold a number of assorted positions. She was the director of field finance at Yum! Brands, Inc. and also worked for their international division as the director of financial planning & analysis. She has jumped from public accounting to private equity and from taxes to finance, and most recently held the title of vice president of asset management at Hudson Advisors/Lone Star Funds. She recently accepted a position as CFO of a restaurant chain based out of Nashville, Tenn.

“No job is worth sacrificing your integrity,” accounting grad Laurie Lawhorne ’87 told Mays students. “You have to ask yourself, ‘Would I want this published on the front page of the Wall Street Journal?’” (view more photos)

Lawhorne’s shifting career moves have achieved her invaluable experience and wisdom in the business arena. In a recent lectu

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