where to from here, page-62

Uncle Panda,

A good question.

The reason a ten-year review period was chosen is a bit arbitrary. (If I recall correctly it was mainly becasue someone started the debate quoting that timeframe.)

I think your reference to "does it reflect materiality of the business operations? does it reflect the materiality of the business financial results? does it reflect a certain time period - i.e. pre/ post GFC period or even a combination of the two periods" is valid.

I think you've sort of answered your own question in a way.

The glib answer I would provide is "All Of The Above".

The longer the history the better, and yet the empahsisis on the latter part of the history.

It depends on material changes in the composition of the business, dramatic overhaul of management regimes, signficant changes in the broader business environment."

In WES case I actually think the past 5 years since the Coles acquisition (and coincidentally, since the GFC) is an optimal timeframe (indeed, I ran the above exercise for the past 5 years, but did not publish the results in the interests of brevity...save to say the conclusion was no difference to the 10 -year exercise).

Cam