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Meet Guy Elliott
Peter Brigg talks to Rio Tinto's new finance director.

Guy Elliott, who took over as Rio Tinto's finance director in April, could not have moved into his new job at a more auspicious time. The stock market has recently tumbled to a five year low and confidence in the reliability of companies' published accounts has been seriously undermined by major accounting irregularities in the US.

Elliott, 46, says that the economic situation is very uncertain, but says: "It is hard to imagine the accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom happening at Rio Tinto. When we say: 'This is a revenue', it is a revenue. We have always been conservative and transparent in the way we present our accounts – and that's a policy we are determined to continue.

"What's more, Rio Tinto's business is relatively straightforward and easy to understand. This means that any informed outsider can have a pretty good stab at constructing our earnings profile from the asset by asset production information we give the market and from a view of likely prices and exchange rates."

A good example of this philosophy of transparency is the way Rio Tinto accounts for liabilities which lie a long way in the future, notably the cost of closing mines and rehabilitating its sites. Rio Tinto policy requires every operation to have a fully costed closure plan, and this plan has to be reviewed at least once every five years. All the closure and rehabilitation liabilities are then aggregated and duly reflected in the Group's accounts – a provision currently running at about US$1.4bn.



Meet Guy Elliott Peter Brigg talks to Rio Tinto's new finance director. Guy Elliott, who took over as Rio Tinto's finance director in April, could not have moved into his new job at a more auspicious time. The stock market has recently tumbled to a five year low and confidence in the reliability of companies' published accounts has been seriously undermined by major accounting irregularities in the US. Elliott, 46, says that the economic situation is very uncertain, but says: "It is hard to imagine the accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom happening at Rio Tinto. When we say: 'This is a revenue', it is a revenue. We have always been conservative and transparent in the way we present our accounts – and that's a policy we are determined to continue. "What's more, Rio Tinto's business is relatively straightforward and easy to understand. This means that any informed outsider can have a pretty good stab at constructing our earnings profile from the asset by asset production information we give the market and from a view of likely prices and exchange rates." A good example of this philosophy of transparency is the way Rio Tinto accounts for liabilities which lie a long way in the future, notably the cost of closing mines and rehabilitating its sites. Rio Tinto policy requires every operation to have a fully costed closure plan, and this plan has to be reviewed at least once every five years. All the closure and rehabilitation liabilities are then aggregated and duly reflected in the Group's accounts – a provision currently running at about US$1.4bn.
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Review is published by Rio Tinto, 6 St James' Square, London SW1Y 4LD, England Telephone +44 (0)20 7930 2399 Editor: Cherry DeGeer