So it’s nearly the end of the year. We’ve nearly got through November, that most depressing of months. The evenings are dark, Christmas is approaching and the budget process has progressed from strategically focused optimism to slack-jawed, bleary-eyed panic as the board presentation moves ever closer. Plus ça change you may well think.

This column is not about the budget per se, as I’m thoroughly sick of it at this stage, but is about a social change that I realised had occurred as my mind wandered while the shared corporate and legal affairs budget was being scrutinised in granular detail.

Back in my practice days I once audited an IT company, they of the once-fashionable Palm Pilot. In the closing audit meeting the staff all proudly sat their cutting-edge gadgets on the table in front of them, the Audit Partner even bought one to show solidarity. No-one however dared to use them in the meeting and not because they were fairly pointless (for younger readers the functionality compared to today’s smartphones was laughable), but because to do so would have been considered rude.