The 1969 book The Peter Principle is practically unique among management texts, in that it’s based on a good gag.

The premise is that employees are promoted until they reach a job at which they prove incompetent – a line that’s funny because of its truth, be that for sales directors, banking bosses or foreign secretaries.

Anyway, a chap called Tom Schuller has come up with a clever modern twist called The Paula Principle, which argues that most women get promoted to a level below their competence. Far from rising to a position their talents don’t deserve, they languish below what they could easily manage.

Assuming that both principles are accurate, women should be paid more than men, as they will be comparatively better qualified for their roles – but we know from the data that the opposite is true.

Which brings us to Thursday, when British businesses with more than 250 employees will have to start collating data on their gender pay gap – and then publish figures by April 2018.

So the problem will be solved and the Peter Principle will be eradicated, then? Maybe not. As Josephine Van Lierop, an employment lawyer at Slater & Gordon, says: “We expect big-budget organisations to be hiring expert pay consultants to identify and manipulate the numbers.”

More the cheater principle, then.

Business booming in regulation game

Gender pay-gap statistics are just one of the new requirements on businesses imposed from this week.

As Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), puts it: “We enter a new tax year with a raft of changes adding to the upfront cost of doing business. While corporation tax is decreasing, companies are more concerned about the escalating burden of input costs, which hit firms before they even turn over a single pound.

“Companies of all sizes will now see the introduction of the apprenticeship levy, immigration skills charge, a new national living wage, and pensions auto-enrolment. Such costs are likely to cause many firms to implement cost reduction measures, and weigh down on firms’ ability to invest, recruit and grow their business.

“The government must do more to ease the upfront burden on businesses, and allow them to get on and invest, train their staff, and trade all over the world.”

All of which is likely to represent the sentiments of many businesses – although not all. All the consultants about to make a killing, for example.

Is Diamond a broker’s best friend again?

It has been a while since the results of Panmure Gordon have caused much of a ripple in the City, but that was before we knew it was to be taken over by a consortium that includes former Barclays boss Bob Diamond.

Once branded the “unacceptable face of banking” (Diamond, not Panmure) the American financier’s Atlas Merchant Capital is teaming up with QInvest, the Qatari investment bank, to acquire one of London’s oldest stockbroking firms. On Tuesday the firm is due to announce results.

All of which should give us a bit more information on what the banker is getting into and will no doubt reignite the debate over whether Diamond has served enough time away from the City after resigning from Barclays in the face of political pressure following the Libor scandal.

That was five years ago, and while a lot has remained constant (the 65-year-old’s reputation, plus his stubbornly dark locks) there has at least been some effort to soften Diamond’s hard image.

Not least, there was a video posted on social media in December that showed the old banker burping his new grandson, Henry, which is sure to have appealed to City folk. The banker barely looked at the child and instead appeared to be fixated on a Chelsea match on the telly.