People represent a different type of asset from that which is owned by the business; they are hired through compensation and benefits, but this does not make them 'intangible', said Philip Whiteley, chair of the Human Capital Forum.

'The best results for business come from making the conceptual shift to recognising that the assets that are hired require a different, but complementary type of measurement to the accounts - but it is at least as important,' he said

Focus groups run by the Forum with Logica had illustrated a considerable gulf between actual and aspired level of human capital reporting, indicating promising conditions for rapid growth in sophistication.

This was borne out by the wider online survey, which indicated that a small group of pioneer organisations were far more developed than others. Human capital analysis is no longer a discipline in its infancy, and there are substantial returns on investment for the pioneering employers.