Strategic Finance articles from April 2003

Strategic Finance archives from April 2003

IMA board of directors commits to member value. (Perspectives: Letter From the President).(Institute of Management Accountants)
April 1, 2003... Your IMA Board of Directors, at its second meeting of the operating year, reaffirmed its commitment to enhancing the value of IMA membership by improving the Institute's standing, recognition, and image; by enhancing the value of the CMA and...

Building the verbs of strategy on the nouns of a business. (Strategic Management).
April 1, 2003... Time and again, this column has mentioned the power of Genuine Assets in your business strategy. Here's another perspective on this power, examined first-hand at recent executive retreats, and valuable insight for company management everywhere....

Beware the man who knows. (Best Practices).(leadership is not about knowing all the answers)
April 1, 2003... THE THREE MOST FRIGHTENING WORDS FOR high achievers may actually be the three most powerful words in a leader,s vocabulary: "I don't know" The secret to success for organizations that sustain change and grow innovatively is that their...

Does your company have a code of ethics? (Careers).(promoting business ethics)
April 1, 2003... When two accounting executives who exposed fraud and wrongdoing were among those named Persons of the Year by Time magazine last December, it sent a powerful message: Ethics is an issue of paramount importance gaining attention in the business...

New accounting watchdog? (News).(Association for Integrity in Accounting )
April 1, 2003... LAST MONTH A GROUP OF ACCOUNTING PROFESSORS AND PROFESSIONALS-- with the help of Ralph Nader's Citizen Works--formed the Association for Integrity in Accounting (AIA) "to restore and maintain the public's trust and confidence in accounting." It...

New FASB projects. (Street Wise).(Financial Accounting Standards Board)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The Financial Accounting Standards Board recently added two projects to its agenda that will seek to improve the accounting and disclosures related to stock-based compensation and pension costs. Among other issues, the project on...

The ethical alternative to selfish management. (Ethics).
April 1, 2003... MEDIA HEADLINES CONTINUE TO RELATE NEW EXAMPLES OF IMPROPER behavior by members of senior management. Lavish perks, huge loans, disgracefully large stock options, and generous salaries and bonuses have been heaped on CEOs as if they were rock...

Staffing the SEC. (Government).(Securities and Exchange Commission has 710 new positions)
April 1, 2003... THE SECURITIES & EXCHANGE Commission will soon be floating in new funds once Congress finally passes a fiscal 2003 budget for the agency. The appropriation will hit $716 million, a 40% boost over the previous year, which reflects...

The momentum of globalization. (Books).(Against the Dead Hand: The Uncertain Struggle for Global Capitalism)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... * THE BUSINESS (AND POPULAR) PRESS IS FULL of news articles every time the World Bank or World Trade Organizations meet. The press loves conflict. Images of protesters in op position to high-level government and business leaders appeal to the...

Herbert C. Knortz, President 1985-86. (Street Wise).(Obituary)
April 1, 2003... Herbert C. Knortz, 81, former president of the National Association of Accountants, now the Institute of Management Accountants, died at his home in Ridgefield, Conn., February 21, 2003, in afire that destroyed his home. Knortz retired...

Who has your numbers? It's time to try some methods of self-defense.(identity theft)(related article: Organizations With Your Personal Information)(Cover Story)
April 1, 2003... Two recent security failures have ratcheted up our fear of identity theft. On February 18 a hacker cherry-picked eight million credit card account numbers from a company that processes transactions for merchants. The cards included American...

Ferreting out fraud: the Dow Chemical Company's success story. (Ethics).(Fraud Investigative Services )
April 1, 2003... You've seen the three-paragraph blurb in the back pages of your newspaper: Executive Prosecuted for Defrauding Company. While most employees are honest, fraud remains a fact of doing business that not only impacts the bottom line but, if left...

Why automate payables and receivables? Electronic are more accurate and less costly. (Financial Management).
April 1, 2003... Internet-based financial resource management (FRM) software will automate day-to-day invoicing, payments, and reporting-all the processes corporations and banks use to manage their financial transactions and cash. Yet these processes remain...

The CFO's wish list: managing contracts can save your company money and help improve your competitive advantage. (Cash Management).
April 1, 2003... What are some of the most pressing issues financial executives will have to deal with this year? They range from gaining increased visibility and control over internal operations to establishing and maintaining good relationships with suppliers...

Cost-effective connectivity: a storage network can keep your business up and running in the event of a disaster without depleting your finances. (Technology).
April 1, 2003... ENTERPRISE-WIDE APPLICATIONS such as e-business, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and customer relationship management (CRM) generate such a tremendous amount of data that organizations using them are faced with unprecedented storage...

Bargain PCs meet mass marketing. (Product Watch).(Microtel SYSMAR737 tower PC)(Brief Article)(Buyers Guide)
April 1, 2003... The Microtel SYSMAR737 tower PC is being offered at Wal-Mart online for the price you would expect to pay for a printer-under $200. With an AMD 1.1 GHz Duron processor that has 3Dnow, the computer also features 128 MB of SDRAM memory that is...

Pocketop Inc. (Product Watch).(Brief Article)(Buyers Guide)
April 1, 2003... Pocketop Inc. of Vancouver, B.C., has a folding keyboard for PDAs that's wireless. The Pocketop Portable Keyboard sends what you're typing to your Palm or Pocket PC via the infrared port, and the software included lets you turn your PDA...

SmartDraw. (Product Watch).
April 1, 2003... SmartDraw is a graphics program that helps you create business charts, diagrams, technical drawings, business documents (like tables, graphs, or forms), calendars, and more. Instead of drawing, you drag-and-drop elements from more than 50,000...

PenAgain. (Product Watch).
April 1, 2003... To combat fatigue and possible carpal tunnel damage, keyboard users have ergonomic keyboards and mice, sponge wrist rests, even wrist splints, but what about those who write as much as they type? Until now, relief from writing cramp and...

PocketHUB. (Product Watch).
April 1, 2003... As USB ports became universal connectors for everything from printers to cameras, they multiplied, and some even moved to the front of the computer. Kensington Technology Group has put four USB ports on one pocketable device called the...

Who'd 'a thought? (Tech Forum).(new operating system (Lindows) available at WalMart's online store)
April 1, 2003... * FIVE YEARS AGO, IF SOMEONE HAD OFFERED TO sell you a CD player/burner for your PC for only $19, you probably would have assumed it was stolen, used, or broken--or all three. But last week Office Max advertised a 48X speed CD writer that,...

Who Moved my accounting cheese? (XBRL).(Extensible Business Reporting Language speeds up financial reporting process)
April 1, 2003... IN THE BOOK, WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? AN Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, by Spencer Johnson, M.D., and Kenneth H. Blanchard, the authors discuss how to cope with changes that occur in life and what to do about them....

Computer shooters, take note. (End Note).(the legality of firing a gun at one's computer)
April 1, 2003... The next time your computer locks up, it might not be a good time for you to lock and load. That was the lesson George Doughty learned last month when his laptop froze for what turned out to be the last time. According to the Associated...