Strategic Finance articles from April 2005

Strategic Finance archives from April 2005

Using Excel to ferret out fraud: here's a step-by-step guide on how to check your company's records and uncover any potential misdealings.(Career Skills)
April 1, 2005... "LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS" aptly describes what thwarted Kelly's fraud scheme against his former employer, Buckhoff 's Market, Inc., a multibillion dollar company that operates hundreds of grocery stores nationwide. Having been fired for looking...

Five common interview mistakes and how to avoid them.(Careers)
April 1, 2005... Have you ever left a job interview saying, "I could have answered that question better than I did"? If so, you aren't alone. Even those with strong skill sets and years of experience in the accounting profession don't always know how to sell...

Candidate Performance on the 2002 CFM exam.(Certification)(Certified Management Accountant)
April 1, 2005... In the December 2002 issue, we reported on CFM exam pass rates by educational institution through September 2001. This column updates those results through December 2002. In the December 2002 report, pass rates were calculated for schools...

Should finance make the numbers "come out?".(Ethics)
April 1, 2005... The following case study presents a management accountant who knows how to correctly apply technical knowledge but feels pressured to make inappropriate estimates to achieve a desired end result. How would you or your subordinates react under...

Mr. Markwell's wild ride.(Best Practices)(Martin Markwell)(analysis of earned capabilities and innate capacity)
April 1, 2005... British surfer Martin Markwell had taken his wife Vicki and son Jake to a white-sand beach resort to escape winter's dreariness. On a beautiful Sunday morning, he paddled out on his surfboard when a big wave came along--a really, really big...

Is TOC for you? If your company is considering the Theory Of Constraints, here are five quick things to remember.(Business Management)
April 1, 2005... Are you familiar with the Theory of Constraints (TOC)? Physicist Eliyahu M. Goldratt introduced this management technique in 1986 in the bestselling novel The Goal. TOC is another operation improvement technique centered on an innovative...

Paul Sharman is new IMA president and CEO.(Institute of Management Accountants, chief executive officer)
April 1, 2005... The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) is pleased to welcome Paul Sharman, ACMA, as president and CEO. He had served as IMA's interim executive director since January 2004, aggressively positioning IMA to become a global force in the...

Rewards and realities of German cost accounting: time-tested German cost analysis can help improve financial results. But first you have to grapple with its complexities.(ANNUAL CONFERENCE: TOPIC)(Cover Story)
April 1, 2005... IN JUNE 2004, I WENT TO AUSTRIA, GERMANY, AND SWITZERLAND TO STUDY GERMAN COST ACCOUNTING as part of a project sponsored by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). It was one of the association's first research projects to learn how...

A formal welcome to Paul Sharman.(Perspectives: Message from the Chair)(appointment at Institute of Management Accountants)
April 1, 2005... I'm extremely pleased to announce that Paul Sharman has formally accepted the position of IMA President and CEO. Paul has been the interim executive director since January 2004, but his role has now been made permanent. So what's the big...

Going for GPK: Stihl moves toward this costing system in the United States.(Accounting: ANNUAL CONFERENCE: TOPIC)(grenzplankostenrechnung)
April 1, 2005... Grenzplankostenrechnung (GPK), which roughly translates to "flexible standard costing," is one of the most widely used costing systems in Germany and other European countries and is best described as a direct or variable costing system....

How to be a great financial analyst: it takes seven key skills and a new way of thinking.(Career Skills)
April 1, 2005... Every company has employees who analyze its financial data and enhance its decision support process by providing their insights and analyses to management. In some companies the CFO, controller, or accounting staff performs this function in...

Three IMA members named to COSO task force.(NEWS)(Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, Institute of Management Accountants)(Kristine M. Brands, Rudolph J. McCue and James K. Smith appointed at Small Business Control Guidance Advisory Group Task Force)
April 1, 2005... The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) has begun a new project to provide guidance to small businesses on how to apply the COSO Internal Control--Integrated Framework. The Control Framework has been widely...

Time wasters.(streetwise)(tips about time management)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... * Donald E. Wetmore, a professional speaker from the Productivity Institute who has been conducting time management seminars over the last 20 years, has identified five major time wasters for people to attack. They are: Poor Planning....

Ethics on the mark ...(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... Curt Verschoor's article on SOX 404 on pages 17-18 in the March 2005 issue of Strategic Finance is right on the mark and consistent with what I have been saying since the law was passed. Unfortunately, SOX was passed in the turmoil (panic?) of...

... And on target.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... As one of the principal authors of Internal Control--Integrated Framework, a member of the current COSO task force dealing with simplified guidelines for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance for smaller companies, and a practitioner in this area of...

SEC roundtable on Section 404.(GOVERNMENT)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 of Securities and Exchange Commission)
April 1, 2005... The fact that the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) scheduled a roundtable on Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley for April without initially setting a definite date for that confab reflects the pressure the SEC is under from the business...

Reexaming the Board of Directors.(BOOKS)("Back to the Drawing Board: Designing Corporate Boards for a Complex World")
April 1, 2005... The design of boards of directors is clearly flawed in too many places, and board practices are still held captive to the traditions of years past. Directors often have inadequate time and a limited knowledge base to sufficiently meet their...

Choice of business entity after JGTRRA and AJCA, part 2.(Taxes)(Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 and American Jobs Creation Act of 2004)
April 1, 2005... Last month we discussed how changes to tax rates in the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA) and the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (AJCA) affect a business's choice of entity decision--focusing primarily on...

World's lightest PC.(tools of the trade)("Windows XP in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference" of O'Reilly)(Sony Vaio U71)(Peachtree Complete Accounting 2005)
April 1, 2005... Following Sony's decision to get out of the PDA market in the West, here's the Sony Vaio U71--a second-generation "handtop." Also called an "always-carry notebook," the 6.6 5 4.3 5 1-inch pen-based PC weighs a mere 1.2 pounds. The screen is a...

The computer social climbs at Christie's.(Tech Forum)(personal narrative of an auction)
April 1, 2005... * DO YOU STILL HAVE THAT OLD ATARI or Apple Newton in a junk box in the cellar or garage? Forget about putting it out again with this summer's yard sale offerings. It just might have archeological value. Don't believe it? Well, on...

XBRL fundamentals.(extensible business reporting language)(economic policy of Securities and Exchange Commission)
April 1, 2005... The recent release of the final rule for participating in the Securities & Exchange Commission's voluntary XBRL filing program (see www.sec.gov/rules/ final/33-8529.pdf) illustrates to corporations that the SEC is serious about transforming...