Strategic Finance articles from August 2005

Strategic Finance archives from August 2005

Avoiding today's top hiring mistakes.(Careers)
August 1, 2005... The pressure is on for accounting managers these days. With vacancies to fill, many have begun hiring. Yet with numerous competing work demands--including monthly financial analyses to prepare for executives, internal control systems to...

Benchmarking ethics and compliance programs.(Ethics)
August 1, 2005... One of the questions asked most frequently by those involved in corporate ethics responsibility is "How are we doing?" The question raised is how an organization stacks up in comparison with what it should do. Intended to form the basis of best...

Beyond compliance: why integrated governance matters today: the idea is for financial professionals to help their companies address performance and knowledge management, too.(Illustration)(Cover Story)
August 1, 2005... Say the word governance, and compliance comes to mind. Performance measurement and knowledge management probably didn't cross your radar screen. They should have. Despite the proliferation of national and international codes, guidelines, and...

Feedback: gift to the giver.(Best Practices)
August 1, 2005... Jo really didn't mind that she never heard from her new boss. He was at headquarters, several time zones away, and she'd always been a self-starter. So what if her e-mails and phone calls went unanswered. She'd always worked for hands-off...

Guarding the guardians: Sarbanes-Oxley brought about the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. But can this new regulator help restore investor confidence?(Auditing)(Illustration)
August 1, 2005... Now that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has completed its first year of full-scale inspections of audit firms, it seems doubtful it can fulfill its Congressionally mandated mission within the prescribed period of time....

Suzie's sweater: the new paradigm in accounting: revenue recognition is the #1 problem in financial and accounting fraud.(Opinion)
August 1, 2005... Here is a Pop Quiz, students: At 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 31, Suzie comes into a store and buys a sweater for $100. She pays cash but is then apologetically told that her size is temporarily out of stock so she should come back on Tuesday; the store...

The Importance of the IMA Brand.(Institute of Management Accountants)
August 1, 2005... The Annual Conference in Boston is now history. The program was well thought out, and the selection of speakers for all sessions was excellent. Rick Thompson and the Program Committee deserve high praise for the Conference's success. The...

Carl S. Smith: elevating the CMA.(Change Agent)(Biography)
August 1, 2005... When you're around new IMA Chair Carl Smith, make sure you're backing his efforts to promote the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) credential. A CMA, CFM, CPA, and Ph.D., he's a firm believer in the value of the certification and is making...

FASB, IASB publish joint proposals on business combinations.(The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB))
August 1, 2005... The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) have each published an Exposure Draft containing joint proposals to improve the accounting and reporting of business combinations. According...

Making CMA the gold standard.(streetwise)
August 1, 2005... Help validate the value of the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) credential! The Institute of Certified Management Accountants (ICMA) is preparing to launch a new job analysis to confirm the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by...

Error in salary survey.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2005... Let me first say "thank you" for publishing such a useful, educational, and thought-provoking magazine. I love it! I was looking through the June 2005 edition, and in the "IMA 2004 Salary Survey" article, there's a misprint. On Table 5:...

Grassley wants pension accounting changes.(Committee on Finance's Charles Grassley )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R.-Iowa) thinks the way some companies handle accounting for their pension plans rivals the way Enron did its off-balance-sheet accounting. Does that mean there's now a Grassley equivalent of...

SEC report cites corporate accounting weaknesses.(GOVERNMENT)
August 1, 2005... Pension accounting also came in for some hard knocks in a June Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) report mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley. Put together by the office of the chief accountant, the report looks at off-balance-sheet arrangements,...

Red (ink) on their hands.
August 1, 2005... The great stock market bubble of the 1990s left many casualties in its wake when it finally burst, and most of them were unknown and unmourned investors who lost millions on stocks hyped by analysts who made millions for themselves and their...

Social security: the topic du jour, part 2.(Taxes)
August 1, 2005... Several ideas on how to restructure Social Security have been put forth in recent years, including proposals for reform such as private accounts similar to IRAs or 401(K)s (the latter being defined contribution plans rather than promised...

Sorting out the clutter: as management accountants and financial managers you've been besieged by three-letter acronyms touting the latest and greatest strategic costing methods to help manage your business operations. Do they really help? How would you know?(Accounting)
August 1, 2005... Can you guess the year of these magazine quotes: "Survey results: ABC is worth the investment"; "Nine steps to implementing ABC"; "Is ABC suitable for your company?"; "Managing your ABC system... not a panacea for what ails businesses"; "ABC:...

Separation anxiety.(tools of the trade)
August 1, 2005... With WiFi and Bluetooth in the air practically everywhere, you don't have to worry about leaving anything behind when you take off on vacation. Bring along a small device with a gigabyte-size hard drive, and you'll have all the bases covered....

Anonymous glory.(Tech Forum)(Jack St. Clair Kilby, inventor of integrated circuits and Nobel prize winner)
August 1, 2005... IF YOU WERE ASKED TO NAME three American inventors, likely answers would include Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and maybe someone like Eli Whitney. Here's a second question. Who invented the microchip? Need some clues? He won the...

A global glance at business spending.(Financial Trends)
August 1, 2005... Capital spending and employment growth by U.S. companies are expected to slow during the next year, yet direct investment in businesses overseas climbed dramatically last year, according to two reports. U.S. chief financial officers...

Combating everyday data problems with XBRL, part 2.(XBRL)
August 1, 2005... For most financial professionals, the thought of combating everyday data problems using XBRL, the eXtensible Business Reporting Language, may seem a little unusual. Conditioned to re-keying data from disparate data stores and reports into...