Strategic Finance articles from August 2007

Strategic Finance archives from August 2007

Hidden gems.(Perspectives)(Institute of Management Accountants)
August 1, 2007... Message from the Chair I've been thinking about the Institute of Management Accountants' (IMA[R]) Annual Conference in Phoenix, Ariz., ever since I returned home. If you were unable to attend, you missed a great educational and networking...

Don't say it's too much.(Best Practices)
August 1, 2007... When a key executive died, the owners of a small publishing company quickly asked Andrea to take on additional responsibility. They agreed that as soon as the dust cleared, they would discuss a raise to match her promotion. Before Andrea headed...

Ethical culture more important than ever.(Ethics)
August 1, 2007... Recent pronouncements by both the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the results of new research have further accentuated the need for business to increase its focus on...

IMA's strategic initiatives.(Advocacy)(Institute of Management Accountants)(Viewpoint essay)
August 1, 2007... Greetings from the world of professional advocacy. IMA's 2007-2008 fiscal year looks to be an exciting one based on evolving developments that will impact the management accounting profession. The 2006-2007 fiscal year ended favorably for IMA...

Cheryl Linthicum named academic accounting fellow.(NEWS)(United States. Securities and Exchange Commission. Division of Corporation Finance)
August 1, 2007... Cheryl Linthicum, CMA, a member of IMA's San Antonio Chapter, has been named academic accounting fellow for the Securities & Exchange Commission's (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance. Her one-year term begins this month. Linthicum is the...

Barriers to change.(streetwise)(corporate culture)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... There are three major barriers to organizational change that businesses often overlook, says organizational change expert Gayla Hodges of Change Agents, Inc. They are inadequate culture-shift planning, lack of employee involvement, and flawed...

Wake up, AACSB.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... I agree with Mr. Alfred King's premise that the AACSB accreditation requirements are primarily the cause of the perceived shortage of university accounting instructors. [See Letters to the Editor, May 2007.] Currently, there are many...

New Financial Reporting Committee faces uphill slog.(GOVERNMENT)(United States. Securities and Exchange Commission)
August 1, 2007... One can only hope that Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Chris Cox's new SEC Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting is a little more successful than his last advisory committee. That would be the one that made...

Weighing risks effectively.(BOOKS)(Risk Intelligence )(Book review)
August 1, 2007... Strategists, finance executives, and business leaders constantly wrestle with trade-offs between risk and business performance imperatives such as growth, restructuring, and outsourcing. Many of these companies seem to be better at one than the...

John B. Pollara IMA champion.(Change Agent)(Institute of Management Accountants)
August 1, 2007... Growing membership is our job--yours and mine, IMA Chair John Pollara, CMA, tells fellow members every chance he gets."All of us need to be involved in this effort," he emphasizes. "We just probably don't know how effective we can be. I went...

Finding your cost-of-compliance sweet spot: it takes a framework that analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of your company's controls to determine where to spend the dollars.(Cover Story)
August 1, 2007... "How confident are we that our firm is in compliance?" This question strikes fear and loathing in the minds of today's financial executives to the point of keeping them up at night. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] But more than that, compliance...

Retaliation: unlawful, unethical, or just to be expected?(Legal Issues)
August 1, 2007... When an employee blows the whistle on questionable or illegal conduct, is retaliation unlawful, unethical, or just to be expected? The answer to all three questions is "yes, it can be." Because of the devastating effects of recent business...

Beyond budgeting or better budgeting? IMA members express their views.(Budgeting)(Investment Management Association)
August 1, 2007... Most organizations recognize budgets as a key element in their management control systems, but the usefulness of budgets has generated much recent discussion and debate. Though budgets are useful for coordination, communication, and performance...

Building processes for a solid financial foundation: the case of Community Health Initiatives.(2008 IMA Student Case Competition)(Community Health Initiatives)
August 1, 2007... On Monday, Stephanie started her new job as the director of finance for Community Health Initiatives (CHI), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide education and support to chronically ill individuals and their families who reside...

Tools of the trade.(briefs)
August 1, 2007... In its 7th Annual Excellence Awards, eWeek not only chose the Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet as winner in the Desktop and Mobile Hardware class, but it named the tablet PC as best overall from 20 categories, including 800 products. Although the...

Is the Internet doomed to self-destruct?(Tech Forum)(Jonathan Zittrain)
August 1, 2007... THE INTERNET EXPLODED LIKE FEW other tech revolutions, and the digital clouds are still swirling with no indication of settling soon. But there's a problem. According to Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at...

Internet classics.(End Note)
August 1, 2007... ACROSS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1. Reason for all the ants on the table 9. Cofounder of 9 down 13. Web's first killer browser 14. Teen____, newbie 15. Coup d' ____ 16. Card that lets...