Strategic Finance articles from August 2008

Strategic Finance archives from August 2008

Giving back: message from the chair.(Perspectives)(Column)
August 1, 2008... I've just returned from a life-changing experience. No, it wasn't the IMA Annual Conference & Exposition (although that was a wonderful opportunity that I was proud to be part of). For the past three years, I've participated in the Appalachia...

A salute to Capt. Larry White.(Top Line)(Column)
August 1, 2008... We all know what it's like to return home from vacation, don't we? The home mail, 90% of which we trash. The office mail and e-mails, with all of the "replies to all" waiting and the "out of office" message ignored. What does this have to do...

FRC and SBC are working hard.(Advocacy)(Financial Reporting and Small Business Financial and Regulatory Affairs Committees)(Column)
August 1, 2008... One of the most rewarding experiences in my role with IMA's professional advocacy efforts is my interaction with members who serve on the Financial Reporting and Small Business Financial and Regulatory Affairs Committees (FRC and SBC)....

Strategic plan update.(NEWS)
August 1, 2008... IMA's Board of Directors approved a strategic plan for the organization for fiscal years 2009-2012 during their meeting on June 14, 2008, at the Annual Conference. The general theme of the plan is "Creating Value Through Values," and this will...

Great article.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2008... I thoroughly enjoyed Steve Spiech's article ["Making More Time for Effective Financial Analysis"] in the June 2008 issue of Strategic Finance. In this age of increased corporate governance and compliance, along with the customary tasks of...

Just what we need.(Letters to the Editor)
August 1, 2008... Steve Spiech's article in the June 2008 edition of Strategic Finance is excellent. The principles and ideas he laid out are just what our assistant controller and I have been trying to get across to our accounting team. I work for IM Flash...

Cox Disclosure Initiative: window dressing?(GOVERNMENT)(Chris Cox)
August 1, 2008... Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Chris Cox won't be around when a new President takes office next January 20, so it's reasonable to wonder if some of the financial reporting initiatives he recently announced will ever develop...

Shedding light on fraud.(BOOKS)(Column)
August 1, 2008... As I read the 62 cases presented in Fraud Casebook: Lessons from the Bad Side of Business, edited by Joseph T. Wells, I was faced with the reality that fraudsters are hard to spot because they frequently look just like you and me. While some of...

Frederick E. Schea; Making a difference.(Change Agent)
August 1, 2008... Whether he's involved in business, personal, or professional endeavors, IMA Chair Fred Schea specializes in making a difference. He wants IMA members to join him in this effort, particularly advocating and advancing the profession of management...

Fair value accounting: are you ready?(Accounting)(Column)
August 1, 2008... The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has long believed that fair value accounting is the most relevant basis of accounting and has had a long-stated goal of having it as the primary method of accounting. Over the past 15 years, the...

Why historical cost accounting makes sense.(Accounting)
August 1, 2008... As the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) continues to march toward fair value accounting and away from historical cost accounting, it's a good time to consider the flaws of fair value accounting. Enron's demise, after all, has been...

Preparing journal entries with pivot tables.(Excel)
August 1, 2008... While pivot tables provide an efficient way to summarize data, their final format is often less than useful. The blank cells used in the outline format make for easy reading by a human, but they make the data unsuitable for importing to other...

Tools of the trade.
August 1, 2008... The 3M[TM] Lightweight Privacy Filter does exactly what its name implies. With its microlouver privacy technology, only those sitting directly in front of the screen can see the spreadsheet, report, or e-mail on the screen. Those to the side...

Clippers and other flightless birds.(Tech Forum)(Editorial)
August 1, 2008... * MAYBE IT'S JUST A GENERATIONAL THING, but there still are people who periodically clip articles from the newspapers. There used to be many more of them--clippers, that is. Academics would cut and save magazine and journal articles, as would...

Turning obligation into opportunity.(XBRL)
August 1, 2008... Those of us with children may remember a time when our children had an almost endless supply of something dear to them (such as toys or candy) but were unwilling to share even a little bit with someone else. That simple act of obligation for a...

The future of private-company financial reporting.(Financial Reporting)(Column)
August 1, 2008... As I noted last month in my first "Financial Reporting" column for Strategic Finance magazine, most of the changes that are occurring in corporate financial reporting today are the result of a single phenomenon: the global convergence of...

August bank holiday.(End Note)
August 1, 2008... ACROSS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1. Gathers, such as interest. 8. Governed by presbyters, abbr. 13. Make new business groupings. 14. Rep. keystone in 2000. 15. Color for eyelashes. 16. Rejoice. 17. New York...