Strategic Finance articles from December 2004

Strategic Finance archives from December 2004

Maximizing the performance of new hires.(Careers)(accountants)(Column)
December 1, 2004... Many factors play a role in the ability of an accounting professional to adapt and prosper during his or her initial months in a new job. The most important of these may well be the feedback and support received from managers. Many...

Penn state leads in CMA exam completers in 2002.(Certified Management Accountant)(Pennsylvania)(Column)
December 1, 2004... THE LAST REPORT OF SUCCESSFUL CMA candidates by college or university was in the June 2003 issue of Strategic Finance, which reported the top 25 colleges and universities producing CMA exam completers through December 2001. This report updates...

The Nickel's Westward trek.(End Note)(Thomas Jefferson on coins)
December 1, 2004... It's what some consider the most American coin. Both the Jefferson nickel and Buffalo nickel designs are entirely indigenous, with only the barest nod to another culture in the motto E Pluribus Unum (from many--one). The buffalo design...

Survey shows need for more ethics awareness.(Ethics)
December 1, 2004... WELL-INFORMED DIRECTORS KNOW A GREAT deal about the professional skills and experience of their executives--but not enough about their values and character. These findings are from "Assuring Ethical and Responsible Leadership: How to Meet the...

Financial executive of the year: Peggy Scott: leading by example.(2004 National Winner)
December 1, 2004... Peggy Scott: Leady By Example It doesn't take long to figure out that Peggy Scott, executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) of Pan-American Life Insurance Company, is passionate about her job. Since joining the...

Changing our relation to time.(Best Practices)(Column)
December 1, 2004... BETSY SAW A WHALE ON HER WAY TO WORK one day. Living north of the Golden Gate Bridge--about 15 miles from San Francisco's financial district--she has the option of commuting via a ferry that crosses San Francisco Bay. On a late spring morning,...

How to deal with criticism more effectively: performance reviews don't have to be traumatic. They can be the first step toward improvement and satisfaction for you and your staff--or you and your boss.(Career Skills)(Column)
December 1, 2004... Despite what we say, we don't like to criticize or be criticized. Invariably, when criticized, we react defensively. When we must criticize or evaluate others, we postpone it as long as possible. As a result, we don't offer timely enough...

Reading between the numbers: cost accounting can hide competitive advantages, biasing operations decisions toward outsourcing.(Cost Accounting)
December 1, 2004... As one major accounting scandal after another rumbles through corporate America, a minor one is also making noise. It's the seemingly arcane aspect of manufacturing cost accounting called burden absorption that fools some operations personnel...

Management accounting--rebuilding international recognition.(Perspectives: message from the Chair)(Column)
December 1, 2004... Regular readers of this column are aware that I have been focusing IMA on management accounting and on rebalancing the accounting profession away from the "preparer or auditor" view and toward recognizing the work done by management accountants...

Strategic finance self-study quiz.
December 1, 2004... ANNOUNCEMENT: The Strategic Finance Self-Study Quiz is a program in which financial professionals can earn CPE credits for passing a test based on what they have learned about various topics from reading certain magazine articles. Two...

Lessons from German cost accounting.(Accounting)
December 1, 2004... This is the third article in a series that began in October 2003 with "The Case for Management Accounting" and continued in December 2003 with "Bring on German Cost Accounting." Here we delve further into German cost accounting to see how it...

Growth isn't always good: knowing when and where to grow.(Strategic Management)
December 1, 2004... When and where should a business invest and grow? This is a challenge facing management today. The key is having the insight and discipline to grow in areas that will drive long-term financial value and concomitantly knowing where to disinvest....

How does your company measure performance?(News)
December 1, 2004... MARKETPLACE PRESSURES ARE FORCING COMPANIES TO REJECT THE TRADITIONAL corporate performance management (CPM) approach of variance analysis on a line-byline functional reporting basis because it fails to capture the net profit implications of...

You must understand the process.(Readers' Input)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... I completely agree with Larry White's comments about management accounting [Perspectives, July 2004]. All areas of accounting are important, but I find that most often financial managers are not real partners with the other areas of the...

Benchmarks drive performance.(Research)
December 1, 2004... IMA AND APQC ARE OFFERING IMA MEMBERS AN OPPORTUNITY TO benchmark their organization's performance against top performers and industry peers for free by participating in the Open Standards Benchmarking Collaborative[SM] (OSBC) research...

Congress tries end-around on FASB stock options.(Government)(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
December 1, 2004... ALTHOUGH CONGRESS WENT HOME for the year without passing legislation hamstringing the Financial Accounting Standards Board's ability to issue a rule on accounting for stock options, it may have slowed the Board down by prevailing on the...

When leadership fails.(Bad Leadership)
December 1, 2004... * PEOPLE ASSOCIATE A "LEADER" AS SOMETHING inherently "good," but Barbara Kellerman, a lecturer in public policy and research director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, has set out...

Computers for pockets and the coffee table.(tools of the trade)
December 1, 2004... PalmOne's Tungsten[TM] T5 offers several memory options along with three ways to connect to the world outside its bright 320 x 480 display. It has 256MB onboard storage that includes 55MB program memory for applications and data. There's also...

The sound of one hand typing.(Tech Forum)(keyboard)
December 1, 2004... * FOR THE USER, THE INTERFACE IS EVERYTHING. Whether it's a pen, mouse, or keyboard, the connection works or fails at the point where our consciousness meets the computer. The best interface is invisible, giving us access to what's on the...

IMA supports voluntary XBRL filing program.(Extensible Business Reporting Language)(Institute of Management Accountants)
December 1, 2004... IN A LETTER TO JONATHAN G. KATZ, SECRETARY of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), dated November 1, 2004, the Institute of Management Accountants indicated strong support for the SEC's voluntary XBRL filing program. IMA Chair Larry...