Strategic Finance articles from February 2003

Strategic Finance archives from February 2003

The IMA--your partner for life. (Perspectives: Letter From the President).(Institute of Management Accountants)
February 1, 2003... Why do you suppose an individual would join the Institute of Management Accountants as a student and remain a member for life? The answer lies in the benefits IMA provides to members at each stage of their lives and careers. Those who...

Value and opportunities for members.(Annual Reports - 2001-2002.)
February 1, 2003... This year saw more changes as IMA continues its efforts to provide members with the value and opportunities they desire. The IMA Lifelong Learning Center was officially launched, giving members a one-stop source for all their professional...

Real-options valuations: taking out the rocket science. (Strategic Management).
February 1, 2003... We clearly live in a world of financial extremes, and the pendulum has now swung back. Public accountants are signing off on corporate books with near paralyzing conservatism; financial analysts are screaming transparency" at the companies they...

Never shout "fire" in a crowded theater. (Best Practices).
February 1, 2003... THE QUINTESSENTIAL CORPORATE COG IS unflappable. She flits from call to call, moves flies easily from inbox to outbox, has every answer at her fingertips, and even makes sure there's sugar in the coffee room. Lily Tomlin portrays such an...

Building an effective mentoring program. (Careers).
February 1, 2003... Implementing training programs can be challenging in today's business environment. Budget considerations and increased workloads can make it difficult to find an option that matches both your financial and time constraints. There's one solution...

SEC expands financial expert definition. (News).(Securities and Exchange Commission)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act)
February 1, 2003... AFTER RECEIVING A BARRAGE OF PROTESTS OVER THE DEFINITION OF FINANCIAL expert in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (see IMA's letter, p. 35, and Government, p. 24), the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) voted on January 15 to change the term to...

More proposed accounting reforms. (News).(from Conference Board's Commission on Public Trust and Private Enterprise)
February 1, 2003... Last month the Conference Board's Commission on Public Trust and Private Enterprise released a report recommending a wide range of actions to improve corporate governance, auditing, and accounting practices. It had issued its recommendations on...

FASB releases SFAS No. 148. (Street Wise).(Financial Accounting Standards Board, Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 148)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No, 148, "Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation--Transition and Disclosure," an amendment of SFAS No. 123, 'Accounting for Stock-Based...

Stock options. (Readers' Input).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... A reader states on page 22 of the December 2002 issue that the authors of "Much Ado About Nothing" [October 2002] should know better than to assert that expensing of stock options would have nil affect on stock valuations. The reader justifies...

Will new law result in more whistle blowing? (Ethics).(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
February 1, 2003... THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002 (S-O) CONTAINS A DIVERSE COLLECTION of provisions intended to improve the quality of financial reporting by publicly held companies. Some of the provisions of the act that have received relatively little media...

Companies not excited about prospective internal controls report. (Government).
February 1, 2003... IT WILL COME AS NO SURPRISE TO anyone familiar with the controversial history of SEC proposals on internal controls reporting--none of which were ever approved--that the latest proposal, born of the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting reform bill of this...

Improving business performance. (Books).(Performance Measurement and Management Control: A Compendium of Research)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... * THE FIELDS OF PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT and management control have changed dramatically in recent years. Industry has recognized the importance of the implementation and coordination of strategy with organizational structure, management...

FASB issues guidance on SPEs and more. (News).(Financial Accounting Standards Board on consolidated financial statements)(special purpose entities)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The FASB has issued Interpretation No. 46, "Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities," which is an interpretation of Accounting Research Bulletin (ARB) No. 51, "Consolidated Financial Statements." The Board says it did this "to expand upon...

The six-legged stool. (High-Quality Financial Reporting).
February 1, 2003... For capital markets to function efficiently and effectively, participants (including investors and creditors) must have confidence in the financial reporting process. Financial statement fraud, as we've all seen recently, is a serious threat to...

New laws, new challenges: implications of Sarbanes-Oxley. (Financial Reporting).
February 1, 2003... Amid recent corporate scandals, investors, regulators, and politicians have asked, "Where were the auditors?" The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was designed to combat the perceived ineffectiveness of the external audit. "This is the most...

IMA responds to the SEC. (Financial Reporting).(letter from Institute of Management Accountants president Margaret Butler)(definition on financial expert in Sarbanes-Oxley Act)(Transcript)
February 1, 2003... IMA President Margaret Butler sent this letter to the SEC, requesting the Commission to expand the definition of "financial expert" under the Sarbanes Oxley Act. As a result of this and other corporate requests, on January 15 the SEC voted to...

Strategies for cutting costs: turning procurement into a virtuous cycle. (Cash Management).
February 1, 2003... Chief financial officers and chief procurement officers at Fortune 500 companies are facing a dilemma. They've cut millions of dollars to create organizations that are running leaner than ever, but, as the timing for an economic turnaround...

Business valuation made simple: it's all about cash. (Valuation).
February 1, 2003... I get a call late one night. "Harry, I got a job for ya. Just a quick thing--you ought to be able to knock it off in a day or two..." The caller--oh yeah, he's my client--wants me to put a price on an acquisition he's looking at. Turns out he's...

Tablet computing. (Product Watch).(new PC's available)
February 1, 2003... After a long beta period, a variety of Tablet PCs are now available. Most feature Windows XP Tablet Edition, which enables pen-based entries with its Windows Journal utility. There are two kinds of tablet. One is called a slate because it has...

The Internet appliance. (Product Watch).(Frontpath ProGear Web pad)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... There is a type of specialized computer tablet that functions as a dedicated Web browser. The Frontpath[TM] ProGear[TM] Web pad is one of these Internet "laptops." Like the PC tablets, the ProGear has a 10.4-inch screen (measured diagonally)...

Electronic paper documents. (Product Watch).(OmniPage Pro 12)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2003... During tax season, a lot of attention is directed toward documents, and, once again, the "written in stone" inflexibility of hard copy can create pretty sizable scanned-image files to be e-mailed around. If you haven't looked at OCR software in...

Revolutionary? Not really. (Tech Forum).(future computer design)
February 1, 2003... * THE IDEA OF TABLET PCS, like those in this month's Tools section, has been around for a dozen years. It has taken advancements in processing power--passive digitizing requires a lot--and improvement in writing recognition for the Tablet to...

A look at Linux: a member test drives Open Source Office Suite.
February 1, 2003... Linux, developed in 1991 by Linus Torvalds in Helsinki, Finland, is a computer operating system based on UNIX. Instead of running on a mainframe, however, it runs on a desktop personal computer or server. With proper technical assistance at the...

Cleaning up in 2003. (End Note).(Parker Brothers sues Ralph Anspach over Anti-Monopoly game)
February 1, 2003... Now that there is a $1.1 billion settlement against Microsoft, it's perhaps time to redirect the judicial squint at the other billion-dollar monopoly mess--the Monopoly[R] monopoly. According to a legend repeated since 1935, "Parker...