Strategic Finance articles from June 2005

Strategic Finance archives from June 2005

XBRL gets easier.(XBRL Solutions Inc., conference)
June 1, 2005... Where in the world would someone go to find out about the latest advancements in XBRL software? Last month, the best place was Boston,Mass., site of XBRL International's conference on "Better, Faster, Smarter Business Reporting Using XBRL."...

First-year verdict of SOX 404: burdensome, costly, and confusing.(Financial Trends)
June 1, 2005... Now that most public companies have completed their compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the feds concede that it's too onerous and say they'll make the rules easier. During a packed roundtable meeting of financial...

Visual design.(FrontPage[R] 2003, Microsoft Corp.)
June 1, 2005... Microsoft's latest version of its FrontPage[R] 2003 still lets you design Web pages and sites by writing the HTML code or by just clicking, dragging, and dropping, but one of the new additions to the 2003 edition is a split-screen view of HTML...

New BPM suite.(Applications Suite 4, Business Performance Management from Hyperion Software Corp.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The newly released Applications Suite 4 from Hyperion is one of the broadest, richest suites of Business Performance Management (BPM) software available. It provides a unified environment for enterprise planning, reporting, and analysis with...

Getting down to the code.(computer programming)
June 1, 2005... * MOST OF THE TIME you're working just one layer above what's really going on. While you're skating around on the interface, instructions are being called right beneath the buttons and keystrokes. Some computer programs merge the two levels in...

Evaluating internal controls and SOX compliance.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Do you want to benchmark your Sarbanes-Oxley compliance efforts against those of your peers and evaluate your internal controls in a comprehensive, standards-based way? If so, you may want to consider taking a free, online survey at...

FERF publishes report on internal controls deficiency.(Financial Executives Research Foundation)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF), the research affiliate of Financial Executives International (FEI), has published a comprehensive report regarding SOX internal control requirements. Titled Control Deficiency Report, the...

IMA's Board of Directors has approved a dues increase for 2005-06.(Institute of Management Accountants)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
June 1, 2005... IMA's Board of Directors has approved a dues increase for 2005-06 as follows: 2006 Current Regular $185 $175 International $185 $175 Associate--Yr. 1 $61 $58 Associate--Yr....

PCAOB wants nominations.(Public Company Accounting Oversight Board)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... * The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is soliciting nominations to fill 14 positions on its Standing Advisory Group. The 30-member group was created in 2003 to help the Board carry out its standard-setting responsibilities for...

Errata.(Letters to the Editor)(Correction Notice)
June 1, 2005... On page 29 of the May issue, the first line under the subhead Med Solutions Inc.: An Illustration should read "A wholly owned subsidiary of a Fortune"... A software glitch turned the word Fortune into a number. The correct version is on the...

Kudos.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... Kudos to [Larry White] on [his] most recent Perspectives article in the May 2005 issue of Strategic Finance. As one of the "early" believers (CMA certificate #6935) for the need of a differentiating certification from CPAs in the accounting...

PCAOB considers new management report.(GOVERNMENT)
June 1, 2005... Even voluntary aspects of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance are getting more byzantine and complicated all the time. The latest evidence is the standard proposed by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) on March 31 that would tell...

SEC SAB on stock options accounting.(Securities and Exchange Commission, staff accounting bulletin )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The SEC issued a new staff accounting bulletin (SAB 107) at the end of March in an effort to clear up confusion over what accounting methods can be used by companies when valuing stock option grants, which must be reported as expenses beginning...

Organizational improvement.(Integrating Lean Six Sigma and High-Performance Organizations, Tom Devane )
June 1, 2005... Many organizations today face a serious crisis in the execution and sustainability of improvement programs. In Integrating Lean Six Sigma and High-Performance Organizations, author Tom Devane puts forth a pragmatic guide for leaders that...

Promote the benefits of CMA, CFM.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... It appears that many in the business/ management field have limited awareness of the benefits of being a CMA (and CFM), based on our (my professional colleagues and myself) personal observations in this field over two decades. I was wondering...

Way to go!(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... I just wanted to say "way to go" on the Iconoclasm" Perspectives [Larry White] presented in the May 2005 issue of Strategic Finance. I agree with it completely, and I used it in class to get my students to think about the value of the degrees...

Well put.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... [Larry White's] Perspectives in the May 2005 Strategic Finance was so well put. When telling people that I am an accountant, I am always asked if I am a CPA. While I have not yet made my attempt at the CMA, I continually have to explain it to...

Ethics column is spot on.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... [The Ethics column] in the May issue of Strategic Finance is spot on. Although IMA needs to stay out of politics per se, this fraud is so obvious to any accountant that it is well past time that it be called what it is. It does actually seem...

Moving management accounting forward.(Perspectives: Message from the Chair)
June 1, 2005... This is my last column as Chair of IMA, and I couldn't be more confident or excited about the direction IMA is moving to advance the profession of management accounting. IMA has great volunteer leaders in place with Carl Smith and then Bill...

Don't misconstrue communication cues: understanding MISCUES can help reduce widespread and expensive miscommunication.
June 1, 2005... How much is effective communication worth? In monetary terms, $5 million to $10 million annually for communication training for employees. That's just among Fortune 200 companies, according to a survey we conducted. Of course, that doesn't...

Forget slides, project confidence.(sales presentations without powerpoint slides)(Column)
June 1, 2005... Gavin was sweating the proverbial bullets. He was ready to send in his 50 PowerPoint slides for a presentation to the annual sales meeting when he got the word. The format of the session had been changed; there would be no PowerPoint. Just...

Relevance added: Combining ABC with German cost accounting: activity-based costing is better for long-term decision making while a leading German cost accounting method supports short-term decisions more effectively.(Accounting)
June 1, 2005... Are you familiar with Grenzplankostenrechnung? Translated from German, it roughly means "flexible margin costing." Flexible margin costing, or GPK, is a time-tested cost accounting system used by many companies in German-speaking countries....

Is repealing the estate tax unethical?(government)
June 1, 2005... One of government's most important roles is to tax its citizens for the cost of its operations and services as well as for the tasks that citizens can't provide feasibly by themselves. The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that...

Three faces of at-home AI.(End Note)
June 1, 2005... They're all robots, but each has a different personality defined by its purpose. A vacuum cleaner, an alarm clock, and an entertainment robot--each is artificially intelligent in its own world, and their world is your home. Roomba is the...

Building value from the inside: navigating our role.(Institute of Management Accountants 86th Annual Conference & Exposition--2005)
June 1, 2005... Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) 86th Annual Conference & Exposition--2005 Saturday, June 18-Wednesday, June 22 The Marriott Copley Place & The Westin Copley CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS: * Earn up to 37 CPE credits * Over...

A reality check on hiring.(accountants recruitment)
June 1, 2005... If it has been a while since you recruited new accounting staff, you may be in for a surprise. The hiring environment is quickly shifting, and the strategies and tactics you used just a few years ago to secure top applicants may prove...

Less is more: When it comes to financial closings, simplify the process so your financial staff can work smarter, not harder, and have more time to create value.(accounting)
June 1, 2005... Financial closing activities have presented longstanding challenges for many companies, whether privately or publicly held. Perhaps because these activities are periodic in nature, the focus has been primarily on systems solutions rather than...

2004 Salary survey.(accounting professionals)
June 1, 2005... The accounting profession has received a great deal of negative press since 2002 when the frauds at Enron and WorldCom became public. As a consequence of these and similar events, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed requiring companies to examine...