Strategic Finance articles from March 2002

Strategic Finance archives from March 2002

Before we write off all the accountants ... (Perspectives).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Letter from the President (*) With the bankruptcy of Enron Corporation, it appears that everyone wants to get "into the act" of casting blame. There is plenty to go around, but I would caution against a rush to identify scapegoats. ...

Why great stocks aren't always great companies ... and why you should care. (Strategic Management).(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Whether you are a manager, an investor, or a research analyst, it's essential that you be able to identify the differences between great-performing companies and poor-performing ones. This isn't as easy it is sounds because it's highly...

On becoming a leader. (Best Practices).
March 1, 2002... BECOMING A LEADER INVOLVES A JOURNEY that can be a mystery even to those undertaking it. You do a good job, make a solid contribution, and win promotions. With continued success comes steady progress up the organizational chart and growing...

Staying motivated during an extended job search. (Careers).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Anyone who has been in the job market for any length of time knows how frustrating the process can be. In today's competitive environment it's not uncommon to send out numerous resumes yet generate only limited response for your effort. This...

Public Oversight Board Resigns. (News).(accounting self-regulation)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... IN MORE ENRON FALLOUT, THE FIVE-MEMBER PUBLIC OVERSIGHT BOARD (POB) voted unanimously to "terminate its existence" by the end of this month. Created in 1977, it had operated as an independent, private-sector body that was the cornerstone of the...

Using Succession Management wisely. (News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) has just released a new best practices report on "Succession Management: Identifying and Cultivating Tomorrow's Leaders" that reveals how world-class companies find the most talented...

Volker to advise auditors. (Street Wise).(PAUL A. VOLKER)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... PAUL A. VOLKER, former Federal Reserve Board chairman and current chair of the Trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), will chair an Independent Oversight Board (IOB) that will work with Andersen's U.S. firm in...

Ebitda. (Readers' Input).
March 1, 2002... I remember the first time I started working with people who used EBITDA and thought many of the things AI King wrote in his article [September 2001]. I found it most interesting that a company would be sold based "almost entirely on EBITDA and...

Corporate critic activist calls for ethical sanctions. (Ethics).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... IN ITS DECEMBER 2001 ISSUE, MULTINATIONAL MONITOR, A VERY LIBERAL, progressive left publication related to the Ralph Nader activist group, states the generalization that "the vast majority" of corporations are immoral or amoral, they should be...

Limits on company stock in 401(k)s. (Government).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... YOU'VE HEARD OF PLANTS AND fruits being bioengineered. On Capitol Hill this year, there will be a crop of bills that can be said to be Enron engineered. The first seed to sprout is a bill from two Democrats, Sens. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) and Jon...

The mouse that squeaked--and grew. (Books).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... TWO WHARTON MBA GRADUATES IN 1999 HAD A dream: Manufacture a mouse that looked like a golf driver head but worked just like a PC mouse. The MouseDriver[TM] Chronicles, published by Perseus Publishing, is the narrative of their start-up...

Doing business with an application service provider. What's the right answer for your company? (Cover Story).
March 1, 2002... Companies have spent the past couple of decades learning how to select, purchase, and implement packaged software products. More recently, they have become practiced at crafting the business cases to support significant financial investments in...

Cash balance plans should you consider one or not? (Benefits).(conversion of defined benefit pension plans)
March 1, 2002... Over the last year or two, the conversion Of traditional defined benefit pension plans to cash balance plans has generated substantial, and mostly negative, press coverage. While it was Bank of America that pioneered the cash balance concept in...

Are your products profitable?: How to nurture your portfolios before the seeds of neglect choke the bottom line. (Cost Management).(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... What's the cost/benefit of your company continuing to produce a 20-year-old product that it recently replaced with a newer, less expensive version? That's the question I asked one consumer product manufacturer that had not paid attention to the...

Broadband new speeds, new risks. (Internet).
March 1, 2002... The increase in affordable broadband Internet connections such as cable modems and DSL connections has caught the attention of business people who want to access corporate data systems from home. But significant security risks accompany these...

Showing employees the value of their stock options. (Compensation).(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... IN the wake of the recent downturn in the market, it may appear as if all stock options at many companies are--and will remain--underwater. When the economy takes a nosedive, employees assume the worst about their option plans and almost...

Want to create value?: Exceed what the stock market expects your company will earn. (Financial Management).(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Financial metrics to measure performance, guide decision making, and gauge whether shareholder value is created are being used more today than at any other time in recent corporate history. But of all the fashionable value calculations, the...

The Internet revolution--dot.gone? (Tech Forum).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME CONFUSION. The Internet bubble that recently burst in a dramatic illusion vs. reality reduction was the one gassed up on Wall Street, a place that recently has sprung some serious leaks of its own concerning the...

The Chief Financial Officer in 2010. (World View).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... What will the CFO's role be like in 2010? Ten leading chief financial officers were asked that question in a study commissioned by the Financial and Management Accounting Committee (FMAC) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC)....

Will Enron's exploits bring reform or rhetoric? (Trends).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... * WHAT'S ALL THE FUSS about the failure of Enron Corp.? Few of the reasons for its collapse are unique. Most had already occurred at other companies, which often were investigated, penalized, and regulated to some extent. The reason for...

Punching, crunching, and publishing numbers. (Tools of the Trade).(calculator software)(Brief Article)(Evaluation)
March 1, 2002... The basic calculator that comes with the Palm OS is very handy. It has nine functions including math, trig, finance, logic, statistics, and four kinds of conversion calculators. Sounds like a lot until you look at Infinity Softworks' powerOne...

Two books on numbers. (Tools of the Trade).(The Financial Numbers Game: Detecting Creative Accounting Practices; The Ernst and Young Tax Guide 2002)
March 1, 2002... Wiley's release of the book The Financial Numbers Game: Detecting Creative Accounting Practices by Charles W. Mulford and Eugene E. Comiskey was set for the middle of February 2002. As chance would have it, the release coincided with what might...