Strategic Finance articles from March 2005

Strategic Finance archives from March 2005

Rebuilding your workforce.(Careers)
March 1, 2005... As business conditions improve, many managers find themselves rebuilding their accounting teams. To meet accelerating customer demand, they are devoting greater attention to hiring personnel and motivating existing staff. Before taking action,...

Candidate performance on the 2002 CMA exam.(Certification)(Certified Management Accountants)
March 1, 2005... In the November 2002 issue we reported the CMA exam pass rates by educational institution through September 2001. This column updates those results through December 2002. In the November 2002 report, pass rates were calculated for schools...

Self-interest vs. concern for others: what's the impact on management accountants' ethical decisions?(Annual conference topic: ethics)
March 1, 2005... Accounting cover-ups, fraud, and downright illegal practices keep grabbing the headlines. Much of the negative attention focused on the accounting profession has centered on evidence that some auditors and accountants have been willing to...

Spring cleaning.(personal computer management)
March 1, 2005... Now that the westerlies are more likely to be carrying showers than snowstorms, it's time, once again, for the annual spring cleaning--of your PC. If all winter long you've been right-click/saving your way to chaos on your PC, it's time to wash...

Implementing successful e-commerce initiatives: it's time to reexamine your investment and figure out how to make it more profitable.
March 1, 2005... E-COMMERCE can be one of the most important value-creating activities a business can pursue. The key is in its implementation. Unfortunately, during the early days of the dot-com hype, many companies made large investments in this new way of...

Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 implementation needs modification.(Ethics)
March 1, 2005... It was bound to happen. A law as far-reaching and complicated as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was bound to contain unintended glitches when put into practice. SOX contains 11 titles and 69 sections, and each of them is crammed with...

Welcome to the high wire.(Best Practices)(leadership is like walking on tight rope)(Column)
March 1, 2005... Ah, the circus. The greatest show on earth. Fun for ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages. And a great source for metaphors to describe management. Naturally, there's the juggler: imposing order in chaos, keeping any number of...

Preventing computer fraud: enemies from without and within are constantly looking for ways to break into vulnerable computer systems. All it takes is one successful attack to bring down an entire system.(Risk Management)
March 1, 2005... COMPUTER FRAUD IS A BOOMING BUSINESS. Only a small percentage of computer criminals are ever apprehended, and even when they are caught, the courts tend to treat them leniently. Maybe that's why there are so many hackers and crackers out there...

The business case: health and productivity programs.(HR Management)
March 1, 2005... AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH A POUND OF CURE is certainly true when a company invests in a health and productivity (H&P) program. After all, $1,500 a year to manage high cholesterol is a small investment compared to the cost of surgery for a...

The tone at the top and ethical conduct connection.(corporate ethics and accounting)
March 1, 2005... No company aspires to become the next poster firm for its lack of ethics. Although much debate has swirled around the topic of corporate ethics, few studies have focused on how the tone at the top can pressure accountants to materially alter...

Building a professional community.(Perspectives: message from the Chair)(accountants)
March 1, 2005... Some of IMA's most committed members are the volunteers who serve as board members of chapters in the United States and internationally. They accept leadership positions for a variety of reasons and labor to the extent their time and ability...

Choice of business entity after JGTRRA and AJCA, Part 1.(Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003)(American Jobs Creation Act of 2004)
March 1, 2005... The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA) and the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (AJCA) made substantial changes in tax rates affecting the choice of entity decision--between a regular corporation and a flow-through...

Reading, presenting, scrolling, and dubbing.(tools of the trade)(briefs)
March 1, 2005... The eBookwise 1150 is an electronic book reader that's about the size of a large paperback (5 x 7.5 x 1.5 in.). The screen is a brightly back-lit 5 1/2-in. diagonal LCD touch screen with half-VGA resolution. The back of the reader is sculpted...

The e-Book--an update.(Tech Forum)
March 1, 2005... * The first e-book I remember using was something called the Glassbook Reader. It was software from Adobe, and it displayed text in a one- or two-page image that looked just like the page(s) of a print book. The problem was the "book" sat on...

A silver lining of SOX: could the burdens of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) possibly lead to anything worthwhile beyond lawfulness and investor credibility? Yes, in a big way, says a new report from KPMG LLP.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
March 1, 2005... Evaluating the effectiveness of financial controls to comply with Section 404 of SOX creates a huge pool of data that can be parlayed into value, according to "The Compliance Journey," released last month by KPMG's Audit and Risk Advisory...