Strategic Finance articles from May 2003

Strategic Finance archives from May 2003

Bonus depreciation and state income tax. (Fixed Assets Management).(BNA Fixed Assets software)
May 1, 2003... BNA Software Makes It Easy to Handle Both Federal and State Depreciation Even with New Complications Arising from the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act One of the most noteworthy provisions of the Job Creation and Worker Assistance...

What's missing in our strategic plans? (Strategic Management).
May 1, 2003... This question haunts many executives. At a recent strategy retreat, executive management gathered to review the "first draft" of the strategic plans for the business units and the overall corporate strategic plan. Questions they kept asking:...

Building better rapport with your boss. (Careers).
May 1, 2003... Most companies do their best to select people for management roles who are qualified and effective leaders. At some point in time, however, you may find yourself in a situation where you and a supervisor seem to be at cross-purposes. While in...

SEC chooses William McDonough to head PCAOB. (News).(Public Company Accounting Oversight Board)
May 1, 2003... THE SECURITIES & EXCHANGE COMMISSION LAST MONTH UNANIMOUSLY selected William J. McDonough, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The Board was created last year...

E-Commerce Security. (Street Wise).(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... A new book published by the Information Systems Audit and Control Foundation(r) (ISACF[R]) identifies key security risks and best-practice countermeasures for corporate networks. Titled e-Commerce Security. Securing the Network Perimeter, it...

Refreshing article. (Readers' Input).(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2003... I thoroughly enjoyed David Harrison's article, "Business Valuation Made Simple" [Feb. 2003]. It's quite refreshing to see output (especially from an academician) that is an efficient use of words and does not reach for lofty diction that is...

New evidence of benefits from effective ethics systems. (Ethics).(surveys on existence and prevention of occupational fraud and abuse)
May 1, 2003... TWO NEW FRAUD STUDIES PROVIDE MORE EVIDENCE THAT ORGANIZATIONAL commitment to a code of conduct that stresses open communications and concern for ethical behavior really does pay off. In today's post-Enron focus on effective governance,...

FASB under congressional lens. (Government).(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
May 1, 2003... BOB HERZ, THE FINANCIAL Accounting Standards Board chairman, came up to Capitol Hill on March 4 and faced a notably less friendly atmosphere than preceding chairmen faced when appearing before congressional committees. Congressmen no...

Creating trust in Corporate Reporting. (Books).(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... * IN THE BOOK, BUILDING PUBLIC TRUST: THE Future of Corporate Reporting, Samuel A. DiPiazza, Jr., and Robert G. Eccles offer their recommendations on how to deal with the crises and scandals that have rocked Wall Street. The title is very...

Larry R. White named IMA President-elect. (IMA).(Institute of Management Accountants)(List of committee chairs for 2003)
May 1, 2003... LARRY R. WHITE, CMA, CFM, CPA, CGFM, has been named IMA President-elect, which means he will become IMA President in 200405. Kim R. Wallin, CMA, CFM, CPA, is IMA President for 2003-04. The IMA Board of Directors announced Larry's nomination on...

Intranet budgeting does the trick: the budeting process of a technology laboratory advances from spreadsheets to web-based application. (Strategic Budgeting).(Facilities & Operations (F&O) Business Office of the Battelle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (United States Department of Energy))
May 1, 2003... BUDGETING AND PLANNING is still a laborious procedure at many firms, done with word processing and spreadsheet templates. A word processing file and budget requests on a spreadsheet are attached to an e-mail, which is then filed on a server and...

Washington Mutual finance improves financial planning, cuts costs with SRC. (SRC Software).
May 1, 2003... Washington Mutual Finance Consumer finance giant Washington Mutual Finance Corp. (WMF) got its own financial house in order recently, saving nearly $200,000 and 5,000 staff hours when it changed its financial planning and budgeting...

Check your D&O insurance: make sure you've read the fine print as well as the exclusion clauses so you won't be hit with any surprises. .(directors and officers insurance)(Cover Story)
May 1, 2003... Does it come as a surprise to you that over 40% of all outside directors of Fortune 1,000 companies have been sued in connection with their board service? Does it surprise you that claims against directors of small, closely held corporations...

Financial reporting integrity: IMA members speak out. (Opinion).
May 1, 2003... Survey respondents agree companies need to be responsible for the reliability of their numbers, and the U.S. Congress should stay out of trying to improve the integrity of financial reporting. Given the continuing corporate accounting...

You're out! (Career Skills).(job search, resume and interview planning)
May 1, 2003... Reengineering the workforce, downsizing, corporate restructuring, centralizing functions, permanent layoff--whatever it's called, you are out of there! You lost your job! You're fired! Don't say that word. I didn't do anything wrong. People get...

Tools of the trade.
May 1, 2003... A Classic Refined Hewlett-Packard's HP 12C Financial Calculator was introduced in 1981 and has since become HP's best-selling calculator. The improved platinum edition will be released this month with features such as RPN (Reverse Polish...

Google[TM]--an index for the world. (Tech Forum).(Internet search engine)
May 1, 2003... * WHEN YOU STOP FOR A SECOND and consider what the Google search engine does with each request, it's hard not to be amazed. That it's free is astounding. Googling Type in a word or phrase, Moore's Law, for example, and watch the...

Does it make sense to pay dividends? (Trends in Financial Management).
May 1, 2003... * THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S proposal to eliminate taxation of dividends for investors has rekindled the long-standing debate over dividend policy. Dividends could decrease the volatility of your company's stock and help put a floor on its...

Electronic access to cost/managerial accounting journals. (Education).
May 1, 2003... HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU WISHED YOU HAD a list of accounting journals handy that you could search for useful articles on cost/managerial topics? And if you could access them electronically, it would be even better. We knew we weren't alone...

A Mozart with numbers. (End Note).(Carl Friedrich)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... It's encouraging when the occasional genius shows up in our midst, but not nearly as fascinating as the child prodigy. A prodigy is much more of a mystery and a surprise. Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) early on displayed an innate...