Strategic Finance articles from October 2005

Strategic Finance archives from October 2005

How Intel finance uses business partnerships to supercharge results.
October 1, 2005... The roles of the finance and accounting functions have changed over the past few years. In place of the traditional scorekeepers and tabulators, both accounting and finance personnel now find themselves operating in cross-functional teams...

New tires for my old Jeep: why I finally decided to get my CMA and CFM.(Certified Management Accountant and Certified Financial Manager)(Column)
October 1, 2005... Three years ago--at age 50--I sat for and passed the CMA and CFM exams after a long career as a university professor. I had earned a CPA 25 years earlier, which I still keep active, and wondered what value the Certified Management Accountant...

Training programs that get results.(in accounting and finance)
October 1, 2005... Having employees with just the right skills at just the right time is critical to the success of your accounting operation. A new database application or enterprise resource planning system, for example, is of minimal use if no one on your...

Top 5 SOX best practices for small companies.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
October 1, 2005... WHILE most large and medium-sized companies have finished their first round of compliance, smaller businesses are still working on the provisions of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). I have been helping clients with SOX...

Sudoku.(number puzzle)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... With a name like Sudoku, which is Japanese for "single number," you might think it was another ancient game like Go or Shogi that has been reprised for Westerners. But actually it's modern and has its roots in the pages of an American...

How to measure and improve the value of IT: a balanced scorecard geared toward information technology issues can help you start the process.(Performance Measurement)
October 1, 2005... Senior corporate and financial managers have often been frustrated when submitting budget requests for new information technology projects. Though the executives would complete standard return on investment (ROI) calculations and rigorous...

To blow the whistle or not is a tough decision!(whistle blowing )
October 1, 2005... Whistleblowers continue to be in the news, but their stories don't always end with favorable consequences. According to an August 1, 2005, USA Today article, only two of the hundreds of whistleblowers who thought they were protected by the...

Why ships are built.(executives management)
October 1, 2005... Taking Oscar to pre-school used to be an ordeal. He'd grip the seatbelt buckle until his mother Pamela pulled him from the car seat, then drag his feet to the classroom door. And when Pamela turned to leave, he'd cling to her leg, wailing,...

IMA moves to become more international.(Institute of Management Accountants)
October 1, 2005... In June 2004, IMA received a great influx of international members who were interested in using the old format of our examination in their quest to become Certified Management Accountants (CMAs). We received more than 10,000 applications for...

Are your business travel expenses under control?(spend management strategies)
October 1, 2005... Even though business travel costs continue to rise and more companies put in place additional controls to prevent fraud and abuse and to comply with regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), management is under increased pressure to cut...

Recognize employee efforts.(employee performance appraisal)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... * Ajilon Office, which is part of the human resource services company Adecco, offers a few ideas on how to recognize your employees for doing a good job. Apparently, 79% of those who leave their jobs do so because they don't feel appreciated....

Clarification.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)(Correction Notice)
October 1, 2005... The September 2005 issue bears a small, but important, omission for which I, the author of "Measure Twice, Cut Once: Creating and Measuring Value in Private Firms," take full responsibility. Early in the editing process a word was removed that...

Taking issue.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... I take issue with the August 2005 article by Alfred King, "Suzie's Sweater: The New Paradigm in Accounting." First, Mr. King overlooked an important fact. In its project to develop a comprehensive standard for revenue recognition, the FASB...

PCAOB's new standard on material weaknesses.(Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, auditing standard )
October 1, 2005... Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley continues to be a lightning rod. The latest example is the new auditing standard issued by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) for use when an auditor goes back and checks to see whether a company...

Marketing to your employees.
October 1, 2005... The basic premise behind internal marketing is that if your employees love the product or service that your company sells, then your customers will love it, too. Seems simple, right? Sure, if you've already reached that point. If you haven't,...

Different feedback.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... I think the conversation in the August 2005 Best Practices, p. 8, should have been a little different. It went, "The boss finally talks to Jo: 'I need to give you a little feedback. A couple of the senior managers aren't pleased with the work...

Taxes.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... I always enjoy reading [Anthony Curatola's] tax articles in Strategic Finance and found the September one on the FSA changes particularly timely. One minor clarification I would like to add, however, is that, at the bottom of p. 16, [he] closed...

Lottery proceeds: ordinary or capital gains?(taxes)
October 1, 2005... In the last few years, lottery-winning taxpayers have attempted to turn ordinary income into capital gain. The reason is obvious: Lottery winners will be in the highest tax bracket, and long-term capital gains are taxed at a maximum of 15%....

Small and powerful.(Apple Mac mini, Fujifilm Digital Mobile MP-70 printer and Sony Giga Vault RH-K40U2 disk drive)(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 1, 2005... Small and Powerful The products we're looking at this month are small and deceptively nondescript. But each, in its own way, is out on the leading edge of its own sector. The Mac mini from Apple looks like a pencil box (2" tall x 6.5"...

Just what you need, and nothing you don't.(37Signals)
October 1, 2005... * AS YOU PEEL THE SHRINK-WRAP OFF THE BOX, you have an ominous feeling. After loading v12.6 of Turbo Analysis Pro on your computer, your suspicions are confirmed. There's a new menu frame that runs down the entire right-hand side of the screen...

Shuttering tax shelters.(KPMG Consulting Inc.)
October 1, 2005... KPMG has avoided the fate of Arthur Andersen by admitting to criminal tax fraud over the long-simmering issue of "abusive" tax shelters and settling with the U.S. Department of Justice in August. The government will defer prosecution and...

Making data the center of your information system.
October 1, 2005... Suppose you were called into the CEO's office, and she said to you, "Don't give me any excuses about your silly accounting closing schedules and your system incompatibilities with our legacy systems and consolidation problems with our newest...