CFO, The Magazine for Senior Financial Executives articles from August 2003

CFO, The Magazine for Senior Financial Executives archives from August 2003

Executive education buyer's guide. (Back-To-School Special).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... While many CFOs already hold MBAs, a growing number of finance executives are enrolling in executive education programs. The usual goals: to round out skill sets, bone up on specific subjects, or expand career horizons. In this Buyer's Guide,...

Booby trap in aisle eight. (Accounting).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Vendors have long cut deals with retailers to help meet sales targets or gain prime shelf space. But the scandal at Dutch grocery giant Ahold has raised questions about accounting for vendor allowances. Indeed, SEC inquiries into the practice,...

Days of future past. (from the editor).
August 1, 2003... THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002 WAS PASSED IN AN EFFORT to reform corporate financial reporting and restore confidence in the U.S. capital markets. Now, one year later, Congress has proposed a bill that undercuts the intent of the legislation....

Easy does it with ERM. (letters to the editor).(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2003... YOUR SPECIAL REPORT ON ERM ("Fear Factor," June) states that many companies have found enterprise risk management to be useful in theory hut tedious in practice. From our client experience, this is not usually true. ERM, when integrated into a...

Big four reality. (letters to the editor).(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2003... IN "PICKING UP PIECES" (Newswatch, June), you say that Grant Thornton "bought parts of Andersen's practice in Florida and the Carolinas." Completely true, but not truly complete. The reality is that Grant Thornton acquired four Andersen...

Not exceptionally helpful. (letters to the editor).(Education of accountants; exceptions are taught)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... AFTER BEING A CPA FOR SEVERAL years, I decided to get my Masters of Accounting and Financial Management. "You Are the Guardians" (May) reminded me of a conversation I had with the professor of an advanced accounting class. I noticed that...

The right tools. (letters to the editor).
August 1, 2003... WITH RESPECT TO YOUR "BUYER'S Guide: 40l(k) Providers" (April), it is not yet certain that the U.S. Congress will approve legislative reforms allowing 401(k) providers to give advice about specific investments. It is in the best interest of the...

You get what you pay for. (letters to the editor).
August 1, 2003... I AM ALWAYS SUSPICIOUS OF ANY INCREDIBLE variances from the norm ("The Big Squeeze," February). Companies that keep costs low are to be applauded. But when costs are ridiculously low in comparison to their counterparts, I wonder how and why....

Teacher's aide. (letters to the editor).
August 1, 2003... YOUR PUBLICATION IS A POWERFUL instructional resource for business educators at the secondary and collegiate levels. I use CFO to illustrate and reinforce crucial business concepts in my Free Enterprise and Introduction to Business classes. To...

Seeing is relieving. (Anticorruption).(ANTICORRUPTION ACTIVISTS are urging oil companies and other extractive industries to come clean on their payments to governments in developing nations)
August 1, 2003... ANTICORRUPTION ACTIVISTS are urging oil companies and other extractive industries to come clean on their payments to governments in developing nations. [paragraph] Groups like Global Witness and Catholic Relief Services are calling for...

Over site. (newswatch).(Effective June 30, all insider transactions were required to be filed electronically with SEC and posted on company Websites)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... As of June 30, all insider transactions were required to be filed electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission and posted on company Websites. Yet on July 1, dozens of companies had failed to comply. According to a survey of...

Signature move. (Tax).
August 1, 2003... "IT IS THE SENSE of the Senate," reads a little-noticed section of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, "that the Federal income tax return of a corporation should be signed by the chief executive officer." Tax experts, who breathed a collective...

Back in the public eye. (Equity).
August 1, 2003... Don't call it a comeback, but the market for initial public offerings is parking up. In the first six months of 2003, there were just 8 lonely IPOs, compared with 238 during that period in 2000. But signs that the drought is over are evident....

Branding your stock. (Investor Relations).(Investor-relations pros use techniques from the advertising world)
August 1, 2003... AS MORE AND MORE investors begin to wade back into the equity markets, some investor-relations pros are trying to get their attention using techniques from the advertising world, ranging from intensive focus-group research to direct-mail...

Truth and consequences. (Scandal Update).(MCI WorldCom reached settlement with SEC to pay $750 million in penalties )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... On the heels of two critical reports on the nature of the $11 billion accounting fraud perpetrated at WorldCom Inc., the company, which now calls itself MCI, reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to pay $750 million...

Renewed interest in checking. (Banking).
August 1, 2003... THE NOTION OF BANKS paying interest on corporate checking accounts hardly seems revolutionary. Yet since the 1930s, when Congress passed the Glaas-Steagall Act and other rifles designed to separate the banking and securities industries, banks...

Insurers vow to fight securities suits. (D&O Insurance).
August 1, 2003... After years of soaring prices for directors' and officers' (D&O) insurance, insurers are hoping to provide cheaper coverage by pursuing what they see as the main culprit of higher costs: shareholder litigation. Earlier this year, Chubb,...

The urge to merge: as software companies fight it out, must customers pay the price? (techwatch).
August 1, 2003... JIM PREVO, chief information officer at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in Waterbury, Vt., understands why, early in the last century, the ranks of automobile makers narrowed from more than 100 to just a handful. Yet, as a similarly momentous...

A taxing dispute: the WTO ban on a U.S. export subsidy has pushed companies and congress into a battle over tax bills. (Spotlight: tax).
August 1, 2003... LAST SUMMER, CORPORATE AMERICA STOOD united before Congress to plead for the preservation of some $5 billion in export-tax benefits. Those benefits have been associated with the foreign sales corporation/extraterritorial income (FSC/ETI)...

Who rules accounting? Congress muscles in on FASB--again. (Cover Story).
August 1, 2003... Dennis Beresford is having flashbacks these days, and they are anything but pleasant. Congress is once again trying to derail the Financial Accounting Standards Board's efforts to require companies to expense stock options. And for the former...

Media critic: veteran deal maker Leo Hindery says it's time to rethink the consolidation of the media and telecom industries. (A CFO Interview).(Interview)
August 1, 2003... AS A KEY FINANCE AND OPERATING executive in the telecommunications and media industries, Leo Hindery Jr. has worked for some of the most prominent CEOs in the country, including John Malone and Michael Armstrong. In fact, Hindery is as...

Casting for returns: to juice up their sagging portfolios, pension fund managers are seeking alternative investments. (Special report: pensions).
August 1, 2003... LAST YEAR, BILL EINHORN FINALLY HAD ENOUGH. WITH 2009 drawing to a close, the $1.1 billion pension fund that Einhorn administers for the Teamsters union in Philadelphia was set to post its third straight year of lackluster investment...

Heal thyself: consumer-directed health care is hot. But is it a danger to the medical-insurance system? (health care).
August 1, 2003... QUICKER THAN YOU CAN SAY "MANAGED care is dead," controversial new programs called consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) are catching on--cutting employer costs while transferring to employees more responsibility for purchasing their own...

Under one roof: rather than invest in technology, more firms are outsourcing HR--sometimes with one provider. (benefits).
August 1, 2003... WHEN HUGHES ELECTRONICS CORP. BEGAN to outsource various human-resources functions several years ago, the goal was "cost avoidance, rather than a reduction in current costs," says Sandra L. Harrison, senior vice president for HR and...

Roads less traveled. (Nontraditional CFOs).
August 1, 2003... THREE YEARS AGO, MORNINGSTAR FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN, AND CEO Joe Mansueto and human-resources head Martha Dustin Boudos spent five long months interviewing external candidates to fill the CFO slot at the Chicago-based investment-research products...

Bo knows finance. (grapevine).
August 1, 2003... EVERYONE NEEDS their CFO. That's the gist of a quirky Southwest Airlines radio ad, featuring "Bo the CFO," who rushes to the aid of clueless employees around the country (using Southwest's affordable, last-minute fares, of course). Bo hops...

Getting carded. (grapevine).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... The latest sign that you've made it into the annals of dubious achievement? Getting your very own suit and rank in a deck of playing cards. That distinction is no longer just for Iraqi fugitives. The Stacked Deck LLC (www.thestacked...

Honeywell International Inc. (CFOs On The Move).(hires David J. Anderson as CFO)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... David J. Anderson has joined Honeywell International Inc. as CFO. The former CFO of ITT Industries Inc. succeeds Richard Wallman, who is retiring. Edward W. Williams has been promoted from corporate controller to fill the vacant CFO spot at...

Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (CFOs On The Move).(hires J. Patrick Robinson as CFO)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Newell Rubbermaid Inc. has tapped J. Patrick Robinson to fill the CFO role that will be left open by the retirement of William T. Alldredge at the end of the year.

Exult Inc. (CFOs On The Move).(names John Adams as CFO)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Human-resources-solutions provider Exult Inc. has named John Adams CFO. He was formerly CFO of AT&T's business-services division For more CFOs on the Move, visit www.cfo.com.