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

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

Happy new year. (From the Editor).
January 1, 2003... TWO GOOD THINGS CAN BE SAID ABOUT LAST YEAR. First, it's over. Second, the proliferation of scandals forced us all to focus on what is wrong in corporate finance today. True, the hangovers from the boom persist, but at this point we are really...

Balance is everything. (Letters to the Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... BRAVO TO YOU for your courageous "A Fresh Perspective" (From the Editor, November 2002). I work at my career 50 hours per week, then another 10 hours as a Cub Scout leader. Having previously worked for a company that expected me to work until 8...

About disclosure. (Letters to the Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... I JUST FINISHED READING "Align the Books?" (November 2002) and wondered why so little mention was given to the impact of purchase accounting in stock acquisitions. In a stock acquisition in which the buyer pays a significant premium, the...

Successful board reform. (Letters to the Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... THE ARTICLE "BOARD GAMES" (November 2002) provided a good update on how corporate board reform may or may not prevent future debacles like Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and the like. I am always amazed, though, that CFOs, boards, or CEOs don't insist...

Help! (Newswatch).(Securities and Exchange Commission needs to hire more staff to handle growing workload)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking for a few goad men and women to help with an onslaught of work at the anemic regulatory agency. Yet help is slow in coming. And if President Bush gets his wish, it won't get as much as it...

Analyze this... please. (Equity Research).(small cap stocks lose research coverage from consolidating banking industry )
January 1, 2003... RECEIVED WISDOM TELLS us that the separation of investment banking and equity research will hit small-cap stocks the hardest. Wall Street banks will no longer bother to research these firms, now that the implicit link between positive research...

In search of skeletons. (Careers).(recruiters perform background checks on potential chief financial officers, chief executive officers )
January 1, 2003... HOW NERVOUS IS Corporate America these days? Ask Gordon Grand, who leads the financial officers practice at New York-based executive recruiter Russell Reynolds Associates Inc. For the first time in his career, he says, he's fielding lots of...

Putting the squeeze on retirees. (Retiree Benefits).(more companies are reducing other post-employment benefits )
January 1, 2003... With the economy stalled and prospects for a quick recovery dim, employers have little patience for double-digit growth in retiree health-care expenses. Increasingly, cost-conscious managers are cutting so-called other post-employment benefits...

Shanghai surprises. (International Deals).(Huayi Group becomes first Chinese state-owned company to buy controlling interest in U.S. based company with acquisition of Moltech Power Systems Inc. )
January 1, 2003... A SMALL PIECE OF HISTORY was made in New York City this past fall. On October 21, the Huayi Group, a Shanghai-based conglomerate, inked a deal to buy tiny Moltech Power Systems Inc., of Gainesville, Fla., marking the first time a Chinese...

Where credit is due. (Child-Care Benefits).(report finds that few companies offering child-care benefits take advantage of tax credits)
January 1, 2003... Some companies that "do good" aren't doing as well as they could by their actions. Specifically, few of the companies that offer child-care benefits take advantage of tax credits offered by 24 states. The credits permit employers to offset part...

Protecting against violence. (Insurance).
January 1, 2003... THE FIGURES ARE GRIM. Each workday, approximately 16,400 threats are made on the job, 723 workers are attacked, and 43,800 are harassed, according to the Workplace Violence Research Institute. More than 1,000 workplace homicides are committed...

The added cost of corruption. (Risk Management).
January 1, 2003... Increased political instability around the globe has made doing business overseas a thorny proposition. Yet it's another threat that could be more destructive to international commerce: bribery. A recent survey conducted by Control Risks...

The light stuff: with tablet computing, Microsoft hopes to write a new chapter in PC history. (Techwatch).
January 1, 2003... CAN THE CONSIDERABLE MARKETING MUSCLE 01 Microsoft Corp. make of the old something new? "Tablet" PCs have been around for years, as anyone who has ever signed for a UPS package knows. But Microsoft believes that its new operating system--and a...

Tag time? (Supply Chain).
January 1, 2003... Motorists use them to cruise through highway tollbooths, marathon runners rely on them to accurately monitor race times, and they can even help reunite a lost pet with its owner. Now radio frequency identification (RFID) tags may revolutionize...

Things you should know about transforming business performance.
January 1, 2003... The number-one challenge facing executives today is how to predict and drive performance with confidence. And as market and regulatory pressures increase, so does the pressure on you. That's leading many executives to evaluate the potential...

A matter of trust: A look at the deals of 2002 suggests that regulators are listening to acquirers. (New Deals).
January 1, 2003... AS TWO STRAIGHT YEARS of dramatically lower deal-making threaten to stretch into three, silver linings are in short supply. Megadeals all but evaporated in 2002, with only 1 transaction topping $10 billion, compared with 8 the prioryear. And 4...

The power of balance: why Nasdaq is leaning toward even-smaller companies these days. (Spotlight: Capital Markets).
January 1, 2003... From building a flashy headquarters in Manhattan to trying to extend its reach across Canada, Europe, and Japan, Nasdaq has spent the past few years trying to position itself as a worthy competitor to the New York Stock Exchange for blue-chip...

Credit watch; S&P's Leo O'Neill to SEC: we are not the watchdogs. (Cover Story).(Cover Story)
January 1, 2003... ATER THIS MONTH, the Securities and Exchange Commission-courtesy of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002-will issue a report on the state of credit-rating agencies. The subject of two days of congressional hearings in November, the SEC's report will...

What's wrong with this picture? Polaroid's passage through Chapter 11 exposes how bankruptcy can give debtors too much power.
January 1, 2003... Ever since Polaroid Corp. slipped ignominiously under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2001, it has been portrayed as a textbook case of how bankruptcy proceedings can help a failing company emerge with a promising future. True,...

Incentive confrontation: A bitter dispute over bonuses highlights the hazards of incentive pay.
January 1, 2003... ONE DAY IN NOVEMBER 2001, Corey White showed up for work wearing a sweater. That wasn't unusual, as autumn had turned cooler in Atlanta--home to Idea Integration Corp., the E-business consulting unit of MPS Group Inc. and White's employer. But...

Managing corporate travel expenses online: A message from Worldspan. (Advertisement).
January 1, 2003... IT'S NO SECRET THAT CORPORATE TRAVEL EXPENSES ARE UNDER INTENSE SCRUTINY. But unlike past economic downturns, senior managers realize that grounding employees isn't the answer. They are looking for ways to travel smarter and save money....

Lost in space: excess real estate is a growing financial burden. But some companies are creatively filling their vacancies. (Special Report: Real Estate).
January 1, 2003... INKTOMI'S EYES were bigger than its stomach. Like other presumptuous technology companies in the Bay Area, Inktomi Corp. binged on real estate in the late 1990s, signing a 15-year lease on a nearly 400,000-square-foot office complex, a $300...

Funding fun house: critics say current accounting lets companies distort the picture they present of pension plan performance. (Pensions).
January 1, 2003... THE NEWS THAT MANY CORPORATE pension plans are in trouble, at least on paper, comes as no surprise. After three years of declining stock markets, many large plans cannot help but find themselves under-funded. That such shortfalls have appeared...

After Anderson: surviving the demise. (Your Move).(Arthur Andersn LLP)
January 1, 2003... ONLY A YEAR AGO, Arthur Andersen LLP still looked like it had a chance. Despite threats by the Department of Justice and rumors that major audit clients like Delta Air Lines and News Corp. were jumping ship, the venerable 89-year-old firm...

Raytheon Co. (CFOs on the Move).(Frank Caine resigns)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Raytheon Co. CFO Frank Caine resigns after censure by the SEC for alleged violations of Regulation Fair Disclosure.

Dynegy Inc. (CFOs on the Move).(appointed Nick Caruso CFO)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Nick Caruso, former CFO of Shell Oil Co., joins Dynegy Inc. as CFO.

Sunbeam Corp. (CFOs on the Move).(Ralph Passino appointed CFO)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Sunbeam Corp. appoints Ralph Passino to the CFO spot, succeeding Bobby Jenkins.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (CFOs on the Move).(Mark Buthman appointed CFO)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Mark Buthman is named CFO of Kimberly-Clark Corp.

Instinet Group Inc. (CFOs on the Move).(appoints John Fay CFO)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Electronic-brokerage Instinet Group Inc. names John Fay as CFO.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (CFOs on the Move).(former CFO Frederick Schiff now CFO of Vital Signs Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Frederick Schiff, former CFO of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., is now CFO of Vital Signs Inc.

FleetBoston Financial Corp. (CFOs on the Move).(Robert Lamb Jr. appointed CFO)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... FleetBoston Financial Corp. appoints Robert Lamb Jr. as CFO.

Sea sick. (Grapevine).(bad luck causes Carnival Corp.'s stock to fall)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Using price incentives and increasing the number of "drive-up" ports of call, Carnival Corp., and most of the cruise industry, sailed smoothly through rough economic waters after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But no savvy financial planning by...

Really board. (Grapevine).
January 1, 2003... JEROME B. YORK, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Micro Warehouse and former longtime CFO of IBM Corp. and Chrysler Corp., is bucking the recent trend of senior executives backing politely away from outside board obligations....

Hyperion Solutions. (Newswatch).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... CASH-FLOW STATEMENTS are included in quarterly earnings releases by mere 34% of the Fortune 50, says Hyperion Solutions.

Principal Financial Group. (Newswatch).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... THE AVERAGE RETIREMENT AGE is 65 in the U.S., 62 in Japan, 59 in Brazil, and 55 in Hong Kong, says Principal Financial Group.

Sarbanes-Oxley. (Newswatch).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS now require a 30-day notice to participants before any blackout period, as a result of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Hewitt survey. (Newswatch).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... HAPPY NEW YEAR? A Hewitt survey finds that 67% of companies will not offer any type of holiday bonus this year.