CFO, The Magazine for Senior Financial Executives articles from June 2006

CFO, The Magazine for Senior Financial Executives archives from June 2006

Confederacy of dunces?(Federal Financial Literacy Education Campaign)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Do your company's shareholders understand its financial statements? And if not, whose fault is that? Congress is increasingly worried about the American public's basic grasp of all things financial. Some 20 agencies now participate in the...

Why XY?(from the editor)
June 1, 2006... IN 18th CENTURY LONDON, women ran their own businesses-that is, until the defeated British Army returned from its former colony, whereupon the women were summarily fired. After World War II, Rosie the Riveter patriotically abandoned her welder...

In defense of "Activism".(letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2006... Your article "The Spitzer Backlash" (March) was interesting, well written, and very informative. It is well to note the reaction of business leaders to the activist attorneys general. Instead of trying to "clean up their act" and operate...

The drag of Sarbox.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2006... I think Sarbanes-Oxley is a far bigger drag on U.S. industry than your article suggests ("A Tough Act to Follow" March). Our company develops software for engineering applications. Some of our customers are large, publicly traded...

More thoughts on immigrant workers.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2006... Relative to your article "Help Wanted" (March), it would be interesting to know if Ingersoll-Rand and its fellow heavy industrial manufacturers sponsor trade-education programs for U.S. citizens in order to create a skilled workforce for these...

What is corporate America doing.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2006... WHAT IS CORPORATE AMERICA DOING to prepare the next generation of welders and nurses? Tomorrow's labor pool is right here inside our borders--in our high schools. However, most high school students have no guidance on their future and are...

Training days.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2006... Your article "What's Wrong with Finance Training" (CFO's Human Capital Special Issue, February) rightfully stresses an absolute need for training in all areas of the finance department and beyond. The absence of attention or proper training in...

History Lesson.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2006... If only our egocentric representatives in Washington, D.C., had a sense of history ("America for Sale," Topline, February). Americans did not own more than 50 percent of U.S. assets until after the Civil War. British interests were the...

Safe haven.(letters)
June 1, 2006... I enjoyed your article "CFO Confidential" (Your Move, January). I'm sure the article, which focused on where finance chiefs go for advice, will strike a chord with a lot of CFOs. I thought you might be interested in knowing of one approach that...

Guidance lite.(INVESTOR RELATIONS)
June 1, 2006... IN THE HOPE OF ENDING THE QUARTERLY beat-the-estimates game, more companies are doing away with quarterly earnings forecasts in favor of annual targets. According to a survey conducted in March by the National Investor Relations Institute...

Passing on India?(OUTSOURCING)
June 1, 2006... RISING WAGES IN INDIA ARE EATING into some of the cost advantages of sending work to the popular outsourcing destination. Wages have increased roughly 11 percent in each of the past three years with little sign of abating, says Michael...

Marriages of necessity.(NONPROFITS)
June 1, 2006... NONPROFITS CONTINUE to take pages from the for-profit playbook. The latest business practice to make the transition to the nonprofit world: the merger. Thanks to a spate of new nonprofits and insufficient funding to match that growth,...

Verbatim.
June 1, 2006... "If you think 404 does nothing for fraud, you're doing it wrong." --SCOTT TAUB, CHIEF ACCOUNTANT, SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

An LBO twist.(FINANCING)
June 1, 2006... WITH A NEW SPIN On the typical leveraged-buyout formula, the private-equity buyers of Dunkin' Brands, the company behind Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin-Robbins, and Togo's sandwich shops, are financing the deal almost entirely with securitized...

The small fry.(Internal Revenue Service)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... IS THE IRS UNFAIRLY picking on the little guy? One member of Congress thinks so. During a hearing of the House Small Business Committee in April, chairman Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.) accused the IRS of unfairly targeting small companies with...

Four eyes are better.(reporting structure)
June 1, 2006... COULD A DIFFERENT reporting structure have prevented the WorldCom fraud? Harry Volande thinks so. The Siemens Energy & Automation CFO reports to the board of directors, rather than to the CEO. He says the structure, which Siemens refers to...

Section 404: where the weaknesses are.(audit analytics)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... COMPANIES ARE STILL struggling with Section 404. In the second year of compliance with Sarbox's internal-controls reporting requirement, nearly 10 percent of corporate filers are expected to report an adverse opinion, according to research firm...

Wal-mart savings and loan?(own bank)
June 1, 2006... WAL-MART'S PROPOSAL to run its own bank has rekindled a debate over the separation of banking and commerce. When the retail giant applied to run a state-chartered industrial loan corporation in Utah, community banks and consumer groups...

Fewer vacancies.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... THE U.S. OFFICE MARKET continued to tighten in the first quarter of 2006. The national vacancy rate declined for the eighth straight quarter, to 14.3 percent, from 14.6 percent in the prior period. "We're in the middle of a classic recovery...

Test your contractor IQ.(FedEx Corp.)
June 1, 2006... FEDEX IS CURRENTLY facing a class-action lawsuit by drivers who say that while they are paid (and taxed) as contractors, they really function as employees. They are demanding the rights and benefits of regular employees. So far, one...

Look who's talking.(Securities and Exchange Commission)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... THE SECURITIES AND Exchange Commission would do well to practice what it preaches. A report issued in April by the Government Accountability Office found that the SEC, which has forced companies to follow strict new standards on internal...

Alternative budgeting: companies are still looking for better ways to set performance targets.(by the numbers)
June 1, 2006... YOU DON'T NEED A SURVEY TO TELL YOU that finance executives hate budgeting. What the numbers do show is just how much: respondents to recent polls by CFO Research Services say conventional budgeting is contentious and political (45 percent),...

Suspicious minds: can managers build their dreams without the trust of their employees?(insight)
June 1, 2006... AMERICA'S TRUST IN ITS LEADERS is at a low ebb. Fewer than half of those surveyed in recent polls characterized President Bush as trustworthy, while Congress fared no better. The Catholic Church continues to reel from its clergy abuse scandals....

Trash talk: new regulations could make E-waste disposal hazardous to corporate pocketbooks.(electronic waste)
June 1, 2006... BY THE TIME YOUR COMPANY'S COMPUTERS are ready for the scrap heap, they aren't just worthless, they're liabilities. Businesses spend about $30 to retire an out-of-date PC, according to figures compiled by technology research firm Gartner. Add...

Two-way tools: companies are issuing a new breed of security that blends debt and equity. But investor demand for such hybrids may not be as great as banks hope.
June 1, 2006... HYBRID SECURITIES, SUCH as convertible bonds and preferred stock, have been in the financial manager's toolkit for decades. They blend elements of equity and debt and can be treated as either one, thereby limiting the amount by which earnings...

Portland General Electric's Jim Piro.(Interview)
June 1, 2006... JIM PIRO IS AN ENRON SURVIVOR. As CFO of Portland General Electric, he helped steer the 116-year-old utility--purchased by Enron in 1997 for $3 billion--through the massive scandal at its parent company. To do that, Piro, 53, had to reassure...

What women want.(Lynn Calpeter of General Electric Co.)
June 1, 2006... LYNN CALPETER HAD TO CHOOSE. At 34, a veteran of General Electric's elite Financial Management Program (FMP), she was offered a shot at the brass ring: the CFO slot at GE's plastics division in Europe, a seat Keith Sherin had occupied before...

Innocents abroad: the pleasures and perils of taking a local business global.(China)
June 1, 2006... NEARLY 35 YEARS AFTER CHINA reestablished trade with the United States, launching a foreign subsidiary there remains difficult--especially for a smaller company. Managers must come up with a business plan, translate it into Mandarin, then...

Inside the chamber: under Thomas Donohue, the U.S. chamber of commerce has become a probusiness powerhouse. Not everyone is celebrating.
June 1, 2006... ROM HIS OFFICE ON THE FOURTH FLOOR of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce building in Washington, D.C., Thomas Donohue commands a grand view of Lafayette Park, abloom with flowers, and, beyond that, glimmering in the sun, the White House. On his desk,...

Park anywhere: thirteen gizmos that will keep harried executives cool, calm, and connected.(Joseph Muscari, Alcoa Inc. )
June 1, 2006... Like many executives, Joseph Muscari spends a considerable amount of time on the road--the CFO of Alcoa Inc. made nine trips to China alone last year. And in true road-warrior fashion, he does not travel light when it comes to electronics....

This time it's personal: retirement planning isn't easy, which is why so many executives put it off.(your money)
June 1, 2006... THIS YEAR, DEMOGRAPHERS tell us, the massive wave of baby-boomer retirements will begin, and the impact will be felt on everything from corporate-succession planning to condo sales. One likely ripple effect will be a mad rush to the offices of...

Making finance tick: why the right executive assistant makes all the difference.(Ed Cordell of Gravograph Inc.)
June 1, 2006... ED CORDELL WAS IN A tight spot. As CFO of Gravograph Inc., he was telling his board about the company's quest to capture 8 percent of U.S. sales for its engraving equipment. But the members were not happy. "We had signed a $3 million...

El Paso Corp.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... El Paso Corp. has named Dane Whitehead as CFO of El Paso Exploration Production.

Magma Design Automation.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... Magma Design Automation has named Pete Teshima as its new finance chief.

Rackable Systems.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... Todd Ford has been promoted to president of Rackable Systems. Madhu Ranganathan will succeed him as CFO.

Core-Mark Holding.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... James Wall is retiring from consumer-products distributor Core-Mark Holding.

Virexx Medical.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... Biotech firm Virexx Medical has named Scott Langille as its new finance head. Langille succeeds Rob Salmon, who left the company last November.

Amerivest Properties.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... Amerivest Properties has tapped Sheri Henry to take over as CFO.

Dean Foods.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... Jack Callahan Jr. takes the place of Barry Fromberg as finance chief at Dean Foods.

Bally Total Fitness Holding.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... Bally Total Fitness Holding has tapped Ronald Eidell as SVP of finance and CFO.

Kenneth Jensen retired from Fiserv after 22 years with the company.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... Kenneth Jensen retired from Fiserv after 22 years with the company. Thomas Hirsch will take over as chief of finance.

The Krystal Co.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... The Krystal Co. has appointed James Bear as finance head.

Workshare.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... Thomas Hoster is the new finance chief at Workshare.

Exmplar.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... Exmplar has hired Bill Sickenberger as CFO.

Cushman & Wakefield.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... Bruce Hartman was named CFO of Cushman & Wakefield.

LiveDeal.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
June 1, 2006... LiveDeal has added Greg LeClaire as VP of finance and administration.

A Cubist heeds the call of the Orb.(Cubist Pharmaceuticals, David McGirr, Stock Orb)
June 1, 2006... DAVID McGIRR, CFO OF CUBIST PHARMACEUTICALS, has a crystal ball in his office. When it turns red, staffers know not to walk in and ask for a raise. The CFO is not practicing wizardry on company time; he owns a Stock Orb. The...

Soul-searching.(Tom Brown of Sony North America)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... In September 2004, after 16 years at Sony North America, including several as corporate controller, Tom Brown thought he needed a change of pace, so he resigned and focused on golf. "I'm not sure if it was a midlife crisis," he says, "but I...