CFO, The Magazine for Senior Financial Executives articles from May 2005

CFO, The Magazine for Senior Financial Executives archives from May 2005

CFO blog: Ron's Rant.(COMMENTARY & OPINION)
May 1, 2005... CFO deputy editor Ronald Fink moderates this ongoing exchange of ideas between our opinionated writers and editors as well as thought leaders from the world of finance. Whether they're debating corporate performance or compliance, accounting...

Three blind mice.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
May 1, 2005... JUST WHEN YOU THINK THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING more to say on the topic of financial scandals, something new happens. By the time you read this, Hank Greenberg and Bernie Ebbers will have slithered off the front pages. But now here comes Ken...

Welcome to the real world.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2005... ROBERT HOWELL DOES NOT HAVE A feel for the real world ("Future Shock," March). I mean the world where: (1) companies pay a fortune for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance; (2) formerly helpful, team-playing independent accountants have become...

Illegal and irresponsible.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2005... IN YOUR ARTICLE "A LOVE-HATE RELAtionship" (Spotlight, March), you stated: "In November 2003, the Department of Justice sent a letter to the Fed urging the bank regulator to exempt all large corporate relationships from anti-tying regulations...

Opinions on Pittsburgh.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2005... I READ WITH GREAT INTEREST YOUR article "Big City Blues" (February), as it pertains to my city--Pittsburgh. I wish the writer had taken the time to discuss the story with me. I read with incredulity the comment of Pittsburgh's outgoing...

Going with the bad boy.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2005... I FOUND YOUR ARTICLE "THUMBSCREW, 2.0" (Techwatch, February) very interesting. After experiences with a market-leading CRM vendor at a former employer, I decided that Microsoft, the perceived "bad boy" in the marketplace, might actually be one...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2005... Due to a reporting error, the April cover story about contracting industries ("The Turning Point") failed to explain that Blockbuster Inc. launched a highly publicized trial run of a video-on-demand joint venture with Enron Broadband Services,...

Stuffed suits.(newswatch)
May 1, 2005... Companies are dishing out more dough to settle securities suits these days. While the number of suits settled in 2004 was up 23 percent from 2003, the total cost to settle those cases more than doubled, to $5.5 billion. Even after...

Who's counting?(Accounting Jobs)
May 1, 2005... FINANCE EXECUTIVES WHO REVEL IN ARCANE FORMS OF financial modeling may soon get a rude lesson in a far more basic precept of economics: the law of supply and demand. [paragraph] While colleges report a small rise in the number of...

Terrorism coverage lapse?(Insurance)
May 1, 2005... WITH THE TERRORISM RISK INSURANCE Act (TRIA) set to expire at the end of the year, insurers are getting antsy, and CFOs are getting worried that their capital-risk safety net could fail. Enacted in 2002, TRIA established a federal program...

When the price of fuel is cruel.(ENERGY)
May 1, 2005... These days, it's not just airlines and overnight-delivery companies that worry about fuel prices: everyone is in the energy-management business. Recent increases in the cost of retail and industrial energy--natural gas, electricity, and...

Don't bet your ARS.(auction rate securities)
May 1, 2005... BEWARE AUCTION RATE SECURITIES (ARS). In December, Big Four auditors began issuing accounting treatment recalls, essentially advising clients that invest in ARS to reclassify their holdings. The auditors changed their collective mind about how...

Here's looking at you.(tax returns inspected)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Ever get the feeling you're being watched? Well, you may be. The Internal Revenue Service is taking a close look at the tax returns of executives and officers during the course of corporate audits. The crackdown comes on the heels of a...

They're doing it again.(Reporting)
May 1, 2005... IN THE WAKE OF MASSIVE CORPORATE scandals, most companies are doing everything possible to provide accurate portraits of their financials. Right? Not necessarily. A new report from Richard Bernstein, chief U.S. strategist at Merrill Lynch...

Billion-dollar babies.(Cash Management)
May 1, 2005... AMERICA'S BIGGEST COMPANIES HAVE rarely had more cash: as of March 30, the S&P 500 had an aggregate $617.8 billion in their coffers, just shy of December's record high of $626 billion. That sum amounts to a whopping 7.6 percent of total stock...

The slow move to faster checking.(BANKING)
May 1, 2005... Check 21 is expected to be a boon to banks. And they are hoping to pass some of the benefits on to their corporate clients. The law, which took effect last October and recognizes a scanned check images as a legal substitute for the original...

Greetings and solicitations: online trading hubs stage a comeback. But this time, there's a twist.(reverse auctions)
May 1, 2005... WHEN DAVID MROZ, A MANAGER AT SHANNON PREcision Fastener, needed to buy a new LCD projector for a training class, he didn't head to Staples to hunt down a bargain. Nor did he go online to search out the best price on the product. Instead, the...

Clocking R&R.(PTO software)(accounting for paid time off )
May 1, 2005... FOR CENTURIES, HUMANS HAVE WREStled with the concept of time. In most eases, time wins. In fact, time is such a difficult idea to comprehend--so ephemeral, so relative--that digital-clock makers should be forced to put quotation marks around...

Remote deposit capture: the shape of things to come.(Uncommon Insights: Uncommon Solutions)
May 1, 2005... Wachovia leverages Check 21 with virtual deposits Check 21 legislation has ushered in a dramatically different model for commercial banking. The emerging next generation of check solutions allows companies to scan checks and electronically...

Putting property first: as money continues to pour into corporate real estate, more dealmakers are finding ways to cash in.(new deals)
May 1, 2005... IN MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS, REAL ESTATE HAS typically been an afterthought. Recently, though, property has taken center stage. Consider the current plans for a $6.6 billion private-equity buyout of Toys "R" Us. "We became interested in Toys...

Dollar doldrums: multinationals are hedging currency risk, but they may need to do more.(SPOTLIGHT: risk management)
May 1, 2005... FINANCE EXECUTIVES CAN'T SAY they weren't warned. After more than a year of dire announcements that the United States was living beyond its means--and that budget and trade deficits could mean an eventual, sudden decline of the dollar against...

What does your CEO really know: rating the boss's finance IQ.(Cover Story)
May 1, 2005... HOW MUCH DOES ANY CEO KNOW ABOUT HIS COMPANY'S FINANCES? HOW MUCH SHOULD WE KNOW? Those are the central questions in the trials of several chief executives accused of masterminding their companies' massive accounting scandals. These CEOs...

Are the benefits of Sarbanes-Oxley worth the cost?(FEELING THE PAIN)
May 1, 2005... BOB ROSS USED TO LOVE HIS JOB AS CONTROLLER of clothing and housewares retailer Urban Outfitters. Today, he says, "I have no passion for this at all. If something doesn't change soon, I'll have to throw in the towel." Ross says he now...

New holes for hackers: are businesses prepared for the digital demons about to he unleashed by smart phones and PDAs?(COMPUTER SECURITY)
May 1, 2005... February 18, 2005, CNET News.com: A version of the Cabir virus has turned up in two Nokia 6600s on display in a California cell phone store, in what is believed to be the first " on-the-ground" sighting of the virus in the United States. ...

Corporate performance management: what CEOs want from their CFOs today.(Advertisement)
May 1, 2005... As the U.S. economy continues to gain momentum, CEOs increasingly look their CFOs to help manage growth by formulating and executing winning strategies At a recent CFO magazine conference, we learned how CFOs use corporate performance...

When plans collide: would corporate retirement plans be threatened by the adoption of social security private accounts?(CFO BUYER'S GUIDE 401 (k) providers Part 2)
May 1, 2005... As THE DEBATE RAGES OVER WHETHER AMERICANS should be allowed to "carve out" some of their Social Security payroll tax to create individual accounts (IAs) for retirement, one potentially volatile question has gone largely unasked: How would the...

In your own defense: why representing finance executives in lawsuits is both an art and a science.(law)
May 1, 2005... YOU AREN'T PARANOID. THERE REALLY IS A TARGET on your back that says "Sue Me." A recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP concludes that 203 private securities class-action lawsuits were filed against U.S. companies and their directors and...

CFO: internet address directory.(chief financial officer)(Brief Article)(Directory)
May 1, 2005... Arch Insurance Group www.archinsurance.com Ariba www.ariba.com/source Cap Cana Resort www.capcana.com Cisco www.cisco.com/powered by Crowe Chizek mid Company www.crowechizek.com EMCOR ...

Once burned, twice shy: five years after the Internet bust, tech start-ups are still wooing CFOs. But CFOs have higher standards now.(careers)
May 1, 2005... FOR MANY CFOs, JOINING A TECHNOLOGY START-UP during the Internet boom was like eloping with a flashy teenager. Such companies were often run by image-conscious executives long on vision but short on operating experience. Metrics like eyeballs...

Letting go.(MANAGEMENT SKILLS)(micromanagement)
May 1, 2005... Do You FEEL LIKE YOU NEVER HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO DO your work? Are you constantly checking and rechecking the work of your direct reports? Is your in-box always full? If this sounds familiar, you may be that dreaded office creature: the...

New York Stock Exchange.(CFOs On The Move)
May 1, 2005... Former State Street Bank and Trust CEO Marshall Carter has been elected to chair the New York Stock Exchange....

Solexa Inc.(CFOs On The Move)
May 1, 2005... Linda Rubinstein has been named finance chief at Solexa Inc., a gene-analysis company....

Time Warner Telecom.(CFOs On The Move)
May 1, 2005... Time Warner Telecom has promoted Mark Peters from treasurer to CFO....

Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp.(CFOs On The Move)
May 1, 2005... Former Levitz Home Furnishings Inc. finance chief Carl Landeck is taking on the same role at workout chain Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp....

Countrywide Financial Corp.(CFOs On The Move)
May 1, 2005... Countrywide Financial Corp, has named Eric Sieracki to the top finance post....

ArvinMeritor.(CFOs On The Move)
May 1, 2005... Autoparts supplier ArvinMeritor has selected former Kmart CFO James Donlon to run its finance department....

Microsoft.(CFOs On The Move)
May 1, 2005... Retired J.P. Morgan Chase CFO Dina Dublon is the newest director at Microsoft.

Tyco's revolving door.(resignation of chief financial officer)(Tyco International Ltd.)
May 1, 2005... IT'S UNDER INVESTIGAtion by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and its former CEO (Dennis Kozlowski) and CFO (Mark Swartz) are facing retrial on grand-larceny and securities-fraud charges. Yet, Tyco International's star is on the rise. As...

Going to extremes.(www.extreme-accounting.com)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... No, it doesn't refer to cooking the books. Extreme accounting is instead the latest extreme sport, in which participants liven up daring activities like skydiving, snowboarding, and rock climbing with a little double-entry bookkeeping. ...