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

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

Between the lines.(from the editor)
May 1, 2006... WHEN DID THE TERM "multinational corporation" become redundant? In the 1960s, the multinational corporation vied with Communist dictatorships as the arch-villain du jour in movies, fiction, and even the nightly news (think of Goldfinger and...

Stop whining!(letters)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... I have read "A Tough Act to Follow" (March), and I have to say, Sarbox didn't happen because everything was OK. It wasn't! Until we find out if the company owners can understand and accurately gauge the health of their business (please...

The question of foreign workers.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... What stuck with me on the first page of "Help Wanted" (March) was the phrase "[the] need for foreign-born workers" I thought the need was for qualified workers, without consideration of other demographics. If the Army no longer trains...

Let me see if i get this straight.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... LET ME SEE IF I GET THIS STRAIGHT: Ingersoll Rand, a company headquartered in Bermuda to avoid expenses by stiffing the government for federal taxes (as do Accenture, Tyco, and so on), is distraught that there were not enough skilled welders...

Not a competition.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... In your article "The Trouble with COSO" (March), you reference the Institute of Management Accountants's [conference] at which we would preview a management and risk-centric controls assessment model, CARD-ME, described in the article as a...

Big four bias.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... Your article "Cushioning the Blow" (Topline, February) provides visibility to an Indiana University study that implies negative financial news, such as disclosure of internal control weaknesses, will have a less severe impact on a business's...

Worksite wellness.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... Along with running my own company, I am an American Cancer Society volunteer chairing an employer/employee constituent group ("Putting a Premium on Health" CFO's Human Capital Special Issue). Savvy CFOs would do well to look into the ACS's menu...

Delayed reactions.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
May 1, 2006... MORE THAN THREE YEARS AFTER TAKING EFFECT, Sarbanes-Oxley is still wreaking havoc on corporate reporting. In 2005, accounting restatements nearly doubled to a record 1,195, according to research firm Glass Lewis & Co. This year, scores of...

A hotter shade of pink.(Pink Sheets L.L.C.'s securities trading regulations)
May 1, 2006... FACED WITH RISING COMPLIANCE COSTS and a thinly traded stock, Southern Energy Homes Inc. voluntarily desisted from Nasdaq in January 2004. The manufactured-home builder instead moved to Pink Sheets LLC, a quotation service for over-the-counter...

Pensions spark credit ratings debate.(DEBT)
May 1, 2006... WITHIN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, some companies may see their debt rise unexpectedly. The cause? Credit-ratings agency Moody's Investors Service plans to revamp the way it views the shadowy long-term obligations associated with multi-employer...

What board members want from the CFO.(top line)
May 1, 2006... FINANCE CHIEFS are spending endless hours in the boardroom these days--not all of it quality time. As CFO and treasurer of shipping company Hub Group Inc. and as a director at two other public companies, Tom White has experienced the...

Sunk costs.(OPTIONS)
May 1, 2006... THE ONLY THING WORSE than holding hopelessly underwater stock options is paying administration fees on them. Almost by definition, fees on worthless stock options add up fastest when companies can least afford them. Little surprise, then,...

Bugs in the boardroom.(LAW)
May 1, 2006... GOVERNMENT WIRETAPPING isn't just for the Mafia anymore. A provision in the newly updated Patriot Act, passed in March, makes it easier for federal agencies to conduct secret surveillance on corporations. Section 113 of the U.S.A. Patriot...

Stock ownership declines.(families)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Stock ownership among families decreased for the first time since 1989, when the Federal Reserve first began tracking it. The number of households that own stocks either directly or through retirement accounts and mutual funds dipped to 48.6...

Behind the numbers.(extensible business reporting language)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... IF THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION has its way, companies will soon be filling their financial reports in a new language. No deadline has been set yet, but the SEC is expected to require companies to use extensible business reporting...

Verbatim.(top line)
May 1, 2006... "The current budgeting practices have become the first steps in the bonus-negotiation process. They focus on minimizing results rather then optimizing performance. It's time to stop the sanity. --STEVE PLAYER, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE...

Filling the gap.(Principal Financial Group)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... CONSUMER-DIRECTED health plans that offer high deductibles and tax-advantaged savings accounts have taken off over the past few years. Now, at least one insurer is looking to expand the concept to dental plans. In April, The Principal Financial...

A Georgia peach bests the Big Apple.(capital ranked)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... LOOKING FOR AN INEXPENSIVE place to locate a business? Try Atlanta. The Georgia capital ranked first in a KPMG survey of the least expensive U.S. cities in which to do business. Tampa and Indianapolis followed closely behind. New York...

Dummy text.(SARBOX)
May 1, 2006... THE LATEST TOPIC in the For Dummies series promises to offer practical advice for CFOs that will take the pain out of Sarbanes-Oxley. While you probably don't want to base your Sarbox compliance on a book that insults your intelligence in the...

What's the boss worth? CFOs weigh in on executive compensation.(by the numbers)
May 1, 2006... THIS YEAR'S PROXY SEASON PROMPTED the usual complaint about CEO pay: it's way too high. But finance executives don't see it that way. In a survey of more than 100 finance executives at the March CFO Rising conference, only 34 percent said...

View from Europe: just when finance chiefs thought it had gone away, economic nationalism is back and running rampant across Europe.(End)
May 1, 2006... WHEN FULVIO CONTI was promoted from CFO to CEO at Italian utility End last year, it was widely assumed that he would immediately use the company's 15 billion [euro] war chest to make some long-anticipated cross-border acquisitions. Like many...

Talking points: poor employee communications can undermine the best-laid strategy.(insight)
May 1, 2006... OF ALL THE FUNCTIONS UNDER THE corporate roof, employee communications is the one that most managers pay lip service to. It's not that they regard it as unimportant. Executives acknowledge that when it comes to effecting major change--a shift...

Flirting with disaster recovery: there are plenty of good reasons to develop a business-continuity plan, but is Sarbox one of them?(in tech)
May 1, 2006... MENTION BUSINESS CONTInuity to CFOs and see how long it takes them to change the subject. Yes, it's a risk issue, and they'll readily agree it demands attention. Just not theirs. Typically, business continuity, which includes contingencies for...

Why most meetings start late.(in tech)
May 1, 2006... Many studies have sought to quantify the extent of employees' personal Web use, but few have been as broad as that conducted by software firm Burstek. A study of 10,688 employees in seven industry sectors put hard numbers to employees' habits...

Super-market shopping: flush with cash and a mandate to go electronic, stock exchanges prepare to consolidate.
May 1, 2006... THE STAGE IS SET FOR A WORLDWIDE WAVE of consolidation among stock markets--it's just the lead roles that are in question. In March, the most sought-after target, the London Stock Exchange, rebuffed a $4.2 billion takeover bid from Nasdaq....

Sun Microsystems' Mike Lehman.(Interview)
May 1, 2006... NEARLY FOUR YEARS AGO, Mike Lehman, then CFO of Sun Microsystems, made the career move only a fortunate few can afford: he retired at age 51. After 15 years at Sun, 10 of them as CFO, he walked away from the constant tumult of Silicon Valley to...

Try before you buy: companies are using alliances to take the risk out of acquisitions.
May 1, 2006... WHEN ANDREAS MUELLER-SCHUBERT decided to move his company into the home entertainment business, he knew he would have to buy another company to do it. His company, Siemens Communications's Fixed Network Solutions, provides broadband Internet...

Party of three: outside advisers leap in where auditors fear to tread.(external auditors)
May 1, 2006... FILE THIS ONE UNDER "B" FOR BEST-LAID PLANS. In March 2005, external auditors from PricewaterhouseCoopers began arriving at the Louisville headquarters of lighting fixture and controls maker Genlyte Group Inc. The engagement partners were...

Lost in the maze: problems with hedge accounting caused a wave of restatements in 2005. Are FASB'S rules too hard to follow, or are companies simply too lax?(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
May 1, 2006... IT HAS BEEN ALMOST SIX YEARS SINCE COMPANIES began complying with FAS 133, the standard that governs the accounting treatment of derivatives. Yet judging from the growing number of restatements due to FAS 133 errors, many are still wrestling...

Drawing a bead on cost: a clearer picture of 401 (k) plan fees is helping more plan providers drive down costs.(SPOTLIGHT ON 401(K) PROVIDERS)
May 1, 2006... A SMALL BUT GROWING band of employers is fueling a rebellion against long-opaque cost structures in the 401(k) plan market. Working with pension consultants to ferret out esoteric expenses, these plan sponsors are dissecting fee arrangements....

The 2006 401(k) providers guide.(Table)
May 1, 2006... spotlight The 2006 401 (k) Providers Guide MARSHALL & ILSLEY TRUST Milwaukee (866) 418-9339 ...

Helping hands: eager to boost the value of their investments, venture capitalists lavish their portfolio companies with a broad array of services.(capital)
May 1, 2006... CINCINNATI IS A long way from Nanjing, China--7,300 miles and a world apart from the reassuring conventions of business, American style. That was a big worry for Jonathan C. Dill, CFO of Ampac Packaging. Dill visited China in 2002 as part of a...

Selling finance: how sales teams are learning the finer points of revenue recognition.(training)(Company overview)
May 1, 2006... GEAC COMPUTER CORP.'S annual sales meeting is always a fun event, full of braggadocio and bonhomie, as salespeople gather each spring at a sunny resort. Last year, in addition to the usual pep rally, something new was on the agenda in Orlando:...

Easy target? Don't open your wallet to an investment pitch you don't understand.(your money)
May 1, 2006... SUCCESS HAS ITS SIDE effects. One is that it puts you directly in what money professionals call the "seller hit zone." That's the place where executives become a target for anyone with a slick sales pitch and an investment opportunity that is...

Fresh start: a break from CFO duties can be rejuvenating, but don't stay away too long.(your move)
May 1, 2006... THEY ARE THE ONCE-AND-FUTURE CFOs, finance executives who may have thought they'd left the position behind but find themselves back in the saddle--and loving it. Some gave up their CFO posts to assume senior (nonfinance) jobs, others to run...

Holding company Maxxam has tapped John Karnes as its next finance chief.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
May 1, 2006... Holding company Maxxam has tapped John Karnes as its next finance chief. Karnes succeeds Paul Schwartz, who is retiring after 26 years with the company.

John Gibbons will replace Ruth Dreessen as CFO of Westlake Chemical.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
May 1, 2006... John Gibbons will replace Ruth Dreessen as CFO of Westlake Chemical. Dreessen was named CFO of Texas Petrochemicals.

Solae.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
May 1, 2006... Daniel Johnston will succeed Gayle Powelson as finance chief of Solae.

WhenU.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
May 1, 2006... Fredrick Rolf joined behavioral targeting firm WhenU as its new finance chief.

Keystone Automotive Industries.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
May 1, 2006... Auto-parts distributor Keystone Automotive Industries has tapped Jeffrey Gray to succeed John Palumbo as its next CFO.

Emcor Group.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
May 1, 2006... Mark Pompa is the new CFO of Emcor Group. Pompa replaces Leicle Chesser, who will remain vice chairman until the end of the year.

1-800 Contacts.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
May 1, 2006... 1-800 Contacts has picked Robert Hunter as finance chief.

AMR.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
May 1, 2006... Thomas Horton has returned to AMR to once again take on the role of CFO. Horton left the company in 2002 to work for AT&T.

Capital Corp. of the West is bidding adieu to finance chief R. Dale McKinney.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
May 1, 2006... Capital Corp. of the West is bidding adieu to finance chief R. Dale McKinney, who retires this month.

Major League Baseball has hired Edward Weber Jr. as CFO of MLB Advanced Media.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
May 1, 2006... Major League Baseball has hired Edward Weber Jr. as CFO of MLB Advanced Media. Weber replaces Jeffrey D'Onofrio, now finance chief of Skip Barber Racing School.

John Gardiner has left Citrix Systems to join software firm iRise as the new CFO.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
May 1, 2006... John Gardiner has left Citrix Systems to join software firm iRise as the new CFO. LHC Group will say good-bye to its CFO, R. Barr Brown, who is resigning, effective in July.

The magic numbers bus.(ENRON)(tour to collapsed Enron site)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... YOU'VE READ THE BOOK. You've seen the movie. You've followed the real-life trial. Now take the tour. A Houston tour operator is cashing in on the fascination with all things Enron by offering a ride through the infamous sites related to...

The CFO as kingpin.(grapevine)
May 1, 2006... IN MOST OF THE BIG ACCOUNTING-FRAUD CASES in the United States, finance executives cut deals to help prosecutors go after who they believe to be the real cutprits--the CEOs. Not so in the Netherlands. In March, an Amsterdam Court of Appeals...