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

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

Enron, RIP.(from the editor)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act.)(stock-option backdating scandal)(Editorial)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE that five years after Enron's failure as a result of fraudulent financial reporting, we're still dealing with the fallout. But as the stock-option backdating scandal suggests, corporate accounting and disclosure continue to...

The real economies of electric.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... I enjoyed your article on power production, "Power Source" (July). Just a few comments, though. Consideration of the economics of electric power production--alone--always ignores the real economies accruing to better use of the thermal...

In defense of the AICPA.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Your article "The AICPA: Heading South?" (Topline, July) provided a sadly inaccurate picture of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants's role and scope. The AICPA continues to have strong and effective working relationships...

The spring-loaded options trap.(SCANDAL UPDATE)
September 1, 2006... OPTIONS TIMING IS CLEARLY THE CAUSE DU JOUR of federal regulators--and the terror of executives. After announcing investigations into dozens of companies this past summer, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice...

Checkups on providers miss the mark.(OUTSOURCING)
September 1, 2006... SAS-70 AUDITS ASSESS THE INTERNAL CONTROLS, in particular the data-security controls, of outsourcing providers. These checks have become a regular part of Section 404 compliance. The problem is, they cost a lot, and "it isn't clear that they...

States go their own way.(MINIMUM WAGE)
September 1, 2006... WITH A MINIMUM-WAGE HIKE dead in Congress, individual states are likely to continue raising the pay floor on their own, creating a patchwork of laws and inconsistencies for those who run businesses in multiple states. Maryland, Rhode...

Bulldog accounting?(NONPROFITS)
September 1, 2006... CORPORATE ACCOUNTING scandals may be fading from the front pages, but the nonprofit sector is coming under more scrutiny. In July, Yale University announced that the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, and...

What's your financial style?(MANAGEMENT)(E. Ted Prince views on financial planning)
September 1, 2006... THERE ARE ALMOST AS MANY INITIATIVES to make executives better leaders as there are executives. Some theories focus on personality, others on skill. A recent entry into the mix proposes a connection between how executives inherently view money...

Don't even mention it.(CREDIT RATINGS)(stock prices enhancement)
September 1, 2006... TRYING TO BOOST your stock price with a spin-off, stock buyback, or debt-financed acquisition, or by entertaining a leveraged-buyout offer? You may have to contend with lower credit ratings sooner than you thought. With corporate-bond...

IRS seeks truth in Veritas deal.(TRANSFER PRICING)
September 1, 2006... SYMANTEC CORP. develops software that battles computer viruses. But these days, the company spends time battling what it considers to be another pest: the Internal Revenue Service. In June, Symantec filed a petition with the U.S. Tax Court...

Continuing gains for domestic partners.(BENEFITS,employee benefits)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... More than half of Fortune 500 companies now provide benefits that cover domestic partners of employees. According to a survey by the Human Rights Campaign, as of June 1 of this year, 253 of those companies provide such benefits, up from 246 in...

Booking trips the old-fashioned way.(TRAVEL)
September 1, 2006... NOT LONG AGO, Randy Royer, the treasurer of Mesirow Financial Holdings, got caught in an ice storm in Portland, Ore. Because he had booked his trip online, he spent hours on the phone with airlines, trying to get back home to Chicago. In the...

Deep pockets, getting deeper.(TREASURY)(Association for Financial Professionals and Credit Suisse Asset Management survey on corporate finance)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... U.S. COMPANIES CONTINUE TO HOARD record levels of cash. And over the next 12 months, most don't plan on changing that practice, according to a survey released in July by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) and Credit Suisse Asset...

Verbatim.(topline,(O'Kelly, Eugene words))(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... "I hadn't known anyone who tried to manage his own death in such a conscious fashion.... What can I say? I was an accountant.... The same traits that made me someone who might flourish in the world of finance and accounting also made me someone...

Buy it back, and then? Share repurchases could fuel a surging M&A market as buyers use the stock to make acquisitions.(by the numbers)
September 1, 2006... TO JUDGE FROM the sudden proliferation of Porsche SUVs on the streets of Lower Manhattan, this has been a good year for investment bankers. Indeed, U.S. merger-and-acquisition activity reached $370 billion during the second quarter, its highest...

What lies behind those "rational" decisions? A pioneering book applies behavioral finance to the CFO's world.(insight)
September 1, 2006... ONCE A FRINGE SUBJECT, behavioral finance is now taught in business schools across the land. The notion that psychological factors can distort financial decision-making is widely accepted, although the effects of such distortions on markets...

Def on the aisle: in-store or in-house, businesses are relying on digital-television networks to get their message out.(in tech)
September 1, 2006... DESPITE THE HYPE, viewing television on a high-definition liquid crystal display isn't all its cracked up to be. Hi-def content is limited, moving images tend to blur on screen, and standard-definition programs look like they've been run...

Three's a crowd: Phelps Dodge's attempt to merge with a pair of other companies--again--shows why such triple plays are rare.(deals)(Falconbridge Ltd. and Inco Ltd.)
September 1, 2006... IN PLANNING THEIR MINING-COMPANY megamerger, Phelps Dodge Corp., Inco Ltd., and Falconbridge Ltd. thought they had hit a rich vein with this June's $40 billion, stock-and-cash proposal to combine all three into a new company called Phelps Dodge...

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty.(ON THE RECORD)(Interview)
September 1, 2006... AFTER SECURING GUILTY VERDICTS AGAINST ENRON'S TOP OFFICIALS, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty told reporters: "It encourages us to continue to combat corruption wherever we find it." So far, the Corporate Fraud Task Force, which...

Numbers crunch.(the future of reporting financial statements)(Cover story)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... FIVE YEARS AFTER ENRON, corporate financial reporting stands at a crossroads. * One route leads deep into the lightly charted terrain of "principles-based" reporting, where thousands of rules and regulations would be replaced by a relative...

Standing on principles: in a world with more regulation than ever, can the accounting rule book be thrown away?(the future of reporting / principles-based accounting)
September 1, 2006... AS GROUCHO MARX ONCE SAID, "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." * Groucho would enjoy the heated stalemate over principles-based accounting. Four years after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act required the...

Progress report.(the future of reporting / reader survey)
September 1, 2006... JUDGING FROM the complaints in the press about the compliance burden facing companies, you'd think that finance executives would be up in arms over regulation. Not so, according to a CFO survey of 213 finance executives. Most respondents...

Will fair value fly? Fair value accounting could change the very basis of corporate finance.(the future of reporting / fair-value accounting)(Editorial)
September 1, 2006... MUCH HAS CHANGED in financial reporting since Andrew Fastow and Scott Sullivan, the finance chiefs of Enron and WorldCom, respectively, brought disgrace upon themselves, their employers, and, to a degree, their profession. Regulators and...

The case for clarity: you know about the cost of Sarbox. What about the benefits?(the future of reporting / financial transparency)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 survey by AMR Research)
September 1, 2006... THE COST ESTIMATES BANDIED ABOUT by critics of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are truly staggering. By the end of the year, U.S. companies will have spent $20 billion to comply with the law since it was passed in 2002, according to AMR Research. One...

Delayed in the USA: infrastructure woes aren't just a third-world problem, they also pose a major "last-mile" headache for American businesses from coast to coast.(in practice)
September 1, 2006... JUNE 2005. THINGS WERE STARTING TO HEAT UP. A wave of scorching, humid weather had settled over the Midwest. During one particularly oppressive stretch, temperatures in Chicago topped 90 degrees for eight straight days--an early summer blaze...

How low can it go? Companies continue to reduce working-capital levels, and they have 450 billion reasons to keep at it.(working capital)(Editorial)
September 1, 2006... ASKED TO EXPLAIN his company's success at driving down working-capital levels, Qualcomm CFO William Keitel demurs, saying, "You can always do better." He's not being humble so much as capturing the dominant theme for working capital over...

The 2006 working capital survey.(working capital)(Statistical table)
September 1, 2006... The 2006 Working Capital Survey BEST WORST (AMONG SECTOR'S TOP REVENUE EARNERS) DSO CHANGE CHANGE COMPANY ...

Sowing the seeds of your legacy: want to get in touch with your inner Warren Buffett? There are new ways to do just that.(your money.Buffett playbook )
September 1, 2006... WHEN WARREN BUFFETT announced his plan to channel billions of dollars worth of his personal fortune through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in an effort to eradicate major diseases, philanthropy became headline news. Few can rival the...

Private club: opportunity is knocking for CFOs who have the skills that private-equity firms demand.(your move)
September 1, 2006... PRIVATE EQUITY IS HOT, IN more ways than one. As deals proliferate, the sector is booming with employment opportunities for CFOs. Walt Williams, an executive recruiter with Battalia Winston International, says that finding finance chiefs for...

Transmeta.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
September 1, 2006... Transmeta has named Ralph Harms at its new CFO. He succeeds Mark Kent, who has resigned to explore other options. Harms was formerly CFO of Force10 Networks.

Energen.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
September 1, 2006... Charles Porter Jr. is the new finance chief at energy holding company Energen. Porter succeeds Geoffrey Ketcham, who is retiring.

CA.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
September 1, 2006... CA has named Nancy Cooper as CFO. Cooper was finance chief of IMS Health. She succeeds interim CFO Bob Cirabisi, who returns to his post as corporate controller.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
September 1, 2006... Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has named Howard Hochhauser as CFO after a long stint as acting finance chief.

Devry.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
September 1, 2006... Richard Gunst is the new CFO of Devry. Gunst was the CFO of Sagus International.

Rockefeller Foundation.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
September 1, 2006... Rockefeller Foundation has tapped Lawrence Mangan as its first CFO. Mangan is the former VP of finance and treasurer of the Connelly Foundation.

Electro Scientific Industries.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
September 1, 2006... John Metcalf was named CFO of Electro Scientific Industries. He joins the company from Siltronic, where he was also CFO.

Nuvelo.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
September 1, 2006... Nuvelo has named H. Ward Wolff as finance chief. Wolff was the former CFO of Abgenix until it was acquired by Amgen earlier this year.

Dot Hill Systems.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
September 1, 2006... Dot Hill Systems has named Hanif Jamal as its new chief of finance. Jamal was VP and corporate treasurer of Gateway.

Anna's Linens.(CFOs ON THE MOVE)
September 1, 2006... Neil Watanabe is the new CFO of Anna's Linens. He joins the firm from Shoe Pavilion, where he was also CFO.

City under a cloud.(grapevine)(Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating underfunded pension liabilities and city officials)(San Diego)
September 1, 2006... SAN DIEGO calls itself "America's Finest City," but a financial scandal that has been unraveling since 2004 has earned it a new nickname: "Enron by the Sea." The city is accused of hiding massive underfunded pension liabilities and issuing...

Rising to the Pepsi challenge.(grapevine)(Indra Nooyi replaces Steve Reinemund)(Richard Goodman will be CFO)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... When PepsiCo tapped Indra Nooyi to become its next CEO, it ushered in a new generation, not just for the soft-drink giant, but for the corner office in general. Nooyi, 50, is not your father's CEO. She wears a sari on occasion and in cortege...