Are CFOs ready for the spotlight? According to CFO.com research from Greenwich Associates reveals that for the first time an annual survey of Wall Street equity analysts ranked the credibility of a company's finance chief as more important to the overall IR...
I'm not a fan of comic books, nor of superhero movies, nevertheless I enjoyed Iron Man very much (lovin' the Robert Downey Jr comeback). This post on management lessons inspired by the movie at the Business Pundit blog is fun.
It's tough being a CFO - the responsibilities are increasing, the work is getting harder, and the personal liability risks have grown - it's no wonder that CFO turnover is up. The average tenure for a CFO is less than three years (down from five years). Both...
Benchmarking is a critical first step in identifying opportunities for process improvement. Used correctly, benchmarking allows companies to compare their processes versus the best practices in their industry and develop a road map of how to adopt best practices...
(graphic courtesy of The New York Times) Corporate decision makers are honing their accuracy by tapping into the collective wisdom of employees and customers via web-based prediction markets. An article to today's New York Times explains: Corporate prediction...
Ace Hardware has painfully realized the importance of employee training. A mid-level employee in the finance department caused a $152 million accounting discrepancy between the GL and actual inventory. Journal entires were made that made it look like the ledgers were...
Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz, authors of the annual FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" survey, have determined that trust is the key ingredient of a good workplace: "A good workplace is one where management trusts the employees...
The latest McKinsey Quarterly describes research demonstrating that initiatives to address “soft” management issues—such as talent, culture, and values—may have a direct financial payoff. An analysis of hundreds of global companies has identified a strong correlation...
You may have seen the headlines and dramatic photos of the tanker truck accident and explosion that melted a freeway exchange in the East Bay (details here). The accident took place April 30th. CalTrans estimated that it would take 60 days and $20 million to repair...
For those of you that still rely on spreadsheets - and there are more of you than care to admit it, I know - CFO Magazine has a round up of spreadsheet auditing tools here.
