Editor’s Note: Here are the answers to the corporate finance quiz given at our recent CFO Rising West conference.
1) What’s the average tenure for a Fortune 1000 CFO?
a. 4.3 years
b. 9.5 years
c. 15 years
d. 2.2 years
2) What percent of Fortune 1000 CFOs are women?
a. 1.5 percent
b. 22.0 percent
c. 7.7 percent
d. 9.5 percent
3) What percent of today’s Fortune 1000 CFOs have neither an MBA nor a CPA?
a. 92 percent
b. 24 percent
c. 10 percent
d. 55 percent
4)In the past four years, how many CFOs have been convicted by the Corporate Fraud Tax Force?
a. 225
b. 30
c. 10
d. 5
5) How much money did the SEC collect from former Worldcom CFO Scott Sullivan in fines and restitution?
a. $13 million
b. $20 million
c. $2.2 million
d. Nothing
6) What widespread, lawsuit-inducing substance did CFO magazine describe as the new asbestos, and the “fastest growing toxic tort” in years?
a. Yellow highlighter pen ink
b. Benzene
c. Diacetyl (popcorn butter)
d. Aspartame
7) Under the latest FASB interpretation of accounting for uncertain tax positions (Fin 48), when must you recognize that your company’s tax position is uncertain?
a. When the chance of being audited is “more likely than not” (i.e., there is a greater than 50% chance it will audited)
b. When it is “reasonably likely” that the position will be audited
c. When the chance of being audited is “remote”
d. None of the above.
8) What government agency is responsible for handling whistleblower complaints brought under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?
a. IRS (Internal Revenue Service)
b. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)
c. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
d. DOJ (Department of Justice)
9) What did Martha Stewart’s August settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission prohibit her from doing?
a. Using a glue gun for any purpose whatsoever
b. Owning stock in her company
c. Being a CFO
d. Turning her home detention ankle bracelet into a festive napkin ring
10) According to the latest figures available (2004), how many accountants and auditors are there in the U.S.?
a. 452,000
b. 10 million
c. 1.2 million
d. 2.0 million