Human Capital: Page 107

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    The Essential Skills

    No one becomes a CFO without possessing the commensurate finance skills. No one thrives as a CFO, however, without having much more. As Scott Simmons, vice president of Crist Associates, a Chicago-based recruiter, puts it: “No company wants just a really good finance person anymore; they want som...

    By Alix Stuart • Nov. 1, 2007
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    Who’s Next?

    When Oren Shaffer retired from his post as CFO at Qwest Communications earlier this year, controller John Richardson became the new finance chief. Assistant controller Bill Johnston took Richardson’s old job, internal-audit head Pat Halbach became assistant controller, and director of financial r...

    By Kate O'Sullivan • Nov. 1, 2007
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    Stuck in a Rut

    Finance executives have long wanted to play a more strategic role in their companies, to serve as multifaceted business advisers instead of one-dimensional number-crunchers. Companies have invested in technology and offshore operations to handle many routine finance tasks. So why are finance depa...

    By Kate O'Sullivan • Nov. 1, 2007
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    NVIDIA Sheds SEC Options Probe

    The Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its probe into the stock-option practices of NVIDIA Corp. and taken no enforcement actions, the company reported. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker was one of more than 200 companies that had disclosed federal, regulatory, or internal investi...

    By Stephen Taub • Oct. 31, 2007
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    Material Weakness: A Pain in the Bonus

    While the pay of chief executive officers may be based on bold metrics like their companies’ bottom lines, CFO compensation requires a more intricate calculus. For finance chiefs, the key factor these days is internal controls.A new study by Udi Hoitash, Rani Hoitash and Karla Johnstone, accounti...

    By Alan Rappeport • Oct. 30, 2007
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    PBGC Hikes Maximum Retiree Payout

    The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has raised the maximum insurance benefit for participants in underfunded pension plans terminating in 2008 by about 4.5 percent. The new cap will be $51,750 per year for those who retire at age 65, up from $49,500 for plans ending in 2007.The amount is low...

    By Stephen Taub • Oct. 30, 2007
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    Merrill CFO Offered to Resign: Report

    As widely expected, Stan O’Neal is out as chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch & Co. The investment banking giant said O’Neal “decided to retire” from the company that he has served as CEO since December 2002, and joined 21 years ago.As a result, the board elected Alberto Cri...

    By Stephen Taub • Oct. 30, 2007
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    Today’s Accounting Crop: Spoiled Rotten?

    Enter the “millennium generation” of finance and accounting professionals. Born in 1982 and later, they’re high-maintenance types, requiring a great deal of hand-holding, mentoring, and immediate attention. Even after all that parental supervision, they can be incredibly fickle, choosing to stay ...

    By David Katz • Oct. 29, 2007
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    Internal Auditors Changing Gears

    While “Sarbanes-Oxley Act” may conjure negative thoughts about the initial confusion and burden the law wrought on finance departments, it created a positive turnabout for at least one profession. Applying their expertise and knowledge about their organizations during the first few years of Sarbo...

    By Sarah Johnson • Oct. 29, 2007
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    Hertz’s CFO Is Interim No More

    Hertz Global Holdings has removed the “interim” qualifier from Elyse Douglas’ title, 14 months after she temporarily replaced the retiring Paul Siracusa as CFO of the world’s leading car rental company. Douglas, who joined Hertz as staff vice president and treasurer in July 2006, has nearly 25 ...

    By Stephen Taub • Oct. 29, 2007
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    CFOs on the Move: Week ending October 26

    • Hans Vestberg has been appointed CFO of Ericsson, the Swedish telecoms company, following the dramatic departure of his predecessor, Karl-Henrik Sundström. Sundström resigned in the wake of an unexpected slump in third-quarter profits to SKr5.6 billion (€608m) from SKr8.8 billion the previous y...

    By Eila Rana • Oct. 29, 2007
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    California Overtime Suits Hit Two of Big Four

    As California goes, so goes the country. If that adage is accurate, Big Four accounting firms may be looking at a slew of class-action lawsuits questioning in-house overtime policies for white-collar workers. Two similar lawsuits are wending their way through the U.S. district court system in Cal...

    By Marie Leone • Oct. 26, 2007
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    “I Blew It”: Biggest Interview Errors

    The “outside” candidate for the CFO slot didn’t know what had hit him. Walking out of the interview, he could tell from the interviewer’s parting response that he’d blown it. But why? He’d been ever so careful, he said in talking the disaster over with an old friend, Chip Clothier, a managing par...

    By Marie Leone • Oct. 26, 2007
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    CFOs on the Move: Week Ending October 26

    • Kent Kleeberger has resigned as CFO of Dollar Tree Stores after three years to join another retailer, Chico’s. Controller Kathleen Mallas will take his place as principal financial and accounting officer until Dollar Tree finds a permanent CFO. She has been with the company for 10 years. Klee...

    By Sarah Johnson • Oct. 25, 2007
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    State to Probe Non-Profit Pay Package

    Hefty compensation packages are not just irking the usual cast of shareholder activists. The Maryland Insurance Commissioner said he will hold a hearing to investigate the proposed payout for the former CEO of a not-for-profit insurance company.Ralph Tyler, who was appointed insurance commissione...

    By Stephen Taub • Oct. 25, 2007
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    Accountants Suing PwC for Overtime

    Former accounting employees are suing PricewaterhouseCoopers, alleging they were improperly denied overtime pay and other benefits when they worked for the firm.On Wednesday, two former unlicensed accounting associates of PwC filed a motion that seeks to certify a class of all associates and seni...

    By Stephen Taub • Oct. 24, 2007
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    Market-Based Option Valuation Gets OK

    Now that the Securities and Exchange Commission has decided that employee stock options can be valued with a market-based system, will there be a market for such a method? Despite the approval, some skeptics remain.Earlier this week the SEC gave final clearance for Zions Bancorp, a banking group,...

    By Alan Rappeport • Oct. 24, 2007
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    Rules Finalized for Automatic 401(k)s

    The Labor Department announced its final rules designed to make it easier for employers to automatically enroll workers in 401(k) and other defined-contribution plans. The rules, a result of last year’s Pension Protection Act, seek to clarify the kinds of default investments in which employers c...

    By Stephen Taub • Oct. 24, 2007
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    Top Execs Out at Recent High-Flier

    The CFO and CEO of Isilon Systems, whose stock was a Wall Street darling earlier this year, have left the company, which has had several disappointing quarters recently and seen its stock price plummet. Taking over for the former CFO, Stu Fuhlendorf, is controller Bill Richter, who will head up ...

    By Stephen Taub • Oct. 24, 2007
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    Job Cuts Spread Beyond Financial Services

    Conjuring up memories of late 2000, when a sudden wave of job cuts turned out to be an early warning shot of the long recession that began early the next year, the past week has brought news of widespread layoffs cutting across numerous industries. Companies trimming their work forces include t...

    By Stephen Taub • Oct. 23, 2007
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    Finance Starting Pay Is Due for a Jump

    Thank you, Sarbanes-Oxley.Starting salaries for accounting and finance professionals are expected to jump 4.3 percent next year, according to the annual Salary Guide survey by Robert Half International. Last year, the survey projected salaries climbing 3.8 percent — an increase that Half says was...

    By Stephen Taub • Oct. 22, 2007
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    Wellness May Get Better

    Although the concept may be amorphous, “wellness” programs may get avery tangible boost from Congress. Senators Tom Harkin (D–Iowa) andGordon Smith (R–Oreg.)are cosponsoring a bill that would provide tax credits of up to $200 peremployee for companies that establish programs to help employees sto...

    By Laura DeMars • Oct. 19, 2007
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    Torre’s Pay Offer Is a Hit with CFOs

    The New York Yankees struck out with Joe Torre, the manager who led the baseball club for the past 12 years until Thursday, when he nixed a new contract offer. There is a raging debate about Torre’s fate in New York, but whichever side fans and critics come down on, one thing is clear: the pay pa...

    By Marie Leone • Oct. 19, 2007
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    Nestle CFO Coming to the Americas

    Global food giant Nestle SA announced on Thursday that its chief financial officer, Paul Polman, will head the company’s Zone Americas business unit beginning in February 2008. Polman will replace Paul Bulcke, who was appointed chief executive of the Switzerland-based company last month.Polman wi...

    By Marie Leone • Oct. 19, 2007
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    CFOs on the Move: Week Ending October 19

    • UPS has promoted five-year CFO veteran Scott Davis as its new CEO. He will succeed Mike Eskew as chairman and chief executive when Eskew steps down at the end of this year. Kurt Kuehn, senior vice president of global sales and marketing, will fill Davis’ spot. He has been with the company for...

    By Sarah Johnson • Oct. 18, 2007