What Works When Disaster Strikes

The grave new world facing companies after September 11 may make a huge difference in future technology deployments, says Donald B. Christian, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s risk management practice. For example, Cantor Fitzgerald, which lost approximately 700 employees in the World ...

By Tim Reason • Nov. 1, 2001

Out of Print? Not Annual Reports

Cost cutting may be rampant throughout Corporate America, but when it comes to producing the annual report, it’s business as usual.According to an August client survey by Thomson Financial/Carson, 94 percent of respondents say they will release their 2001 annual report in both print and online fo...

By Joan Urdang • Nov. 1, 2001

Under Cover?

Much has been made of the losses insurers are taking in the wake of September’s terrorist attacks. According to some estimates, the industry could lose almost $60 billion, making them the most costly disasters ever. The previous record of $20 billion was set by Hurricane Andrew. In turn, insurers...

By Russ Banham • Nov. 1, 2001

The Hard Sell

The bubble burst, and the recriminations came next.In the 18 months leading up to September 11, some $6 trillion in U.S. equity investments evaporated. Shares in technology and Internet companies that once traded for hundreds of dollars dipped to a few bucks, or worse. As the Dow sank, bankruptci...

By Stephen Barr • Nov. 1, 2001

First Pencils, Now People

The billions of dollars that companies spend each year on services has become a potent lure — or perhaps one should say lifeline — for E- procurement vendors. With their stock prices flatlining, and with companies hesitant to spend money on big- ticket software, these vendors are retooling their ...

By Scott Leibs • Nov. 1, 2001

Niche Insurance: The Needs of the Few

Move over, Lloyd’s of London. The broker, renowned for offering oddball policies such as one that compensates a company should two or more workers win the U.K. national lottery and resign, isn’t the only company offering niche coverage. These days, advanced intelligence-gathering technology and n...

By Joan Urdang • Oct. 30, 2001

FAS 133 No Big Thang, says Moody’s

Much ado about nothing.That’s Moody’s preliminary assessment of FAS 133 — the new standard for financial reporting of derivatives and hedging transactions. While many finance executives fought hard to head off the adoption of the standard because they felt that it was too costly and unnecessary, ...

By Stephen Taub • Oct. 29, 2001

Women’s CPA Group Says Attacks Were ”Extraordinary”

According to The National Executive Board of the American Woman’s Society of Certified Public Accountants (AWSCPA), the September 11 terrorist attacks qualify as an extraordinary event under the criteria of APB 30 for some businesses. It may not qualify for other businesses, however. For example,...

By Stephen Taub • Oct. 26, 2001

Circuit Breaker: Enron Dumps CFO Amid Conflict Questions

Enron Corp. is set to replace CFO Andrew Fastow. As CFO.com reported in a story earlier this week, Fastow’s role in a limited partnership has raised concerns about a conflict of interest. Fastow is succeeded by Jeff McMahon, who had been serving as chairman and CEO of Enron’s Industrial Markets g...

By Stephen Taub • Oct. 25, 2001

Operation Cooperation: SEC Has New Enforcement Policy

A new policy from the SEC states that the commission may not take enforcement action against a company it investigates — if the company cooperates fully with the authorities. The SEC unveiled the unprecedented policy as part of its settlement of financial-reporting fraud charges against Gisela de...

By Stephen Taub • Oct. 24, 2001

Related Party Crashers? SEC Looking Into Possible Conflict on Interest at Enron

The Securities and Exchange Commission has requested that Enron provide information regarding certain related party transactions. “We welcome this request,” said Kenneth L. Lay, Enron chairman and CEO in a prepared statement. “We will cooperate fully with the SEC.”Enron, North America’s biggest b...

By Stephen Taub • Oct. 22, 2001

Report: Enron CFO Reaped Millions from Partnership

Talk about the appearance of a conflict of interest. A limited partnership organized by Andrew Fastow, CFO at Enron Corp. since 1997, racked up millions of dollars in profits from transactions conducted with the energy company, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing an internal partnership ...

By Stephen Taub • Oct. 19, 2001

Losing My Insurance

Even before September 11, risk managers knew they’d be in for a tough time negotiating renewals on property-casualty policies. They just didn’t know how tough.The many years of soft insurance pricing and the economic downturn were enough to make for fairly certain premium hikes in the fall and wi...

By David Katz • Oct. 19, 2001

Changes to Regulation Fair Disclosure: Why Bother?

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Laura Unger says she plans to release a report on Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) within a month, according to Reuters. The SEC rule, which requires publicly traded companies to disclose material information simultaneously to the general public and the financi...

By Stephen Taub • Oct. 18, 2001

Terrorist Aftermath: Employees Give Employers High Marks

Most workers (59 percent) say their employers are doing a great job of communicating with them and addressing concerns about the company’s business prospects in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks. Only seven percent said they’d received no communication from their employers. This is accordi...

By Stephen Taub • Oct. 17, 2001

Terror Attacks Could Result in $70 Billion Insurance Tab, Analyst Says

A leading insurance industry analyst says that the insurance bill from the September 11 attacks could be as high $70 billion, according to Reuters.The most realistic cost range of insured losses is now between $30 billion and $70 billion, Mark Hewlett, managing director of Moody’s European Insura...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Oct. 16, 2001

Weather Derivatives: Climate Control

Rough game on the back nine? Late for a meeting? Lousy earnings report? Blame it on the weather. Last quarter, Deere & Co., Six Flags Inc., and The TJX Cos. all pointed fingers at Mother Nature when their numbers came up short.But they and other companies may not be able to use weather condit...

By Tim Reason • Oct. 12, 2001

Longtime Safeco CFO Retires

Management at insurance company Safeco Corp. announced that CFO Rod Pierson is retiring effective December 31. Pierson has been with the Seattle-based company for more than 27 years. “I’ve enjoyed my time here at Safeco tremendously,” said Pierson. “I really feel like the company’s headed in the ...

By Lisa Yoon • Oct. 11, 2001

Terror Hits Bond Holdings of Two Insurers

For at least two prominent insurance companies,the Sept. 11 terror attacks will hit produce a greater loss on the investment side than on the insurance side.Prudential Financial Inc. and Principal Financial Group Inc. said that policy claims from the terrorist attacks may actually wind up less th...

By Stephen Taub • Oct. 9, 2001

Insurers Link Up to Provide Aviation War-Risk Coverage

American International Group and at least 15 other insurers are linking up to provide aviation-war-risk and hijacking liability coverage totaling $1 billion per airline. The coverage kicks in above $50 million in primary coverage available in the aviation-insurance market, according to an AIG rel...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Oct. 4, 2001

Death Row for Computers?

Bob Knowles’s company destroyed 130 tons of computer hardware between January and July, and it’s on track to smelt 300 additional tons by year’s end — more than tripling last year’s mark. The CEO of Denver-based Technology Recycling attributes the dramatic rise in its business volume to new priva...

By Marie Leone • Oct. 1, 2001

Class Struggle

The equity structure of public corporations may be a lively subject for academic debate, but it’s rarely an issue in takeover battles.For Philadelphia-based cable service provider Comcast Corp., however, it could cost the company the biggest deal in its history. On July 18, the board of directors...

By Andrew Osterland • Oct. 1, 2001

Defined-Contribution Plans: the Next Big Thing after Managed Care?

With managed care apparently dead as a cost-containment tool, what can employers do to stop the steep rise of their health-benefit expenses?For a long time, CFOs could delegate such worries to their human resources people, confident that HR could use managed care to curb medical inflation.But wit...

By David Katz • Sept. 28, 2001

Disclosure: Best to Beat the Clock

Battles are won, goes the Civil War-era maxim, by he who “gets there first with the most.” The same applies to investor relations, says Mike Coke, CFO of AMB Property Corp.In 1999 the San Francisco-based real estate investment trust (REIT) reported its results a full month after the close of the ...

By Tim Reason • Sept. 25, 2001

Desperate Times: Insurers Likely to Receive Aid

Following the large financial losses incurred by the insurers as a result of the September 11 attacks, Congress is considering legislation that would offer tax relief for the insurance industry.For example, the bill would remove barriers to mergers and give some insurers a tax break by allowing t...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 21, 2001