How to Stop Trade-Secret Thieves

The same transparency of information that makes companies vulnerable to the theft of trade secrets makes it easier to catch the thieves.That’s a lesson senior executives could learn from the apprehension earlier this month of three men who allegedly stole source code and software from Lucent Tech...

By David Katz • May 17, 2001

Reg FD Under Congressional Scrutiny

Regulation FD, the “Fair Disclosure” rule adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission last year, moves from the regulatory to the legislative arena on Thursday.Rep. Richard Baker (R-La.) and his Capital Markets subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee will hear testimony Thurs...

By Ed Zwirn • May 16, 2001

How to Handle an Employee Benefit Windfall

When the arcane word “demutualization” pops up in the news, CFOs should pinch themselves to stay awake—and read on.The reason? If an employee benefits provider demutualizes, or transforms itself from a mutual to a stock company, its policyholders could get million-dollar windfalls in cash or stoc...

By David Katz • May 10, 2001

SEC To Host Roundtable About Internet Websites and Financial Service Providers

The SEC announced late last week that it will hold a public roundtable moderated by acting Chairman Laura S. Unger to discuss issues related to the relationship between Internet websites and financial service providers. The discussion will take place Wednesday, May 23 (from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m....

By CFO Editorial Staff • May 7, 2001

SEC to Analysts: Beware of ‘Reg LT’

Analysts better end their conflict-ridden relationships with issuers or face SEC regulation. That’s the message increasingly coming out of the regulatory body these days. With the report card for Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) mixed at best after being in effect just over six months, critics bot...

By Ed Zwirn • May 4, 2001

China Crisis Caused CFO to Dust Off Risk Management Plans

What if most of your company’s products were manufactured in a country locked in a tense political conflict with the United States?That question was very much on the mind of Michael Umana, the CFO of Saucony, during the crisis that followed the April 1 collision of a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese ...

By David Katz • May 3, 2001

Supply Chains: In the Nick of Time

Dot-coms may be history and tech stocks in retreat, but CFOs are ever keen to find ways to boost productivity through investments in information technology. If anything, the downturn just makes the pressure to make the best strategic investments greater than ever. Certainly, the pace of innovatio...

By Adam Lincoln • May 1, 2001

Go Your Own Way

“Which idiot bought the first fax machine?” quips David Heede midway through a conversation about the Internet’s impact on corporate supply chains. It’s an unexpected — not to mention puzzling — question. But, pausing briefly, the director of purchasing at Bass Brewers, the UK beer maker owned by...

By Janet Kersnar • May 1, 2001

Caught in the Middle

American BOA Inc. is feeling squeezed. As a second-tier supplier in the auto industry, the Cumming, Georgia-based maker of exhaust interface products must satisfy first-tier suppliers–its customers– that are demanding price reductions, while buying its raw materials from third-tier suppliers that...

By Russ Banham • May 1, 2001

Say You’re Sorry

On the eve of a high-profile trial last winter involving Ford Motor Co., Bridgestone/ Firestone Inc., and a woman paralyzed in an accident involving a Ford Explorer and defective Firestone tires, the case was abruptly settled. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, except for one crucial...

By Kris Frieswick • May 1, 2001

New Guidelines Aim to Rein in Press Releases

Concerned that an increasing number of press releases may be less than reflective of both reality and GAAP, two organizations highly influential with senior financial executives on Thursday jointly issued a set of “best practices” guidelines intending to govern earnings press release preparation....

By Ed Zwirn • April 26, 2001

Wall Street Feels Reg FD’s Pain

If former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt could have been a fly on the wall at Tuesday’s SEC-sponsored meeting on the impact of Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure), he would have been fairly satisfied. The rule, which was designed to prohibit selective disclosure of material information, was one of his pe...

By Jennifer Caplan • April 26, 2001

Talent Loss, Tech Breakdowns Worry Dot-Com CFO

You’re the CFO of an E-tailer selling high-end clothes by designers ranging from Amy Chan to Zegna.Early this year, your company was frighteningly close to a Nasdaq delisting. Currently, the stock market’s in a downturn, with your own stock hovering at a little over a buck; department store inven...

By David Katz • April 26, 2001

Press to CFOs: Lighten up on Reg FD!

The conventional wisdom says that the SEC’s Regulation FD has been a nightmare for financial executives since the rule’s enactment late last year. But, at an SEC-sponsored forum on Tuesday, several members of the news media and some financial information providers said that compliance with the ru...

By Jennifer Caplan • April 25, 2001

BREAKING NEWS: SEC Will Go Easy on Reg FD

CFOs complained, and the SEC has listened. That’s the message coming out of a Tuesday meeting sponsored by the regulatory agency in New York.Responding to CFO requests for both clarification of the rule and leniency in its enforcement, regulatory officials, including acting chair Laura Unger and ...

By Ed Zwirn • April 24, 2001

What’s in Store for Reg FD if It’s Not “In Play?”

Six months after Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) was put into effect, the SEC will journey into the geographical heart of the investment community for a roundtable discussion centering on how it has worked so far. SEC officials, led by acting Chairman Laura S. Unger, who was the only commissioner...

By Ed Zwirn • April 23, 2001

Case Study: What If Your ERP Can’t Deliver?

Hershey still haunts them.True, CFOs whose companies are installing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems try to avoid the cost overruns and other, even worse perils.But the candy maker’s scary tale seems to have staying power. Maybe it’s because it all came down on Halloween, 1999.By then, ...

By David Katz • April 19, 2001

This Year’s Model

The vertical-marketplace model seemed so simple. Pick any multibillion-dollar industry. Insert your Web site between the buyers and suppliers. Skim a small fee off each transaction they conduct. Retire to a life of truffles and witty conversation.Unfortunately, the plan had one small hitch. Cash ...

By Tim Reason • April 15, 2001

Put Up or Shut Up

In theory, it is possible for managers at a public company to ignore the Internet and still comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (www.sec.gov) new standards for disclosing corporate information. It’s also possible that Bob Denver will be named patron saint of Uzbekistan, but it’s ...

By Randy Myers • April 15, 2001

Basel Faulty

Even at the height of E-commerce fever in 1999, local bankers in Asia and Europe didn’t fall over themselves to lend money to fledgling dot-coms. Few start-ups had the receivables or assets to qualify for loan facilities or lines of credit. Moreover, capital adequacy ratios set by the Basel, Swit...

By Adam Lincoln • April 15, 2001

Why One CFO Said Good-bye to His Defined-Benefit Pension

Sometimes it pays for a CFO to take a chance on a new job. But in this economy, maybe not too much of one. Ken Possenriede, CFO of Exostar, an independent E-marketplace for the aerospace and defense industry, finds he’s made just such a move.Before being named CFO of Exostar, one of the emerging ...

By David Katz • April 12, 2001

Reg FD Memo: Don’t Talk to Reporters

If CFOs talk to reporters about market-moving information, they might as well be talking to Wall Street analysts…at least when it comes to Regulation Fair Disclosure. This means these types of conversations could easily lead to a violation of Reg FD—and enforcement actions and penalties from the ...

By David Katz • April 10, 2001

Anti-Hacker Insurance Offered

Certain companies worried about Internet security can buy new insurance protection to help their executives sleep better. Insurance for Internet-related crime and expanded coverage for losses caused by certain third-party vendors are among the features provided under policy endorsement just added...

By CFO Editorial Staff • April 6, 2001

Getting Stiffed by Deadbeats?

Far from the roller coaster reports of earnings and economic indicators, risks are buried in back offices, moldering in old ledgers. But CFOs who want to make the best of a worsening economy may soon turn to digging up the facts on less sensational risks and actively managing them.Like the risk t...

By David Katz • April 5, 2001

Forensic Computing

Companies routinely find themselves in court these days for everything from trademark disputes to wrongful termination suits. And as more information goes digital, so does more courtroom evidence. PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Larry Kanter says that so-called electronic discovery is now commonpl...

By Alix Stuart • April 1, 2001