Don’t Get Knocked Out in the Second Round of Layoffs

While love may be lovelier the second time around, as the song says, that’s not likely to be the case for a second round of layoffs.The patience of top-performing people who hung around for an opening round could start to wear thin if an employer announces that a new set of compatriots will be de...

By David Katz • June 14, 2001

“Brazilianriver.com”

The panel members were winking while trying to be “discreet.”And you may have needed an atlas to help you get the reference.But a rudimentary knowledge of geography and a passing familiarity with some of the events that have precipitated the dot.com implosion of recent times left the reference an...

By Ed Zwirn • June 14, 2001

Nearby Massacre Sparked Prevention Programs

When it comes to motivating an employer to prevent the risk of workplace violence, location and a personal connection are everything.That’s been the experience of finance and human resources executives in the vicinity of Wakefield, Mass., where seven employees of Edgewater Technology were shot de...

By David Katz • June 7, 2001

Press Relations

It was bad enough that sales for Ault Inc.’s power conversion equipment had slowed and that the $85 million Minneapolis-based company would have to cut 21 percent of its staff. But for CFO Donald Henry, there was one more issue to deal with: the scrutiny of the media.Henry was the front line of d...

By Alix Stuart • June 1, 2001

Stock Performance

Corporations couldn’t stop the price-drop virus that infected Nasdaq over the past year, but a handful of health-care companies managed to inoculate themselves. The quintet, plus three apparel companies, a bakery chain, and an education firm, were the top 10 stock performers in the United States ...

By Tama Miyake • June 1, 2001

Abandoned IPOs

CFO Bryan Carr and his colleagues at Intellon Corp., a semiconductor maker in Ocala, Fla., were anxious to raise capital through an initial public offering in 2001. But as the equity markets soured, so did the company’s IPO prospects. By March, Intellon had withdrawn its offering. Nevertheless, t...

By John P. Mello Jr. • June 1, 2001

Just-in-Case Capital

Late last year, Royal Bank of Canada and the French tire maker Compagnie Financiere Michelin sought access to capital for future contingencies–in the bank’s case, to absorb severe credit losses, and in Michelin’s, to fund future acquisitions or expansions. Rather than access capital from the debt...

By Russ Banham • June 1, 2001

How Being Nice Can Lead to a Lawsuit

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be nice. And sometimes it takes a CFO to say honesty is a better policy.A case in point occurs when a shocked employee gets fired after years of stellar performance reviews. Baffled, the worker looks for a cause—and finds it in the real or imagined race, gender, or age...

By David Katz • May 31, 2001

Employment Bias: Should You Settle, or Risk a Jury Trial?

Let’s say you’re the CFO of one of the many companies that have laid off workers recently.Angered by your move, or piqued by a real grievance, one or more of the workers turns around and sues your company for age, sex, or racial bias.Should you tell your lawyers to settle the case or take it to a...

By David Katz • May 24, 2001

SEC to Congress: Verdict Out on Reg FD

The verdict is still out on Regulation FD, the Securities and Exchange Commission told a Congressional subcommittee on Thursday.“It is still very early to measure in any objective manner the effects of Regulation FD,” the regulatory body stated in written testimony provided today to Rep. Richard ...

By Ed Zwirn • May 17, 2001

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