Search Technology: Get the Picture?

Webmap Server Finance, developed by Boston-based WebMap Technologies, transforms any Internet, intranet, database, or extranet information repository into an interactive visual map. “The amount of information available to financial decision makers continues to grow exponentially,” says Pattie Mae...

By John Edwards • Sept. 15, 2001

Global Confidence Survey

There’s a chill in the air, but don’t blame it on the approach of autumn. Missed earnings reports, record-setting layoffs, and stock-market and productivity slides have cooled corporate enthusiasm, as only 13 percent of U.S. CFOs registered a vote of confidence in the global economy for the next ...

By Marie Leone • Sept. 1, 2001

Explore the Trendline➔

Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

Three Ways to Strengthen Your Travel-and-Entertainment Savings Program

Cut unneeded travel-agent fees. Book online. Watch what you spend. The steps employees should take to keep a company’s travel and entertainment costs within bounds are simple enough. What’s not so simple is how employers can get corporate travelers to take those steps.Do you issue a mandate stati...

By Craig Schneider • Sept. 1, 2001

Fellow Travelers

With the economy grounded and travel costs soaring, many companies would love to keep their employees home. But American workers continue to hit the road: This year, business travel will reach $110 billion, up from $103 billion last year.There are new ways to cut costs, however, some of which tak...

By Alix Stuart • Sept. 1, 2001

Collective Decisions

Even with the best information, smaller companies may lack sufficient clout to cut good deals with airlines, as might larger companies that don’t centralize travel purchases. So even as he tries to aggregate global contracts for his firm, Tokyo Electron America Inc., and its parent company in Jap...

By Alix Stuart • Sept. 1, 2001

Straighten Up and Fly Right

“I’m not putting that on my expense report,” quips Jack Sommer, referring to the Molson he’s just ordered while aboard a plane sitting on the tarmac.As corporate controller of Boston-based Student Advantage Inc., he knows that the cost of one beer on his delayed night flight isn’t a threat to the...

By Craig Schneider • Sept. 1, 2001

Global Contracts: Prices Without Borders?

At first glance, global pricing contracts look like a win-win situation for corporate buyers and sellers intent on doing more business across international borders. After all, multinational companies increasingly want to buy products or services from one supplier, at the same price, in every coun...

By Nikos Valance • Aug. 27, 2001

Vision Thing

Yogi Berra got it wrong. For most companies, the future is what it used to be: a perpetually blurry hodge-podge of vague expectations, missed opportunities, and unpleasant surprises. Forecasting remains a blind alley.Software companies sense an opportunity and are attacking the forecasting proble...

By Scott Leibs • Aug. 1, 2001

Building Budgets on the Web

Nepco found itself in a bit of a bind last year. The company was getting ready for its annual budget review, and its whole budgeting process had all but gone up in smoke.The firm, which builds power plants, planned to use a budgeting system that had been developed internally. But the employee who...

By Joseph Radigan • July 9, 2001

When Software Lets You Count Your Costs to the Penny

If you’re in the retailing business, you’ll be forgiven if you view Christmas as synonymous with overhead costs. For Hickory Farms, the catalog retailer of food gift baskets, an upgrade last fall in its budgeting system preceded its fine-tuning of its overhead accounting this year.The company has...

By Theresa W. Carey • July 9, 2001

What to Look for in Your Next Budgeting System

Rolling up tens or hundreds of spreadsheets into one master budget can make the budgeting and planning process painfully time-consuming and error-prone. Because it is usually done once a year, by the time the budget is finally nailed down, it can quickly become outdated.According to Dan Sholler, ...

By Jennifer Caplan • July 9, 2001

Will Better Budget Software Give You Job Security?

Last summer, by the time the scale of the current business slowdown became apparent, it was too late for many companies to cut their spending ahead of the curve.Could better budget software have made a difference? Maybe. Hindsight is always 20/20, but too many companies found themselves in a situ...

By Joseph Radigan • July 9, 2001

The 2001 Working Capital Survey

Forget the Float? In a tough operating environment, negative working capital isn’t always a plus. By Ronald Fink2001 Working Capital Survey ChartsClick on an industry to view the companies best able to squeeze cash flow out of working capital.AerospaceAutomobilesChemicalsCoalConglomeratesConstruc...

By Ronald Fink • July 2, 2001

2001 Working Capital Survey – Chart 29

Behind the RankingsThe management of working capital combines two measures, weighted equally:1. Days of Working Capital (DWC) = (Receivables + Inventory ­ Payables) ÷ (Sales ÷ 365 Days). If payables exceed the sum of receivables and inventory, DWC is negative.2. Cash Conversion Efficiency (CCE) =...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 1, 2001

2001 Working Capital Survey – Chart 34

Behind the RankingsThe management of working capital combines two measures, weighted equally:1. Days of Working Capital (DWC) = (Receivables + Inventory ­ Payables) ÷ (Sales ÷ 365 Days). If payables exceed the sum of receivables and inventory, DWC is negative.2. Cash Conversion Efficiency (CCE) =...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 1, 2001

2001 Working Capital Survey – Chart 33

Behind the RankingsThe management of working capital combines two measures, weighted equally:1. Days of Working Capital (DWC) = (Receivables + Inventory ­ Payables) ÷ (Sales ÷ 365 Days). If payables exceed the sum of receivables and inventory, DWC is negative.2. Cash Conversion Efficiency (CCE) =...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 1, 2001

2001 Working Capital Survey – Chart 32

Behind the RankingsThe management of working capital combines two measures, weighted equally:1. Days of Working Capital (DWC) = (Receivables + Inventory ­ Payables) ÷ (Sales ÷ 365 Days). If payables exceed the sum of receivables and inventory, DWC is negative.2. Cash Conversion Efficiency (CCE) =...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 1, 2001

2001 Working Capital Survey – Chart 31

Behind the RankingsThe management of working capital combines two measures, weighted equally:1. Days of Working Capital (DWC) = (Receivables + Inventory ­ Payables) ÷ (Sales ÷ 365 Days). If payables exceed the sum of receivables and inventory, DWC is negative.2. Cash Conversion Efficiency (CCE) =...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 1, 2001

2001 Working Capital Survey-Chart 30

Behind the RankingsThe management of working capital combines two measures, weighted equally:1. Days of Working Capital (DWC) = (Receivables + Inventory ­ Payables) ÷ (Sales ÷ 365 Days). If payables exceed the sum of receivables and inventory, DWC is negative.2. Cash Conversion Efficiency (CCE) =...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 1, 2001

2001 Working Capital Survey – Chart 16

Behind the RankingsThe management of working capital combines two measures, weighted equally:1. Days of Working Capital (DWC) = (Receivables + Inventory ­ Payables) ÷ (Sales ÷ 365 Days). If payables exceed the sum of receivables and inventory, DWC is negative.2. Cash Conversion Efficiency (CCE) =...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 1, 2001

2001 Working Capital Survey – Chart 1

Behind the RankingsThe management of working capital combines two measures, weighted equally:1. Days of Working Capital (DWC) = (Receivables + Inventory ­ Payables) ÷ (Sales ÷ 365 Days). If payables exceed the sum of receivables and inventory, DWC is negative.2. Cash Conversion Efficiency (CCE) =...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 1, 2001

Forget the Float? The 2001 Working Capital Survey

Working capital efficiency can be a beautiful thing, as any finance executive familiar with the Working Capital Survey conducted by CFO magazine and REL Consultancy Group should know by now. The idea, as we explained in our first survey four years ago, is straightforward enough. If you minimize y...

By Ronald Fink • July 1, 2001

2001 Working Capital Survey – Chart 2

Behind the RankingsThe management of working capital combines two measures, weighted equally:1. Days of Working Capital (DWC) = (Receivables + Inventory ­ Payables) ÷ (Sales ÷ 365 Days). If payables exceed the sum of receivables and inventory, DWC is negative.2. Cash Conversion Efficiency (CCE) =...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 1, 2001

2001 Working Capital Survey – Chart 3

Behind the RankingsThe management of working capital combines two measures, weighted equally:1. Days of Working Capital (DWC) = (Receivables + Inventory ­ Payables) ÷ (Sales ÷ 365 Days). If payables exceed the sum of receivables and inventory, DWC is negative.2. Cash Conversion Efficiency (CCE) =...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 1, 2001

2001 Working Capital Survey – Chart 4

Behind the RankingsThe management of working capital combines two measures, weighted equally:1. Days of Working Capital (DWC) = (Receivables + Inventory ­ Payables) ÷ (Sales ÷ 365 Days). If payables exceed the sum of receivables and inventory, DWC is negative.2. Cash Conversion Efficiency (CCE) =...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 1, 2001