Blinded by the Light

What leads to high business performance? Consultants and journalists have advanced many answers to this question, both in print and from the lectern. But most of those answers are little more than educated guesses. In fact, most of them are probably bunk.That, in a nutshell, is the message of a p...

By Edward Teach • Jan. 4, 2007

The Last Mile

It’s a warm November day on the plains of west Texas, and Dale Hosack, the 47-year-old CFO of bottle-maker Western Container Corp., has just finished an amiable conversation with two of the company’s factory managers.Hosack is in a good mood — surprising, given the time of year. At Midland-based ...

By Don Durfee • Jan. 4, 2007

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

Tuition Magicians

For many parents, anxiety about paying for their children’s college educations sets in at about the same time the “+” sign on the pregnancy test comes into view. The cost of college has outpaced the rate of inflation for years, and many experts expect that trend to continue. And while a higher pe...

By Marie Leone • Jan. 4, 2007

Business Outlook Survey

CFOs are feeling better about the prospects for the U.S. economy in 2007. According to the Duke University/CFO Business Outlook Survey, 30 percent of finance chiefs say they are more optimistic about the direction of the U.S. economy. That’s up from last quarter, when just 20 percent — a five-yea...

By Joseph McCafferty • Jan. 4, 2007

Q&A: Global Institute for Tomorrow’s Founder

The very idea of a think tank seems a throwback. That’s because so many—read American—smack of the mentality of the Cold War, whether they be neo-con or liberal. Most were born when business’s playbook seemed written from a US slant—and before the economic rise of China and India accelerated glob...

By Tom Leander • Dec. 29, 2006

A Metrics Mess

Do a quick search on the video website www.youtube.com and you can find a 54-second clip starring a BMW. It’s not just any BMW. This one is equipped with state-of-the-art infrared technology that improves a driver’s night vision. In the 24 hours after the video first appeared on YouTube last summ...

By Janet Kersnar • Dec. 27, 2006

Q&A: Tube Lines’ Finance Director

Tube Lines was born amid a political firestorm four years ago when it won a 30-year, £20 billion (€30 billion) building and maintenance contract for three London Underground lines with the backing of central government against fierce opposition from the Mayor of London, the leftist Ken Livingston...

By Tony McAuley • Dec. 20, 2006

Sarbox Getting Costlier for Small Firms

Costs related to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act seem to be increasing for small businesses, according to a Merrill Lynch report. In fact, 35 percent of small-business CFOs and CEOs predict Sarbox expenses to rise over the next year. The executives are hoping a new Congress will bring them some Sarbox rel...

By Sarah Johnson • Dec. 5, 2006

Small-Business Chairs Rap Contracting

A new Small Business Administration rule that purports to secure more government contracts for small firms falls short, according to Sen. John Kerry and Rep. Nydia Velazquez, who will be heading the small business committees of their respective congressional houses next year. “The agency’s rule f...

By Sarah Johnson • Dec. 5, 2006

SEC’s Campos: One More 404 Delay for Small Biz

Small companies won yet another reprieve from having to comply with the most controversial provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Roel Campos said Monday that the regulator will recommend at its Dec. 13 meeting that the deadline for small companies ass...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 5, 2006

Flying the Unfriendly Skies

What are your biggest complaints about air travel?Cramped seating: 75%Security-screening delays: 58%Declining service on board: 49%Flight delays: 47%Cost: 30%What additional safety measures would you consider tolerable?Fingerprint scans: 73%More-expensive luggage screens: 64%Retinal scans: 54%Ext...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Dec. 4, 2006

Over There: Private-Equity Sets Sail

Private-equity investments overseas have hit a record high, reflecting a four-year upward trend, according to a European publisher. Through mid-November, international investments announced by U.S. private-equity firms in 2006 totaled $82 billion, compared with $46 billion during the same period ...

By Sarah Johnson • Dec. 1, 2006

View from China: Unions at Wal-Mart

In Beijing these days, it’s common to hear the phrase “Building a Harmonious Society” being uttered by CFOs in both public and private. This newly minted Communist phrase is being taken seriously in a way that recent party lines never were.That’s because the phrase is not just a slogan, but also ...

By Wu Chen • Dec. 1, 2006

Biotech Dreaming

Two years after its founding in Boulder, Colorado, Sirna Therapeutics Inc. picked up and moved to San Francisco in 2005. While most CFOs might have balked at the idea of relocating to one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country, finance chief Greg Weaver saw the move as critical ...

By Kate O'Sullivan • Dec. 1, 2006

Alternative Universe

It has been called “illogical,”“horrific,” “a slow-motion trainwreck,” and, most colorfully, the “roachmotel” of taxes: you check in but younever check out. The alternative minimumtax (AMT), dreamed up by Congressin the late 1960s to make sure therich don’t exploit tax loopholes, nowaffects more ...

By Marie Leone • Dec. 1, 2006

A Productive Debate

If there’s anything like an elixir for aneconomy, it’s productivity growth. Economic theoryholds that when output per worker rises, so shouldwages, and hence living standards. In practice, that’swhat transpired so impressively in the United States duringmuch of the last century.But recent data su...

By Edward Teach • Dec. 1, 2006

Third Thoughts on Foreign Capital

The next great globalization, according to Frederic Mishkin’s new book (The Next Great Globalization, Princeton University Press, 2006) of that name, will be financial in character: the flow of foreign money into stocks, bonds and banking in emerging economies. A recently appointed governor of th...

By Economist Staff • Nov. 22, 2006

A Good Cause

Within 24 hours of the tsunami hitting southeast Asia on December 26th 2004, more than 230,000 people were dead, 1.7m people displaced, 430,000 homes destroyed and some €10 billion of damage done in 14 countries. It immediately became a showcase for aid agencies and other nonprofit organisations....

By Janet Kersnar • Nov. 22, 2006

On the Record: Jumeirah Group’s CFO

You know you’re in Dubai when you walk into the lobby of the world’s tallest hotel and you’re bathed in the glow of its gold-leaf interior. The sail-shaped, all-suite Burj al Arab is an icon of the booming Gulf city and the crown in the portfolio of Jumeirah Group. A part of Dubai Holding, the in...

By Abe De Ramos • Nov. 21, 2006

Go West, Old Man

Tinkering with the circadian clock, the day-and-night cycle in the physiological processes of all living beings, is rarely a good idea. Poor health and accidents are more common in those who fly frequently or do shift work. Now a new study shows that the direction in which the clock is changed af...

By Economist Staff • Nov. 21, 2006

Down But Not Out

Rarely have Wall Street’s seers been so split. Not only are they divided about where the economy is headed, they even disagree about how it is faring today. Pessimists, such as Nouriel Roubini of Roubini Global Economics, reckon output is slowing from its already desultory pace of 1.6% a year in ...

By Economist Staff • Nov. 20, 2006

Dim Sums

China’s national bird, it is said, is the crane. They loom all over cities, as ever more skyscrapers, car factories and steel plants are constructed. Concern that the investment boom is out of control has forced the government to clamp down on new projects. As a result, investment in fixed assets...

By Economist Staff • Nov. 14, 2006

Setting up Shop in India

India’s retail revolution is at last getting started. At the moment 97% of retail sales are made in more than 15m tiny mom-and-pop stores, mostly of less than 500 square feet (46 square metres). But now Reliance Industries, the country’s largest business group, is to spend 250 billion rupees ($5....

By Economist Staff • Nov. 13, 2006

In Case of Emergency

When Tropical Storm Ernesto hit Florida in August, Bill Franklin, manager of travel for Mitretek Systems, was busy tracking how many of the company’s employees were in its path. With the help of an interactive database, Franklin could see their location and send them a group E-mail alert if neces...

By Laura DeMars • Nov. 13, 2006

Harry Potter and the Corner Office

Who would make a better CEO, Harry Potter orMoses? Should you run your companylike the New York Yankees, eventhough the team just failed again inthe clutch? What can Formula 1 racingteach you about developing talent?Does Attila the Hun still speak towould-be masters of the universe, oris Captain ...

By Joseph McCafferty • Nov. 1, 2006