Going With the Flow

You’ve heard these arguments before. On one hand, finance executives and equity analysts worry that investors fail to ignore the impact of goodwill amortization on earnings. On the other hand, standard setters and accounting experts contend that goodwill is an asset that belongs firmly on the bal...

By Ronald Fink • Oct. 1, 1999

The Accountants’ Hot Seat

In a rare action that could send a chill through the accounting profession, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused two former Coopers & Lybrand auditors of “recklessly ignor[ing] unmistakable red flags” in their review of the financial statements of California Micro Devices.The stock ...

By Stephen Barr • Oct. 1, 1999

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

GLENN E. HARDER – CAROLINA POWER & LIGHT CO.

When Carolina Power & Light Co. (CP&L) unveiled its new customer-service center in 1996, a component of the Raleigh, North Carolina­based utility’s monumental cost- cutting initiative, it never expected such a challenging test. “We introduced the customer call center on the eve of Hurrica...

By Russ Banham • Oct. 1, 1999

The High Price of Potential

Those insane internet-company valuations have created quite a buzz on Wall Street of late. Although they’ve come down closer to Earth recently, it remains hard to divine rational explanations. Now a study of the Internet industry has found at least a little rhyme, if not reason, to the values–and...

By George Donnelly • Sept. 1, 1999

Local Banks Want to Bond

When the National Bank of Commerce petitioned the Treasury Department to be allowed to underwrite corporate debt, it wasn’t trying to be revolutionary. All the Memphis-based bank wanted was for one of its subsidiaries to be able to make bond deals for its customers on a primary, not secondary, le...

By Steve Bergsman • Sept. 1, 1999

Guru of the New Economy

A CFO Interview by Edward Teach — the extended, Internet-only version.Sooner or later, the Internet keeps every manager awake at night. There’s an entrepreneurial exuberance in the air, but there’s a lot of fear and anxiety around, too. Companies fret that their bricks-and-mortar businesses will ...

By Edward Teach • Sept. 1, 1999

Rollin’ on Down

The fast-growth corporate model called the roll-up has hardly been on a roll this past year. “The r -word became unfashionable last fall,” says Jeff Evans, a securities analyst at Credit Lyonnais Securities. On the list of 1998 initial public offerings, “some roll-ups started missing targets righ...

By S.L. Mintz • Sept. 1, 1999

Small Caps Get Squeezed

After a change of heart, the New York Stock Exchange is pushing the Securities and Exchange Commission to include companies with small market capitalizations (under $200 million) in its plans for new independent audit committee rules. Those smaller companies may have to scramble to meet more-stri...

By Fritz McCormick • Sept. 1, 1999

Back to the Future

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt has been railing against earnings management for a year now, but a close look at his proposed remedies suggests he is mistaking the symptoms for the disease. Levitt, to be sure, has been beating up on executives and board directors for “ac...

By Stephen Barr • Sept. 1, 1999

Awaiting the Internet Tax Man

Life in the virtual world of E-commerce may soon encounter a cold reality – the introduction of state and local taxation. Currently, businesses selling remotely- whether online or by phone and mail – aren’t required to collect state or local sales taxes unless they have a physical presence in a b...

By Ian Springsteel • Sept. 1, 1999

Venturing Out

US Airways was shocked in 1996 when British Airways–its partner in a critical transatlantic joint-service arrangement– created a second major alliance with US Airways rival American Airlines. Having given up its own U.K. routes when it signed on with British Airways three years earlier, Arlington...

By Roy Harris • Sept. 1, 1999

Mad About Cyberfares

Mad About CyberfaresIn what may be a tempest in a computer, travel managers have boosted the noise level over discount fares sold by air carriers via the Internet. What’s bugging the managers is that the fares aren’t funneled through a central reservation system (CRS) for airline bookings.“At the...

By John P. Mello Jr. and John Xenakis • Sept. 1, 1999

The ROI Challenge

Bob Benson, CFO of telecommunications company Aliant Inc., crows that his company’s three- year enterprise resource planning (ERP) project has come in on time and on budget. In 1997, four loosely allied telecom Þrms in Eastern Canada–Bruncor, Island Telecom, Maritime Telegraph & Telephone, an...

By Bronwyn Fryer • Sept. 1, 1999

R&D Credit Here to Stay?

Although it’s buried in a controversial tax measure, a proposal to make permanent the tax credit for research-and-development spending is closer than it has ever been to making it into the nation’s statute books.Since its introduction in 1981, the R&D credit has had to be renewed annually by ...

By John P. Mello Jr. • Sept. 1, 1999

In the Name of Rock

It’s a typical July afternoon in Orlando. A few tourists amble sluggishly along Universal Studio’s new CityWalk, an open-air shopping plaza next to the famous theme park. Across the man-made lagoon in the plaza’s center stands the largest Hard Rock Cafe in the world, open since December 1998. It ...

By Kris Frieswick • Sept. 1, 1999

The Check is On the Mail

The Check is On the MailLike a growing number of companies, Edward D. Jones & Co. takes its E-mail policy seriously. In May, the St. Louis­based brokerage firm fired 19 employees and disciplined another 41 for inappropriate Internet and E-mail use. Those who were fired ignored a memo instruct...

By John P. Mello Jr. and Joseph McCafferty • Aug. 1, 1999

Not At All Taxing

Since 1979…Gartner Group Inc. has tracked companies on computer technology’s cutting edge. With the expected shareholder approval of the IT advisory firm’s recapitalization and spin- off of shares owned by IMS Health Inc., though, Gartner itself will vault to the cutting edge–of financial technol...

By S.L. Mintz • Aug. 1, 1999

The Revolution in Planning

No one said reengineering planning and budgeting would be easy. It’s just that no one thought it would be so tough, either. Indeed, the last plank in the finance redesign process is turning out to be a lot more difficult, time-consuming, and expensive than companies ever imagined. But that hasn’t...

By Russ Banham • Aug. 1, 1999

Separate But Unequal

Jon Flaxman needs to solve a vexing problem. As CFO of Hewlett-Packard Corp.’s Enterprise Computing organization, in Palo Alto, California, he presides over a mishmash of interdivisional transfer-pricing mechanisms, based on various financial and tax-accounting regulations. Transfer prices, the c...

By Ian Springsteel • Aug. 1, 1999

Not at All Taxing

Since 1979, Gartner Group Inc. has tracked companies on computer technology’s cutting edge. With the expected shareholder approval of the IT advisory firm’s recapitalization and spin-off of shares owned by IMS Health Inc., though, Gartner itself will vault to the cutting edge–of financial technol...

By S.L. Mintz • Aug. 1, 1999

Networking and the Net

Don Depascal was looking for a better job. As controller for a Silicon Valley start-up Conductus Inc., a strong number two in a 20- person finance department, with more than 20 years experience, he represented a hot commodity for the many companies pursuing experienced high-tech finance talent. H...

By George Donnelly • Aug. 1, 1999

Deal Breaker

For Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc., it was the best of years, and it was the worst of years. In 1998, Newsweek rated the health maintenance organization the finest in the country, awarding it a string of “A’s” in various categories. Similar accolades came from U.S. News & World Report and a...

By Edward Teach • Aug. 1, 1999

Flying Machines

Generally speaking, CFOs don’t have time to visit computer stores. Generally speaking, when signing off on the purchase of portable computers for employees, most finance managers rely on the advice of their IT heads. And generally speaking, most IT managers tend to play it safe, recommending dura...

By Enid Tsui • Aug. 1, 1999

Breakup Shakeup

AT&T Corporation Acquires Tele-Communications IncorporatedWhen AT&T Corp. acquired Tele-Communications Inc. last year, the $54 billion deal came with a little insurance: a breakup fee of $1.75 billion. Even friendly acquisitions can be risky business, prompting more companies to demand br...

By John P. Mello Jr. • July 1, 1999

Dollars in the Details

(Note and link omitted)As levers of financial management go, none bears more weight than working capital. The viability of every business activity rests on daily changes in receivables, inventory, and payables.“We focus on all three,” declares CFO and executive vice president Larry Waisanen of bu...

By S.L. Mintz • July 1, 1999