EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR ALL BUSINESSES, THE NUMBER of strategic relationships has been growing 25% per year since 1985. A FIRM’S FIRST STEP TOWARD a strategic alliance is to decide what capabilities it wants to add. Then it should decide what it wants to achieve: Does the firm wish to
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TOPICS / MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
Strategy
Tips on Installing a New Operating System
Q. I’ve decided to upgrade my operating system from Windows 98 to XP. I’m not so much interested in all the new XP features—although I’m sure I’ll find them useful. My primary reason is that my current Win 98 setup is unstable. No matter how I tinker with the system,
Move Excel Worksheets from One Workbook to Another
Q. I often have to move several Excel worksheets from one workbook to another. I use the conventional copy-and-paste technique (Ctrl-C, Ctrl-P). While it works, it’s a real drag. Isn’t there a better way? A. Yes. And the solution, you may be surprised to learn, is a drag, too, but
Browsing in Large Word Documents
Q. I work with very large instructional documents with lots of elements (tables and graphics, for example) and browsing around a document trying to find things can be quite a challenge. Can you suggest any ways to make my job easier? A. The last several versions of Word have a
A Fast Way to Address an E-mail
Q. I’m just starting to use Outlook as my e-mail tool, and although it’s very good, I’m sure there are ways to make it work even more efficiently. For example, I send e-mails most frequently to three people, yet each time I set up a message, I have to go
Outlook Provides Travel Instructions
Key to Instructions To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we use two different typefaces. Boldface type is used to identify the names of icons, agendas and URLs. Sans serif type indicates commands and instructions that users should type into the computer and the names of files. Q.
Freedom From Market Swings
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE OBJECTIVE OF ANY INVESTMENT STRATEGY CPAs recommend to clients should be to preserve capital and build on it at a consistent rate in both bull and bear markets. The key to doing this is to look beyond stocks and diversify into alternative investments. A PORTFOLIO CONSISTING ENTIRELY
The Hedge Fund Mystique
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY HEDGE FUNDS ARE SUCCESSFUL ONLY IF THEY MAKE money in both up and down markets. To do this, they employ some creative and risky investment strategies—selling short, using leverage, trading put and call options, trading futures and investing in emerging markets. SINCE HEDGE FUNDS ARE NOT RIGHT FOR
Preserving the Family Legacy
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TO HELP FAMILY BUSINESS OWNERS BUILD A LEGACY, CPAs need to help family members develop a plan to transfer the business to the next generation while minimizing estate, gift and income taxes. Although the 2001 tax act eliminates estate taxes in 2010, there is no guarantee the repeal
Innovation: The New Route to Wealth
here does new wealth come from? Like a four-year-old asking how babies are born, it’s a deceptively direct question that often disarms our conventional capacity to answer. To be sure, we’re ready with pat responses peppered with references to ROI, RONA and EVA, but these measures tell us more about
Stock Options Pitfalls and Strategies Du Jour
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AS THE STOCK MARKET SLUMPED , the use of stock options as the ideal form of employee compensation lost some of its luster. To fill the breach, companies are scrambling to find remedial compensation strategies to protect their employees from market losses. These alternative methods include repricing, reissuing
Research Summary 22: Haphazard Sampling and Selection Bias
verybody has a favorite color and season—preferences that seem innate, always defying reason. Auditors are no different when it comes to haphazard sampling, a process in which—ideally—they choose samples without regard to size, shape, location or other physical characteristics. Experts have expressed concern about bias in such sampling and, as
Research Summary 21: Audit Committee Appointments
oes the emphasis on not appointing to an audit committee corporate board directors who have significant relationships to a company obscure consideration of other characteristics that also may be important? Independence aside, a director’s ability and willingness to perform well may ride on whether he or she has equity investments
Adding Value to the Profession: The Proposed Global Business Credential
n extraordinary opportunity is before us. We are now considering a credential that adds enormous value to our profession. Its holders can be characterized as rooted in strategy, facilitators of organizational change, savvy in performance measurement systems, entrepreneurial in nature, globally aware and grounded in knowledge integration. They will
Golden Business Ideas
Linger Power Whatever you do, don’t dash out of a meeting—even if you feel pressed to attend to other business. Reason: Sometimes the most important discussions occur after the formal meeting breaks up. Details are negotiated, adjustments are made, support for marginal positions is bartered—and you don’t want to be
Strategy for Success: Moving Up the Economic Value Chain
SPECIAL REPORT: THE GLOBAL BUSINESS CREDENTIAL Adding Value to the Profession: The Proposed Global Business Credential BY WILLIAM L. REEB, CPA AND MICHAELLE CAMERON, PhD n extraordinary opportunity is before us. We are now considering a credential that adds enormous value to our profession. Its holders can be characterized
Research Summary 13: Workpaper Reviews
FOR THE PRACTICING AUDITOR—RESEARCH SUMMARIES #13 AND #14 Summary #13 Workpaper Reviews Specialized reviews don’t improve audit efficiency. BY E. MICHAEL BAMBER AND ROBERT J. RAMSAY ccounting firms spend a significant amount of time on workpaper review; audit managers devote more than 50% of their time to it. Firms
Research Summary 14: Audit Committees and Auditor Selection
FOR THE PRACTICING AUDITOR—RESEARCH SUMMARIES #13 AND #14 Summary #13 Workpaper Reviews Specialized reviews don’t improve audit efficiency. BY E. MICHAEL BAMBER AND ROBERT J. RAMSAY ccounting firms spend a significant amount of time on workpaper review; audit managers devote more than 50% of their time to it. Firms
Build a Bridge to the Internal Audit Department
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE RENEWED FOCUS ON AUDIT COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT of the financial reporting function can assist outside auditors in preventing financial statement irregularities. Auditors now have an opportunity to develop a relationship with the audit committee that may promote frank communication in a way that their usual relationship with management
Companies Focus on Derivatives Compliance
BY THE NUMBERS Companies Focus on Derivatives Compliance FASB Statement no.133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, issued in June 1998, requires that companies report their derivatives holdings at fair value and disclose the purpose and effectiveness of their hedging strategy. For most, the standard took effect January
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FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE
Flip out with the latest Tech Q&A
The September Technology Q&A column shows how to create dynamic to-do lists with Excel's checkboxes and also how to set up multifactor authentication texts that don't rely on phones. Flip through both items and view a video walkthrough in our digital format.
From The Tax Adviser
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2025 tax software survey
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