Features

Strategic Risk Assessment
By Mark L. Frigo and Richard J. Anderson
At a time when interest in and focus on risk management are increasing, a Strategic Risk Assessment provides a valuable foundation for assessing, monitoring, and managing risk. The seven steps create a closed-loop, ongoing process that is flexible enough to be tailored to a company’s maturity, culture, and understanding of its risk and will put the whole organization on the path to effective risk management and governance.

RFID: Wireless Innovations in Inventory Monitoring and Accounting
By Clyde T. Stambaugh and Floyd W. Carpenter
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) systems are rapidly replacing Universal Product Code (UPC) and manual inventory systems for monitoring and accounting for inventories. The motivation for this change is the potential for greater efficiency and lower costs. For many businesses, RFID promises highly automated, paperless inventory systems that provide significant benefits.

Haier Is Higher
By Thomas W. Lin
By implementing three management-control systems, the China-based Haier Group went from the brink of bankruptcy in 1984 to becoming one of the world’s leading manufacturers of white goods. The three systems helped Haier substantially reduce its production costs and cycles while greatly increasing customer satisfaction and quality levels.

SFAS No. 157 and the Current Banking Crisis
By Thomas B. Sanders
During good economic times, fair value accounting increased market capitalizations, and many banks and hedge funds were happy to take advantage of the benefits of marking their appropriate assets to market. Now, in leaner times, the declines are greatly enhanced, and the same banks and hedge funds are unhappy with the results and are clamoring to exert greater influence over the standards-setting process.

Columns

PERSPECTIVES
The Kids Are Alright

CERTIFICATION
CMA: The Quest for Increasing Value

TAXES
End-of-the-Year Tax Planning

ETHICS
Fraud Continues, but So Does Good Corporate Citizenship

FINANCIAL REPORTING
Accounting for Financial Instruments:
Post-Crisis Changes, Part 1

IMA LIFE
Innovation Corner

Departments

SF BULLETIN
• Corporate Disclosure of Credit Rating Agency Relationships
• Books: The Strategic Planning Process

EXCEL
Formula Speed

ACCESS
Immediate IF and Other Useful Functions

TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Motorola MILESTONE, Barnes & Noble nook, Nokia N900, Belkin Conserve

TECH FORUM
Netbooks—Think “Elsewhere”