Features

IMA 2006 Salary Survey
David L. Schroeder and Karl E. Reichardt, CMA
Average total compensation of IMA members increased 5.5% to $113,963 in 2006, according to the latest annual survey of IMA members in the U.S. In 2006, members reported an average salary of $95,268, a 2.7% increase over the amount reported in 2005. As in past years, those members responding to the survey with either CMA or CPA certification, or both, earned more than those with no certification in every age category except the 60+ category.

Five Key Principles of Corporate Performance Management
Bob Paladino, CPA
What do key executives of successful companies know that enables them to consistently achieve outstanding results? Based on research projects with executives and leaders from 40 leading organizations, this author shares his insights on the principles that form winning companies’ DNA.

Saying Goodbye to U.S. GAAP
Ramona Dzinkowski
The International Financial Reporting Standards already are the “one global accounting standard,” and the U.S. may have to get with the program. Experts at a recent Securities & Exchange Commission roundtable seemed to agree that a planned reconciliation of IFRS-U.S. GAAP by 2009 would be a mostly futile and expensive exercise. Instead, the SEC may move to permit foreign private issuers to file under IFRS and eventually might allow American companies to do the same.

Getting Down to Specifics on RCA
Kip Krumwiede, CMA, CPA, and Augustin Suessmair
German firms are far more satisfied with their costing systems than U.S. companies are, according to a survey of 148 German and 130 U.S. companies. U.S. companies that use German cost accounting, Resource Consumption Accounting (RCA), need to implement these practices more deeply, supported by a stronger commitment to management accounting information by U.S. executives, in order to get the full benefits.

Sustainable Performance Improvement Through Predictive Technologies
Brian Robertson, Adam Boehler, and John Hansel
To improve performance, many companies are employing advanced modeling and forecasting techniques that enable financial leaders to predict current and future performance. Plagued by rising costs and many uncertainties, the healthcare industry illustrates how these techniques, like satellite radar used by the meteorologists to forecast the weather, can help their financial executives improve performance in a constantly changing environment.

Columns

PERSPECTIVES
Where is the passion?

BEST PRATICES
Drama on the 21st floor.

TAXES
Charitable contributions by donors and the Pension Protection Act.

ETHICS
Work-life balance, superior’s actions strongly influence ethical culture.

Departments

ANNUAL CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
The intersection of knowledge and know-how.

STREETWISE
A bad first impression?
New GASB members
Letters: Ph.D. shortage
Senate fires a couple shots over SEC’s bow on 404
Books: Combining Lean and Six Sigma.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

TECH FORUM
Web kaleidoscopes.

END NOTE
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