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The Best Articles of 2008

As the new year begins we take a look back at which articles received the most views from you our online readers. Without further ado, the list:

  1. The New Brood of Best-of-Breed

    2. July 1, 2008

    by John Cummings

    Today's Best-of-Breed software market offers more to dazzle CFOs than ever before. The pace of innovation is fierce, slackening only when vendors pause to digest their gains after the waves of consolidation that periodically sweep over each sector.

  2. Finance Talent Still Scarce

    3. July 24, 2008

    by John Cummings

    According to CFOs -- who should know -- job security is a major worry for finance staffers, second only to heavy workloads, as laurie brannen reported here. If you're among the many who are starting to wonder whether their job is safe, you can take heart from a new survey from staffing services firm Robert Half, which reveals that the job market for finance and accounting professionals is holding steady despite the economic downturn.

  3. Why CFOs Don't Get It

    4. March 1, 2008

    by Damon Beyer, Saj-nicole Joni

    Within the past few years, there has been a clarion call for finance professionals to "step up" and play more expansive, transformational roles in business.

  4. A Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) Framework

    5. July 18, 2008

    by Eric Krell

    Throughout the world, the use of finance and accounting outsourcing (FAO) by small, medium, and large enterprises is rising.

  5. Riding the Recession: 5 Moves to Make Now

    6. December 5, 2008

    by John Cummings

    With the National Bureau of Economic Research's announcement on Monday, it's official -- we're in a recession, and have been for a year now.

  6. Getting to Grips With Spreadsheet Risk

    7. August 19, 2008

    by John Cummings

    Every now and then a new story of corporate embarrassment, or worse, caused by spreadsheet errors hits the business headlines. Sometimes the mistakes are on a scale that can only be described as monumental, like Fannie Mae's $1 billion-plus underestimate of total stockholder equity in 2003, the result of errors in a spreadsheet used in the implementation of a new accounting standard.

  7. The Right Way and the Wrong Way to Cut Costs

    8. July 7, 2008

    by John Cummings

    The good news is that companies these days treat cost containment as a discipline and an ongoing process rather than reactively. The not-so-good news is that they tend to focus on minor, low-yield initiatives and on squeezing expense out of their processes. And that may not be enough, according to Omar Aguilar, partner with Deloitte Consulting.

  8. Your New CFO Job: Mastering the First 100 Days

    9. February 4, 2008

    by John Cummings

    CFO turnover is frenetic; average tenure varies from twenty-eight months to about three years, depending on which research you look at. The first 100 days in the job are a good predictor of whether a finance chief's tenure will be longer than average -- or shorter

  9. Leading the Cost Optimization Movement

    10. March 15, 2008

    by Stephen Lis
    While cost optimization should be a priority for all companies regardless of the economic cycle, the reality is that when times are good, it's on the back burner, and during a downturn, it becomes critical.

  10. Taking Measure: Treasurers' Use of Performance Metrics Rises

    11. March 1, 2008

    by Karen M. Kroll
    One of the projects on the to-do list of Beth Williams, vice president of finance at Norwood Promotional Products, is measuring the amount of time that elapses from the moment Norwood receives an invoice until it's paid.