It's no secret, healthcare costs are increasing faster than any other business expense. As more CFOs worry about what their companies are giving up in order to pay for employee healthcare, and what that opportunity cost means for their companies' competitiveness -- new best practices and programs are helping companies obtain measurable business value from their healthcare initiatives. Join Business Finance Editor in Chief Jack Sweeney and a panel of healthcare experts as they review exclusive findings from a recent Business Finance survey* and reveal the trends and best practices reshaping healthcare to make it a competitive advantage.

When it comes to building liquidity companies have become ever more savvy in the down economy. However, now is the time to look to the future and ensure you have a recovery advantage. This means planning for growth while maintaining the liquidity that is still crucial to your organization's financial health.

Join Business Finance magazine and Oracle as we reveal the latest research on this important topic and discuss the implications for your next strategic planning cycle.

*Note: Attendees of this webcast will receive Planning Imperatives: Investing and Divesting Wisely, a 2010 Business Finance/Oracle Research Study.

5 Tips on How Real Companies are Getting More Performance Management for Less Cost and Risk

In this edition of the annual industry leading webcast you will learn how to make your performance project more successful, more comprehensive, with more buy-in using less time, resources, and risk. This past year, organizations have recognized that business performance management is even more important in volatile financial times, but buyers have been more cost sensitive when choosing their technology investments. Some vendors have responded to these commercial shifts, while others continue to invest in expanding their range of offerings. BPM Partners will summarize the changes and provide guidance to minimize your risk during these complicated times. Participants can expect specific, actionable information that will assist them in successfully implementing their current or future performance management initiative. This is the eighth annual installment of this popular webcast series.

The SEC has mandated that beginning with the second year of XBRL filings, organizations must tag footnotes using four different levels of detail, yet most companies don’t understand the implications of this mandate. Join this webcast and hear the SEC’s Director of the Office of Interactive Disclosure, David Blaszkowsky, provide an overview of the upcoming Level IV filing deadlines. Then listen as the Former President of XBRL International and current Director of XBRL Services at Clarity Systems, Louis Matherne, discusses the actions you need to take now in order to meet the deadline.

It may be too early to know for sure if the economy is in recovery, or if we're in for more uncertainty. But one thing is clear -- the world has changed and the old rules no longer apply. There are new rules now, and they apply to everything, including how you manage T&E spend. Increasingly, companies are using technology to unlock potential cost savings, helping them take control of an area that formerly enjoyed little scrutiny and even less control. This new mandate emerging from an uncertain economy has expense-averse organizations re-examining every process -- and leveraging innovative new approaches -- all in the name of driving down costs.

The pressure for finance departments to perform as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible has never been greater. With the demand for their time and resources steadily increasing, financial leaders are seeking ways to gain greater control over processes without increasing their workload. Many CFOs are turning to the A/P department to reduce costs and increase visibility. An effective A/P department can be a cost savings and financial decision making support center--with the necessary tools.

In this Webinar, tax professionals from Alvarez & Marsal Taxand and BNA Software share their knowledge of some of the best practices of fixed asset management so you can take advantage of the opportunities available and manage your fixed assets in accordance with company strategy.

Join Senior Forrester Consultant Sadaf Roshan Bellord and Tagetik's VP and General Manager Mark Corsetti for an in-depth discussion of this study's Total Economic Impact (TEI), and discover how your organization may benefit from implementing Tagetik 3.0 performance management software. We'll review the research effort and identify the key drivers and best practices for implementation and adoption of Tagetik 3.0 and quantify the resulting cost savings.

Join the Business Finance webcast to learn why everybody wins when your expense management process is automated. Find out how Infor Expense Management delivers on the promise. If some or all of your expense management process is manual, it's time to make a change.

This informative and free webcast will feature insights from Elizabeth Eriksen, Assistant VP Accounting from Raymond James Financial. She'll describe the benefits they achieved with Infor Expense Management and how it changed their business.

From the editors of Business Finance magazine

Join Business Finance Editor in Chief Jack Sweeney and Managing Editor/Corporate Tax Blogger John Cummings as they review exclusive findings from a recent Business Finance survey of finance and tax professionals on the tactics and technologies they're counting on to help them steer through the downturn. Then hear Mark Schutzman*, Tax partner and U.S. leader for PwC's Tax function effectiveness practice, explain best practices you can use to better manage your tax function.

Today's challenging economic climate makes manual, spreadsheet-driven processes more perilous, and Corporate Performance Management (CPM) more critical than ever before. CPM is particularly important for CFOs looking to understand how to optimize the effectiveness of their organization and where to cut costs without significantly impacting the profitability and performance of the business.

Budgeting, planning, forecasting and profitability modeling are all critical components of CPM that typically generate the fastest ROI. Join our panel of experts for this webcast as they share insight and answers to the following questions about how to use CPM to drive profitability and cost optimization.

Join Business Finance editor in chief Jack Sweeney as he reviews exclusive findings from a recent budgeting best practices survey of more than 400 finance executives. Then hear Steve Player*, program director for the Beyond Budgeting Round Table in North America, explore approaches you can use to evaluate your company's approach to budgeting; and identify opportunities to improve the accuracy of your company's forecasts.

Note: Attendees of this webcast will receive Budgeting & Planning in Uncertain Times, a 2009 Business Finance Research Study

Join us for a live webcast and hear supply chain finance experts, Navdeep Gupta, Director, Treasury, Advance Auto Parts and Jon Richman, Managing Director and Global Product Head, Trade and Financial Supply Chain Global Transaction Banking, Deutsche Bank, provide insights into how to accommodate your working capital needs. They will address the following points during this interactive session:

• Learn why and how to utilize a supplier financing solution
• Identify best practices in implementing a robust financial supply chain solution
• Understand procurement's role during implementation
• Discover ways to facilitate on-boarding of suppliers

Join Procter & Gamble's Jeff Wuest and Greg Hinson as they offer a leading example of how to make the forecasting process more effective and transparent. Hear about P&G's global forecasting initiative, the challenges, and how they approached the daunting task of coordinating, collecting, rationalizing and aggregating regional and global business unit forecasts. Learn about the software they adopted, the granularity, consistency and comparability it provides and the value the visibility adds.

Optimizing business performance has never been more critical. Businesses need accuracy and transparency in their planning, budgeting and forecasting processes in order to drive strategy and positively affect their performance. Discover how automating planning, reporting and consolidation processes with a unified solution and applying planning best practices helps companies address financial and operational challenges and lay the groundwork for a more competitive organization.

In this webcast, Virgil Colby, Program Manager of the Celestica IFRS Transition Project will help answer these key questions and provide valuable insight for finance professionals impacted by or involved in an IFRS transition project. In addition, Tony Wright, Vice President, Product Management for Longview Solutions, will demonstrate how corporate performance management (CPM) software can dramatically reduce the time, effort and cost associated with IFRS transitioning and reporting.

Best Practices for Creating, Deploying and Optimizing Performance Metrics

Performance metrics are a powerful tool for organizational change and operational effectiveness. Establish goals, measure progress, reward achievement, and display the results for all to see, and people and teams will go to Herculean lengths to ensure success. Executives can use performance metrics to define and communicate strategic objectives tailored to every role and level of the organization. Managers can use performance metrics to quickly identify under-performing individuals or teams or ineffective processes and steer them back on track. Employees use performance metrics to focus on what's important and strive to do their best.

Learn how Cano Petroleum Cut Financial Close Process Time by 25% with SAP and Optimal Solutions

Join us for a live webcast and discover how automating financial reporting and performance management processes helps midsize companies address their most immediate operational challenges while laying the foundation for growth.

Our expert panel will discuss common finance operational challenges and how to leverage low-risk, turnkey technology solutions to streamline reporting, mitigate risk, ensure compliance, and gain accurate, real-time enterprise-wide visibility. The panel will also review best practices for achieving finance operational excellence Key areas include Customer and Vendor Management; Asset Management; Business Segment Reporting and, Cost Planning & Budgeting to name a few.

It’s clear, some organizations may be viewing the current economic downturn as an excuse to stop business improvements and shut off the process improvement spigot. These same businesses may now have more to fear from an economic recovery, when process-minded competitors easily overtake them on the path to renewed growth.

Attend this informative webcast and learn what best practices are helping organizations take control of their fragmented T&E spend and how process improvements can be implemented to actually achieve significant category savings. Find out what types of enabling tools are now available to monitor spend, track compliance and capture savings across the enterprise.

The Role of Procurement in Driving Significant Cost Savings

Current economic conditions and a tight credit market are driving CFOs to step-up efforts to preserve cash, control spending and reduce costs. In parallel, there are increased risks associated with cash management, supplier and vendor failures, and fluctuating costs.

As the last recession taught us, many quick cures can cause longer term problems. Hopefully, we have learned the lesson that some strategies are sustainable and lead to a more efficient and competitive business, while some simply do not, but rather present increased risks.