Finance executives have been focused on cost and cost control throughout the enterprise, but it may be time to invest in the capabilities finance can bring to the table to drive growth, says Paul Boulanger, managing director of Accenture Management Consulting's Finance and Enterprise Performance practice.
Chuck Wise, senior principal, finance and performance
management, Accenture speaks with Business Finance about the importance of benchmarking and how it can improve the performance of key corporate functions.
Nearly a decade after the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley, companies are finding the corporate accountability law not nearly as costly and onerous as initially feared. Bob Hirth, executive vice president of Protiviti's global internal audit practice, tells Business Finance that compliance has actually forced companies to adopt more efficient accounting procedures -- and save money in the process.
Slashing costs across the board might have worked during the recession, but to reignite growth in a time of uneven demand means aligning price and costs. Accenture’s Greg Cudahy talks to Business Finance about how companies can best optimize pricing in an era of permanent volatility, grow more cost-effectively, why cost-cutting programs are often unsuccessful and how to manage unanticipated economic jolts faster and more intelligently.
Accenture’s Chris Thompson talks to Business Finance about why companies that are adding chief risk officers, developing comprehensive enterprise risk management programs, incorporating risk management into decision making, aggregating risks and collecting data will be the long-term winners in this increasingly complex and global business environment.
Scott Brennan, Accenture’s director for the Enterprise Performance Management practice, talks with Business Finance chief editor Peter Alpern about the necessary tools and technologies to gauge future performance, how they are best integrated and why more efficient and accurate planning, budgeting and forecasting begins by blowing up the process.
Risk has become uncomfortably ubiquitous with globalization. As the geographic scope of a business grows, so does its exposure to upheaval. Michael Chagares, executive director of Risk Management at the management consulting company Accenture, talks to Business Finance about ways to fix and strengthen the links in the supply chain.
With today’s uncertainty around the economic recovery, CFOs are in many cases spearheading the evaluation and rebalancing of their organizations’ business unit portfolio with M&A’s and divestitures. Jeff Weirens, leader of Deloitte Consulting's Merger Integration and Divestiture practice, explains what steps CFOs need to take to be a prepared seller.
To optimize an organization's working capital, CFOs must energize customer engagement along their organization's front lines. Mark Vengroff, CEO of Vengroff, Williams & Associates reveals how CFOs are embracing a "culture of innovation" to help streamline the connections where cash flows.
To establish and maintain a competitive advantage companies must correctly guage, monitor and leverage strategic risk. Rick Funston, principal, Deloitte & Touche, LLP, explains how risk avoidance too often undermines successful strategy.
