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Feature
The 10 R's
of Business Growth Planning
In the world of
entrepreneurial studies, few things are more actively debated among
experts, scholars and business owners alike than the role that
planning plays in business. Most experts agree, though, that formal
planning is an essential ingredient for any organization looking to
build sustainable growth.
Successful growth companies plan when it's
needed
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DeKaser's Financial Market Outlook
Katrina
The standard paradigm for natural disasters is that an
initial, albeit relatively brief, period of stymied economic
activity ultimately gives way to reconstruction efforts that, in
time, fully compensate for the initial economic loss. Katrina
is likely to follow this basic script, with a few idiosyncratic
departures determined by its particular
circumstances.
Macroeconomic consequences of Hurricane
Katrina
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Association
for Financial Professionals (AFP) Annual
Conference
October 9
- 12 in San Antonio, TX
More than
6,000 of your colleagues will gather to share best practices and see
the latest innovations in finance. National City continues as an
exhibitor at the AFP Annual Conference, just another way we bring
value-added resources directly to you. Visit us at booth
#136.
Learn more about
AFP
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Business
Planning & Strategy
Where Are You
On the Journey to ERM?
As chief
financial officers consider the cost of doing business, many are
looking at enterprise risk management (ERM) as a way to leverage
their significant investment in compliance and convert it into a
shareholder value strategy like cost containment or revenue
enhancement. CFOs are considering moving beyond the risk
associated with internal controls, information technology and fraud
to a more integrated approach that includes the full spectrum of
risk: strategic, operational, and financial reporting as well as
compliance.
Walking the path of
ERM
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Legislation
& Regulatory
Environmentally
Bankrupt
The
American Smelting & Refining Co. (Asarco) has been the subject
of contention ever since 1899, when it was established to
consolidate William Rockefeller's U.S. mining interests. The most
valuable division, a mining operation in Peru, would be sold to
another Grupo Mexico subsidiary, American Mining Corp. The sale was
blocked, however, by the U.S. Department of Justice, which claimed
the deal was a fraudulent transfer of lucrative assets at
below-market prices.
Scrutiny from the
SEC
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Human
Resources & Benefits
Pension
Upheaval
It is 2005 and the pension
system is in crisis--again. Just as in the mid-1990s, Congress and
columnists are warning of the imminent demise of the defined-benefit
retirement plan. And again, thanks are due to the failure of a few
companies--mostly in the airline industry--to meet their
obligations. But this time, the government seems determined to step
in, and a revolution in how companies calculate their
pension-funding obligations may be in the
offing.
Three proposals on the
table
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Finance
& Treasury
Can
You Spot the Finance Expert?
Two years ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission began
requiring companies to disclose whether or not they have financial
experts on their audit committees. At the time, it seemed like a promising way to
guarantee that audit committees would detect accounting fraud more
effectively than their counterparts had. Today, it's not apparent
that the rule has changed disclosure or governance in any meaningful
way.
Fitting the
bill
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Personal
Investing
The Problem with
Indexes
Market benchmarks often are
misleading. If your portfolio falls short of one of these
gauges-indexes like of Standard & Poor's, Frank Russell or
Morgan Stanley-it typically appears that your money manager is doing
a lousy job. Maybe, maybe not. Before jumping to conclusions, you
should look closely at the indexes and recognize their
flaws.
Don't be fooled by
higher numbers
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Economics
Slowly
Recovering
Pump prices
reached record levels in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Except for a
few initial scattered shortages and lines at service stations, fuel
flowed in all parts of the country. The market worked, although
painfully.
Prices go up so demand
comes down
Katrina's Impact
Depends on how Business Reacts
Katrina has rendered useless much of the economic data due
out in the coming weeks. But the reports will have value in one
critical way: That growth prior to the hurricane had a great deal of
momentum, especially in the labor markets.
Pumping up
the prices
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Sales &
Marketing
Online
Crisis Looms as Ad Demand Surges
After years of dabbling, marketers are shifting
significant portions of their budgets to the Internet, with online
ad revenue expected to soar 35% this year to $12.9 billion,
according to eMarketer. But even as online media sellers celebrate that
bonanza, they increasingly fear an inventory crisis in which they
won't have enough prime real estate to meet the rising
demand.
Making acquisitions
to add prime inventory
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International & Trade
Don't Blame the Savers
Economists argue that the imbalances in the world economy can
be blamed, in part, on a glut of savings from developing countries
gushing into American assets. New reports from
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank say the
problem lies elsewhere.
Why the sudden talk of a
savings glut?
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Trends
& Technology
The March of the
Robo-Traders
Indeed, if you have a
pension or endowment policy, or have money invested in share-based
funds, the chances are that such a program--variously known as an
"autonomous trading agent", "algorithmic trading" system or simply
as a "robo-trader"--has already been used to help your investments
grow.
Is this the end of human
traders?
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Small
Business
Make Growth an Obsession -
and a Plan
Our message is that
entrepreneurs must have a strategic reason to expand and pay careful
attention to financial management. So many companies meet or exceed
revenue objectives and then find themselves in trouble. The lessons
learned center on believing in the mission and the plan. Think long
term, because seldom is real value created quickly.
Turning blunder into
thunder
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