Financial statements

The key to selling well-designed, well-crafted products at high margins is the aesthetic coherence of the company and its goods. Embodying that ideal...

Even after a raft of reforms, corporate accounting remains murky. Here’s what you need to know to evaluate a company accurately.

Steady, predictable growth is what every big company strives for, and what investors prize above all else. McGrath set out to discover how many companies...

When crucial financial estimates rely on judgment, companies can minimize their risk by turning to appraisers, actuaries, and evaluators, whether internal,...

Green initiatives can, by reducing costs, enhance a company’s bottom line. Actions that harm the environment can have the opposite effect. Now, thanks to a burgeoning market in greenhouse gas emission credits put into effect by the Kyoto Protocol, environmental considerations will increasingly affect not only companies’ income statements but also their balance sheets. A […]

In the current economic climate, there is tremendous pressure--and personal incentive for managers--to report sales growth and meet investors' revenue...

Now that companies such as General Electric and Citigroup have accepted the premise that employee stock options are an expense, the debate is shifting...

Should stock options be recorded as an expense on a company's income statement and balance sheet, or should they remain where they are, relegated to footnotes?...

During a year-long research project, the authors developed a "balanced scorecard" performance measurement system that allows executives to view a company...

In the current economic climate, there is tremendous pressure--and personal incentive for managers--to report sales growth and meet investors' revenue...

Riku Nakamura relocated six years ago with his family from Tokyo to San Mateo, California, to spearhead the launch of Kenko USA, the first foreign subsidiary...

Investors reward clear communication.

The sophisticated technologies used to understand costs don't illuminate revenue sources well. For that you need a whole new breed of accountant.

Quarterly earnings numbers dominate the decisions of executives, analysts, investors, and auditors. Yet for all the attention paid to these numbers, they're...

On July 30, President Bush signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act addressing corporate accountability. A response to recent financial scandals, the law...

When Robert Herbold came to Microsoft from Procter & Gamble in 1994, he saw firsthand why Bill Gates had hired him as chief operating officer: Although...

Most executives would say that adding a point of growth and gaining a point of operating-profit margin contribute about equally to shareholder value....

Current accounting rules don't always communicate real value to investors.

In the wake of a series of gross corporate abuses around the turn of the century, Congress passed Sarbanes-Oxley, which was intended to make corporate...

Corporate treasurers and chief financial officers have become adept at quantifying and managing a wide variety of risks: financial, hazard, and operational....