Small Is Essential

At 37signals, a company with just eight employees whose Web-based collab­o­ration software is used by thousands of small businesses, there isn’t time to sit around a conference room sipping latte and decon­structing memos. Come to think of it, there isn’t even a company conference room. There are just a couple of cubicles, loads of brain­power and three simple goals: make useful business software, make it easy to run, make money selling it. Repeat.

Fraud too pervasive to roll back SarbOx

In a new exami­nation of 374 companies accused of securities fraud between 1997 and 2002, an average of seven people were impli­cated in each case… CEOs were impli­cated in nearly 90% of the cases examined. Next came CFOs, 78%. Then board directors, 40%; vice presi­dents, 36%; COOs, 20%; controllers, 19%; and general counsels, 7%. Big accounting firms were impli­cated in 18% of the cases.

The End of Independent Advice & Counsel

When a consul­tancy offers solutions, it has made its bed with a handful of technology or other vendors that will provide some portion of the service/product combi­nation that will be sold to clients. When a consultant is truly independent and objective, they are solution independent and will help clients select the best solution for the client (not for the integrator).

PwC: Internal Auditors May Be Missing Risks

Between depart­ments and across the enter­prise, more parties have gotten involved in assessing risk and contributing to the company’s risk management process. That has led to some confusion and overlapping of respon­si­bil­ities. One-third of the internal audit managers surveyed said their companies conduct multiple risk assess­ments across the organi­zation, but the majority do not coordinate their work or results. The effect is ineffi­cient and redundant presen­ta­tions before audit committees.

Must I Play Golf To Get Ahead?

In a 2004 survey of 1,000 women golfers, 73% said that the game had helped them develop important business relation­ships, and over half said that being able to talk knowl­edgeably about golf had contributed to their success.