The IT revolution of the late 1980s early 1990s paved the way for information to be available upon demand. Over the years the demand by the users of information has grown stronger. As a result businesses, shareholders and sophisticated market analysts are demanding and are now receiving data in real-time.
The key question of what assurance could, and should, be provided over this stream of real time data needs to be addressed. The concept of ‘real-time’ or Continuous Assurance attempts to better match internal and external auditing practices with IT systems that provide stakeholders with more timely and accurate results.
This thought leadership paper is written to promote discussion on continuous assurance as a concept. All stakeholders, standard setters, regulators, government users, and the profession have a role to play.

Link to leadership paper

The 2010 IBM Global CFO Study – involving more than 1,900 CFOs and senior Finance leaders worldwide – provides the largest window into the CFO mindset during the worst economic downturn in decades. Surprisingly, cost reduction was not at the top of their agenda. Instead, CFOs ranked “providing inputs into enterprise strategy” as most important.
CFOs told us their role as strategic advisor is broader and more important than ever. More than 70 percent play a critical role in enterprise risk mitigation, business model innovation and selection of the key metrics linking performance to strategy execution.

Register and download the full CFO Study

Question:

Is it time for your 2010/11 budgets?

Fact:

As a CFO you don’t have the time in your busy schedule to pull it all together and perform the necessary research for a comprehensive budget.

Time spent on performing a comprehensive budget is fully paid back when meaningful analysis can be performed throughout the year comparing budget to actual.

Solution:

CFO Consult can work with you to produce a comprehensive budget.

Broad outline of planned approach:
1. Take stock of the previous budget and lessons learned
2. Interview stakeholders
3. Collate all budget inputs
4. Prepare a budget model
5. Perform senario planning and analysis
6. Obtain budget sign-off
7. Ensure that budget is entered into monthly reporting model
8. Ongoing monitoring

Guarantee:

CFO Consult will only charge if you are comfortable and agree with the outcome.

Action:

Act now and contact CFO Consult to ensure that your organization takes full advantage of a comprehensive budget process.

E-mail: cfoconsult@me.com or call: +61400021540

Question:

Does your organization have a cost reduction program/strategy?

Fact:

“The most frequently identified issue facing CFO’s is driving corporate cost cutting efforts, cited by 45 percent of all respondents” – The WNS Annual CFO Survey Report 2010.

A cost reduction program is really about improving profitability. By reducing expenses, profits and cash flow are increased, thus freeing up resources for business improvements. A structured program will put a company on track to achieve maximum results.
The importance of effective cost reduction cannot be overstated.

Solution:

CFO Consult can implement a cost reduction program/strategy for you.

Broad outline of planned approach:
1. Cost analysis
2. Benchmarking
3. Impact analysis
4. Action plan and implementation
5. Ongoing monitoring

Guarantee:

CFO Consult will only charge if costs can be reduced.

Action:

Act now and contact CFO Consult to ensure that your organization takes full advantage of a cost reduction program/strategy.

E-mail: cfoconsult@me.com or call: +61400021540

If you can’t find your requirements in our services section or if you can’t pin point exactly what you require, then why not send an e-mail to cfoconsult@me.com ?

Remember, nothing ventured = nothing gained.

Manage your MYOB Online

Fast, Easy and Secure Online Accounting Application for your MYOB Software. Using a web browser or iPhone view and process your MYOB accounting software data online, in real-time, via a fresh new web interface. No more costly Terminal Servers or slow remote desktop connections.

Find out all about it here.

Analysts predict on-demand business intelligence will outpace on-premise applications this year

Mounting evidence suggests that in 2010, the hottest segment in BI (business intelligence) software will revolve around offerings delivered from the cloud, thanks to increased product sophistication, strained IT budgets and other factors.

A new IDC report finds the SaaS BI market will experience triple the growth of the market overall, soaring at a compound annual growth rate of 22.4 percent through 2013, although actual revenue totals will remain small compared to on-premise BI applications.

There are plenty of good reasons to adopt SaaS (software as a service) BI, according to a new report from Forrester Research.

Read the full article by Chris Kanaracus (IDG News Service)

Summary
The demand for finance and accounting outsourcing (FAO) services is strong and will continue to grow in 2010, according to the findings of The WNS Annual CFO Survey 2010.

The study consisted of an online survey of 100 senior finance executives in organizations with revenues of over $3 billion. The survey was designed to identify and analyze key items on the CFO’s agenda and assess how alternative service delivery models such as business process outsourcing are used to address these agendas.

Some of the key findings include:
Over 75 percent of the finance executives plan to expand their outsourcing programs in 2010
Driving corporate cost cutting efforts and improving internal controls are the two most crucial issues in 2010
Forty-four percent of the finance executives believe growing the business will be an organizational imperative in 2010
Over 85 percent of the finance executives are satisfied with the benefits from FAO
The survey was commissioned by WNS (Holdings) Limited (NYSE: WNS) and conducted by EquaSiis, an EquaTerra company.

Link to download the full report.

We asked our hardy band of cynical, battle-scarred CIOs to nominate their favourite fictions, furphies and fables about IT that just keep on keeping on.

Link to full article by Darren Horrigan

The Scoop – Future of the CIO

If CIOs have become “business enablers,” who makes the technology decisions? In our final “Future of” episode, we examine at the CIO’s future. The Scoop host Mark Jones is joined by Kumar Parakala, former President, Australian Computer Society; David Yuille, COO at AAPT; and Sam Higgins, research director, Longhaus. (audio only)

Link to the podcast.