Earlier this month, FASB Staff Position FAS 115-2, Recognition and Presentation of Other-Than-Temporary Impairments, went into effect. FAS 115-2 changes the way in which other-than-temporary impairments, or OTTI, are evaluated and accounted for. “Under FSP FAS 115-2, an impairment for debt securities, in certain circumstances, is separated into the credit loss amount recognized in earnings and the amount related to all other factors (noncredit loss) recognized in other comprehensive income,” said the Office of Thrift Supervision in a May 14, 2009, memorandum. more

Leave it to the former chair of one of the world’s top tech companies to lay out a highly disruptive approach to ending the Great Recession.

Former Intel honcho Craig Barrett offered five steps when asked (by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman) how the U.S. could and should emerge from the global economic downturn:

1) Require every state to benchmark their education standards against the best in the world, not the state next door;

2) Double the budgets for basic scientific research at the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology;

3) Lower the corporate tax rate;

4) Revamp Sarbanes-Oxley so that it is easier to start a small business; and

5) Find a cost-effective way to extend health care to every American.



Friedman’s comments on Barrett’s insights are available here. They’re worth a look – it’s not often that the steps described above are produced by a single “processor.” ###

One thing that became clear at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston last week was how quickly social networking for business is gaining traction. Enterprise 2.0 focuses on social software, and companies are developing real products addressing real business issues and delivering real business payback.

Microsoft and IBM had a big presence at the conference. Both also dominated the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant for Social Software, although neither company has landed in Gartner’s leader quadrant. No company hit the leader quadrant. Most of the players in the report are generally unrecognizable among the few IT household names like EMC, Google, and Novell.

If you think social software is something your finance department can ignore, just think of one word: Iran. Hard as the Iranian government tried to suppress the spread of information about the uprising, it couldn’t — because Twitter, blogs, and Wikis kept pumping out a stream of updates. The uprising got as far as it did because of the power of social software and, if it ultimately succeeds, you can bet that social software will play a key role. more

I recently mentioned that my new book on forecasting, Future Ready: How to Master Business Forecasting (Wiley & Sons, 2010), will be out early next year.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for insights on the Beyond Budgeting principles and their application (as well as for general insights on improving organizational planning and control capabilities), here’s a link that provides reviews and ordering information on the following three titles:

more

As Yogi Berra said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.” That’s particularly true in the treasury and finance function. To survive today’s economy and thrive into the future, finance execs will need to “future-proof” their finance function, says Margaret Yao, managing director with JPMorgan’s liquidity solutions area. One key to this goal is a robust cash and liquidity management structure that enhances your firm’s working capital position.

Four principles should guide finance execs as they try to improve their liquidity management structure, Yao notes. more