I’m just getting back to my office following the 8th annual Beyond Budgeting Round Table conference in San Francisco and a few other speaking engagements, to find several thousand e-mails awaiting responses in my inbox.

First off, I want to congratulate Jeremy Hope, who received the Charles Horngren Visionary Award at the BBRT conference. The Horngren Award recognizes leadership in the BBRT movement. The award is named in honor of Accounting Hall of Fame Member Dr. Charles T. Horngren, professor emeritus at Stanford University and author of the landmark textbook Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis, which was first published in 1962 and is now in its 13th edition. Dr. Horngren has likely trained more CFOs than anyone else on the planet. In addition to his many accomplishments, Dr. Horngren has also served as academic advisor of the BBRT of North America since we launched in North America in 2002.

Hope cofounded the BBRT in 1998, and the organization has grown to over 50 member companies across the globe, with regional memberships branching throughout Europe (including the DACH countries of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), North America, South America, Australasia, and the Middle East.

Second, I’m happy to report that despite the extremely challenging economy, our conference boasted the second-highest attendance figure in its 8-year history. We at BBRT North America appreciate that so many finance professionals carved out time and money to share and discuss their Beyond Budgeting experiences.

While I’ll provide more insights from the conference in the weeks ahead, one of the most important takeaways was the continued strong attendance, which illustrates the growing desire for a better approach to planning and control in the face of extreme uncertainty and the current challenging economic climate. ###