It’s been widely reported that JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs managed risk better than the average bear during the financial crisis.

How did these two institutions accomplish this feat as their industry peers got crushed?

Answers to this question frequently crop up in current discussions about the evolution of enterprise risk management (ERM) practices. more

With the future of the tax extenders package still uncertain, lobbyists are scrambling to make sure the R&D tax credit gets attached to a bill — any bill — and soon. The National Association of Manufacturers, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Business Roundtable, and the R&D Credit Coalition are all out in force on the Hill right now.

The keen interest of groups like those first two explains why certain cynical types — well, maybe just me actually — have referred to the R&D credit as the Full Employment for Scientists and Engineers Act. more

Last month, I enjoyed a lengthy e-mail chat about the nature of GRC with Norman Marks, vice president, GRC, for SAP BusinessObjects. At one point in our exchange, Marks expressed concern that GRC managers and their colleagues are “reading about the need for GRC processes and systems, and managers are seeking to improve them, without a clear understanding of what GRC is, or what they really need.”

This article confirms Marks’s assessment. The piece quotes Ventana Research analyst Rob Kugel’s point that “… from a buyer’s perspective, ‘GRC software’ doesn’t exist today.”

The article does not provide much clarification, nor is it intended to: The reporting assesses the current state of the still-evolving “GRC software” market. A sidebar includes insights from AMR Research’s John Hagarty, who has tracked this software space since its inception. ###

Companies’ biggest tax worry for 2010?

The burden on their international operations.

According to a survey published this week by Washington, D.C.-based law firm Miller & Chevalier, close to 40 percent of corporate executives and managers say that taxation of their company’s global activities is their top business tax concern. (About 47 percent of the respondents were directors or managers of tax.) more

As this month rushes by, I’ve been thinking about everything – including the kitchen sink.

In part, that’s because of an enlightening conversation I enjoyed with John Hrudicka, who leads the finance efforts for cabinetry and plumbing products maker Elkay Manufacturing Co. The 90-year-old manufacturer makes and sells faucets, cabinetry, countertops, water coolers, food service equipment, and sinks. If my wife walked into their showroom, I would need a second job.

Despite the company’s rich heritage, I learned that the manufacturer is not content to look back.

As Hrudicka explains in this interview, Elkay Manufacturing has developed innovative ways to look ahead with greater clarity. This includes replacing the traditional budgeting process with a rolling forecast (without a pilot, no less!).

Clarity is something I intend to gain while speaking to audiences in conjunction with the U.S. release of Future Ready: How to Master Business Forecasting (Wiley, 2010), a book I co-authored with my friend and longtime research partner Steve Morlidge.

Starting tonight in Dallas, I’ll be talking to folks about the book and signing copies. In the process of these discussions, I will be looking to identify finance transformation stories and practices, like those at Elkay Manufacturing. Their stories illustrate for us all that there are better ways of doing things. As I do, I’ll share those insights right here …

If you are in Dallas tonight, come see me. ###