I’m utterly astonished to read in a Wall Street Journal story this morning that the American Association for Justice, a trial lawyers group, is expecting the Treasury to issue an administrative order that will provide a tax break for attorneys pursuing contingency fee lawsuits.

Yes, you read that right. A tax break for the class-action lawsuit guys. It may be similar to legislation proposed last year that would have allowed attorneys to deduct fees and expenses up front in contingency cases, according to Legal Newsline, which broke the story.

The Journal splashes its piece with a headline guaranteed to outrage its readers and send shivers up corporate executives’ spines: “A Bill Lerach Tax Cut.” more

It’s the goal of every strategy-minded CFO: Secure finance a seat at the table when it comes to growth decisions, strategy decisions, and — without question — M&A decisions.

However, it’s a goal seldom realized. According to finance executives, faulty collaboration between finance and sales may well be the primary trip line that prevents finance from taking on a broader business partner role.

When it comes to gleaning best practices for augmenting finance collaboration, certain industries may prove to be more fruitful than others. For example, today few industries can boast of a stronger sales/finance collaboration than IT enterprise software.

“More so than other companies, software companies cannot afford to have auditors reverse a transaction after we have closed revenue out. The software recognition rules are so strict — and customers have been trained to ask for things up front — that if the sales team is not collaborating with finance, everyone ends up unhappy,” says Earl Fry, CFO of Informatica, a $500 million software company specializing in data integration solutions. more