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Corporate Finance How Core Values Drive Performance By John Treace As a senior sales officer charged with effecting business turnarounds for bankrupt private and pre-IPO companies, I witnessed firsthand the importance of core values. A strong set of core values is crucial to driving corporate performance, and without them, companies suffer.   Quick Links:  Return to Homepage Weekly Newsletter Online CPE Twitter: SmartProsEditor         Updated 12/15

News & Insights

This Week in the SmartPros News & Insights Newsletter Companies Worry About SEC's Advice to Disclose Cyberthreats ... Part II: 2011 Annual Report Preview ... CPE: Cyber Terror and Cyber Risk: What You Need To Know ... Book Pick: Auditing Cloud Computing: A Security and Privacy Guide Majority of U.S. Companies to Pay 2011 Executive Bonuses Equal To or Larger Than Last Year's Fed Nearing a Plan to Clarify Direction of Rates The Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke has gone further than ever to explain its policies to the public. It's ready to go further still. When Good Management Isn't Enough Is happiness a well-run CPA firm? Not necessarily, according to Troy Waugh, author of a new primer on practice leadership from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. 8 Ex-Siemens Executives Charged in Bribery Scheme Eight former Siemens senior executives and agents have been charged in a $100 million foreign bribery scheme. Whistle-blowing Ex-CEO Resigns from Olympus Board The whistle-blowing former chief executive of Japan's Olympus Corp. resigned as a director of the camera maker Thursday and vowed to work with shareholders to replace the company's board. Olympus Admits Hiding Losses in Widening Scandal Olympus Corp. admitted Tuesday that it used a series of acquisitions to hide massive losses, reversing earlier denials of any wrongdoing as one of the largest accounting frauds in Japanese history rocks the nation's corporate image. Number of Small Business Health Care Tax Credit Claims Lower than Anticipated The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) appropriately planned for and implemented one of the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act that affected small businesses, according to a new report publicly released today by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). A Clean SOX 404 Audit Doesn't Mean All is Well A clean SOX 404 audit opinion doesn't mean all is well with your company. Audits are great at looking backwards but what about assessing risks? SEC Derivative Reform Could Influence Mutual Fund Use Tighter Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) restrictions regarding the use of derivatives by mutual funds could influence the way asset management firms manage portfolio risk and report fund exposures. Unveiling Secret Corporate Political Money The Securities and Exchange Commission is being flooded with support for a proposed regulation that would undo at least some of the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission -- which opened the floodgates to often secret corporate political contributions that threaten to swamp American elections. OP/ED: The Life, Death & Rebirth of America's Global Leadership One of the main challenges of the U.S. economy is mind-set. As trade borders become seamless and the world becomes more dependent on technology, U.S. companies and their executives must scramble to acquire the tools and skills necessary to survive and thrive in the increasingly competitive global market. WHITE PAPER: The Critical Importance of the New Data Infrastructure Enterprises are increasingly turning to the cloud for their computing needs, and are now accessing everything from individual applications to entire infrastructures remotely rather than via on-premises hardware and software. Cloud Security Tips to Help Enterprises Protect Data, Maintain Compliance Programs With the adoption of cloud computing continuing to accelerate, the need to adopt and maintain effective security and compliance practices is more important that ever. Seven Tips for your First Filing of Detailed Footnotes in XBRL As organizations have completed their year-one SEC requirement with block note tagging in XBRL, they are preparing for the next major milestone: filing their detailed footnotes (DFN) in XBRL. Post-Merger Lessons Learned Offer Tips to Success Navigating and tackling the potential perils of post-merger integration -especially in such volatile times as these - could be the key to whether upcoming deals in the global financial services sector thrive or fall apart down the road, according to a report from KPMG International. Research Shows Largest Companies Hoarding Cash While Small Firms Starve for Capital The 1,000 largest public companies in the U.S. now have $853B in cash reserves, driven by borrowing, lack of confidence in market and other factors.

Spotlight

Accounting & Finance Technology Monthly Finally! CPE-accredited technology education for accounting professionals. Accounting & Finance Technology Monthly is an annual CPE subscription designed to keep you up-to-date on technology trends essential to your job. SmartPros Price: Courses: $69.90 - Subscriptions: $235 FMN Online Subscribe to the program that more than half of the Fortune 500 trust for CPE. Stay up to date on Sarbanes-Oxley and other key events impacting corporate finance. SmartPros Price: Courses: $69.90 - Subscriptions: $429 Working Values: A Strategic Resource for Business Ethics Working Values helps companies integrate business ethics with their core values throughout all levels of the organization. We develop customized, values-based programs that drive long-term ethics initiatives forward.

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