There are two sets of financial statements, the income statement and the balance sheet, and they work in concert. If you want to get to the health of a company, you have to look at both. What we have here is an income statement. It's going to take you through things like revenue and expenses and tell you about...

Want to make more money? Make sure your employees feel like they're working for something greater than just profit. You may have already sensed that companies with a clear sense of purpose do better than those without one. A new study from Deloitte confirms it: organizations that focus their energies beyond pure profit do better than those without a "culture of purpose." And yet, the survey also reveals that...

Culture is hot. In our discussions and work with leaders in business, government, and not-for-profit organizations, we have observed a markedly increasing emphasis on culture-for a host of reasons. Leaders trying to reshape their organization's culture are asking: How can we break down silos and become more collaborative or innovative? Others, struggling to execute strategy, are wondering:...

The use of "big data" ï؟½ vast amounts of varied, fast-moving information ï؟½ has the potential to magnify and accelerate the ability of businesses to understand customers and fineï؟½tune products. Despite the availability of new techniques to make sense of big data, many senior leaders we encounter today are having a hard time figuring out where to start. We see three overarching ways in which business leaders can unlock the value of big data:...

In a period where everyone is on edge about higher taxes and tough changes to healthcare, thinking about growth can seem like a daunting task. And the idea of hiring or giving raises might seem ludicrous. But don't tell that to these companies...

Good news: Most companies no longer look at cost-cutting solely as a means to survive. It's more so a way to drive growth. Now here's the bad news. Turns out that many cost-cutting strategies are simply not working. Last year, 48% of companies' cost initiatives failed to...

A new survey shows the top concerns over the next two years for the Finance departments. Do they sound right to you? Improvements to business planning and forecasting are the two biggies according to a KPMG survey of 358 senior finance executives. About 72% of those polled said...

CFOs are acknowledging that technology has become increasingly important to the success of finance departments. That new awareness comes even as they admit there is a serious knowledge gap among finance executives when it comes to emerging technologies. That's according to a survey of 930 CFOs conducted jointly by consulting firm Accenture, enterprise technology giant Oracle and research firm Longitude Research. "Technology is becoming more important to CFOs, yet..."

Over the past 15 years, I have helped place a good number of CFOs in new jobs. Many have made successful transitions ï؟½ from industry to industry, from public to private companies and back ï؟½ as well as adapted to wildly different cultures from company to company. But in my experience, there is one divide that very few seem to successfully bridge:...

Amid all the chatter about how today's CFOs should have an operational mind set, a majority of executives don't think their own finance chief is qualified to be a COO. CFOs may be taking on more operational responsibility, but many corporate executives apparently don't think...