Editor's Letter
By Kathy Williams

A Building-Block Approach for Implementing COSO's Enterprise Risk Management--Integrated Framework
By Brian Ballou, Ph.D., CPA, and Dan L. Heitger, Ph.D.
In September 2004, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) issued its framework for enterprise-wide risk management to address the need for stronger corporate governance and risk management. The authors present an approach to implementing the framework that is accessible to all organizations, regardless of their size or previous experience in risk management.

Profit Enhancement Using an ABC Model
By Sidney J. Baxendale, DBA, CMA, CFM, CPA; Mahesh Gupta, Ph.D.; and P.S. Raju, Ph.D.
The authors employ a field study to explore the use of activity-based costing (ABC) to enhance the profits of a business through improved processes. They create a planning model using Microsoft Excel’s “Solver” feature that helps determine which products should be emphasized and which activity or activities should be the focal point of process improvement efforts. A key element is ABC’s “intensity-of-usage factor,” which, they say, is essential for attributing activity costs to products.

IMA's Professional Certification Programs
By Neal R. VanZante, Ph.D., CMA, CFM, CPA
Here is a quick history of the CMA and CFM programs, an overview of the changes in content of the CMA exam, and a look at why the CMA exam content is relevant to management accountants in their professional accounting careers.

An Analysis of Corporate Website Disclosures
By C. Michele Matherly, Ph.D., CPA, and Hughlene A. Burton, Ph.D., CPA
In a study of the websites of 396 publicly traded companies, the authors found that the amount of information reported varies considerably depending on the type of disclosure, the company’s industry, and the company’s size. Here they describe what kinds of information most companies publish and offer some advice on which is the most valuable to users.

Merging Management Accounting with Database Design
By George Joseph, Ph.D., ACA, and Ahsa George
In their quest to become strategic business partners, management accountants need to develop and identify tools that give them greater insight into database development processes. The balanced scorecard (BSC) model and the Resources, Events, and Agents (REA) model for database design, operating in tandem, can tie together performance measurement, strategic decision making, and systems design.