Welcome to the Summer 2004 issue. We hope you enjoy the variety of articles on topics from using the balanced scorecard to Russian management training programs.

Four of the articles were contributed through a joint arrangement by IMA and the American Accounting Association (AAA) via Carl Smith, IMA Chair-elect and former professor-in-residence. Derived from presentations made at IMA’s Annual Conference in Chicago in June 2004, they were written by David S. Harrison, Patsy G. Lewellyn, Connie Esmond-Kiger, David E. Stout, Robert N. West, Matthew J. Liberatore, and Lakshmi U. Tatikonda. The rest of the articles in this issue are from the regular IMA review process.

Two articles reflect the current emphasis on the balanced scorecard and other performance measurement systems. One describes how the Analytic Hierarchy Process was used at six lean manufacturing companies and offers a step-by-step Excel guide to solving problems. The other is the case study of how a municipal utility in Jacksonville, Florida, implemented a process-based organizational structure, particularly process-based management.

In the international arena, two professors describe their experiences teaching management, marketing, and finance in Russian management training programs and propose that now is the time to also teach corporate responsibility.

Regarding ethics, one article examines corporate policies and managerial practices that prevent an ethical, productive workplace and offers advice on how to overcome them. Another describes ways accounting educators can encourage students to “exude” ethics and carry their lessons into their jobs.

In an article about the state of education, one author offers “naked truths” about accounting curricula in which she says that public accounting has been overemphasized and proposes that management accounting should be more at the forefront because the majority of students take corporate accounting jobs, not public accounting ones. And three authors describe how they developed a graduate-level management accounting course that covers strategic cost management, project management, and performance assessment and is linked to the university’s strategic plans.

As always, we welcome comments about any of these articles and suggestions for future ones. Please e-mail me at kwilliams@imanet.org.

Kathy Williams
Editor-in-Chief