Features

The Business of Making Movies
S. Mark Young, James J. Gong, and Wim A. Van der Stede
Box-office revenues and the budgets of the latest Hollywood blockbusters have become regular news items in the entertainment world, but little else is discussed about the accounting and finance practices in this influential, ubiquitous industry. This first in a series of articles on the motion picture industry examines the process involved in making a movie and the challenges that need to be overcome before the movie ever hits the theaters.

Measuring and Managing Social and Political Risk
Tamara Bekefi and Marc J. Epstein
Social, environmental, and political risks are often ignored in financial calculations because they are difficult to quantify. But relegating them to the footnotes leads to an inaccurate picture of the risks a company may face. Managing these risks properly not only helps decision makers devise better strategies, but it can also turn a disadvantage into an opportunity for growth.

Reaching Big Hairy Audacious Goals
Audrey Taylor
After identifying the goal that combines what a company does best with its economic resources, it’s important to ensure the right processes are in place to monitor progress toward success. The six-step process described here uses target maps to help identify obstacles, design the smaller objectives and plans that will lead to the overall goal, and create the metrics that will assure the company stays on the right course.

Managing the Finance Function
Ramona Dzinkowski
A recent controllers’ roundtable delves into the pressing issues facing those in the finance function. Among the most immediate challenges are a shortage of talented accounting and finance professionals, the increased use of offshoring and the difficulties of managing in a global business community, and the complexity of the regulatory environment while the adoption of IFRS looms on the horizon.

Columns

PERSPECTIVES
Come to the Conference.

BEST PRACTICES
Addiction.

TAXES
Conservation easements: earning green for conserving green spaces.

ETHICS
Citizenship survey shows gaps between rhetoric and reality.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Customer connection: the Innovation 1000.

EXCEL
Replacing nested IF functions with a lookup.

XBRL
A little XBRL GL today...

Departments

STREETWISE
FASB wants feedback on codification
Risk trends for 2008
Reporting on business in terrorism-linked countries redux
Books: Managing strategy
IMA begins finance GRC practice
Larry White appointed to IFAC Accounting Board
IMA forms new Small Business Committee.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

TECH FORUM
Web 2.0 (part two).

END NOTE
Cars, trains, and computers.