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Displaying 1-50 of 283 results
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Noted leader underscores the necessity of evolution
- Article
- 01 Feb 2024
An interview with Tabitha Scott, who has over 20 years of experience leading corporate innovation and sustainability initiatives. She shares her insights on business evolution and innovation, including the best way to run innovation programs to gather ideas from employees.
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Embracing neurodiversity in accounting and finance
- Article
- 01 Jan 2024
- Anthony Pacilio
Neurodivergent employees can foster a culture of innovation,
problem solving, and different perspectives. Anthony Pacilio gives advice on how employers in accounting and finance can attract and retain neurodivergent employees.
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When innovation and trust are at odds
- Article
- 01 Dec 2023
- Robert Hurley
Speeding an innovative new product to market can have serious consequences, says Robert Hurley. Consider the Fisher-Price Rock ’n Play, which has lost consumer trust for the company after being linked to 32 infant deaths. According to the article, a risky type of manic innovation happens when a company fails to create a balance between growth and risk management, with staff concerned about safety and long-term reputation marginalized.
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Drive your innovation with improved decision-making
- Article
- 01 Dec 2023
- Linda A.Hill, Taran Swan, Emily Tedards
Despite their embrace of agile methods, many firms striving to innovate are struggling to produce breakthrough ideas. A key culprit, according to the authors, is an outdated, inefficient approach to decision-making. To align their decision-making processes with agile approaches, businesses need to include diverse points of view, clarify decision rights and encourage constructive conflict in the pursuit of a better experience for the end customer. The article suggests best practices for these interventions, drawing on the story of the transformation at Pfizer’s Global Clinical Supply, which pl...
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Opinion pieces: On data and models: Is more always better?
- Article
- 01 Dec 2023
- Thomas C.Wilson
Thomas C. Wilson is an honorary professor of applied risk in insurance at Ludwig Maximilians University, and Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Ayudhya Pcl., Thailand. In this article he argues that more data and more sophisticated models are not always a universal panacea and may lead to bad business outcomes if not managed appropriately. He summarises the evolving business cases for increasing data and models in the risk management domain, giving examples of risks which are introduced or exacerbated by the use of more data and more complex models.
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Use your network to achieve innovation
- Article
- 01 Nov 2023
- Bill McEvily, Anne ter Wal
Why do so many big companies get poor returns on all the money they invest in innovation? A large body of research suggests that it’s because their managers tend to think novel ideas are “deviant” and resist them. As a result such ideas get watered down to make them less threatening - or get squashed altogether. The solution, the authors’ studies show, is to inspire, support, and protect innovation by tapping into your networks. They explain three practices which are especially useful.
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Unexpected interruptions bring unexpected creativity boost
- Article
- 01 Nov 2023
- Eben Harrell
Long work interruptions are usually seen as detrimental, causing losses in productivity as operations grind to a halt. But when a fire at a supplier’s factory forced a temporary shutdown at the plant of a large European manufacturer of consumer goods, researchers Tim Schweisfurth and Anne Greul found a surprising upside: the idleness led to an outpouring of ideas for improvements. Their findings suggest that unanticipated interruptions can actually enhance innovation and creativity.
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Generating risk: New exposures from ChatGPT and other AI tools
- Article
- 01 Nov 2023
- Corey McReynolds
The article focuses on the growing integration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT into company workflows, with many employees already using them without clear policies. Topics discussed include the widespread use of ChatGPT by staff, potential risks such as data security concerns, and the need for organizations to develop customized policies, education, and awareness to effectively manage the use of generative AI tools.
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Reimagine how you recruit and train managers
- Article
- 01 Nov 2023
Traditionally companies focus on skill and development programs to help prepare their managers, but a Gartner study suggests that a fundamental shift in the managerial pipeline is crucial. The study recommends a better selection process, where employees can nominate themselves for managerial roles, preventing biases and diversifying the pipeline. Training programs should prepare aspiring managers for the complexities of the role, focusing on issues like pay equity, remote work and redundancies.
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Leading remote or hybrid teams
- Article
- 01 Nov 2023
- David J.Elrod
Leaders need to take special care to communicate effectively with remote or hybrid team members, says David J.Elrod. The article runs
through useful methods of communication and emphasises the need to provide clarity on strategic plans and priorities and give regular feedback.
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At the crossroads: generative AI and corporate risk management
- Article
- 12 Oct 2023
- Peter Buell Hirsch
This study aims to identify the risks to corporate reputation presented by deepfakes and how to manage them. While deepfakes have been the subject of intense interest, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first attempt to look at the problem from the perspective of corporate enterprise risk.
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Innovative processes in finance and accounting
- Article
- 01 Oct 2023
- Vineet Jain
Adopting innovative technologies can lead to streamlined processes, real-time insights, and increased focus on strategic planning, says Vineet Jain CA. The article looks at innovation in the record-to-report (R2R), accounts payable and procure-to-pay processes and the potential for automated tools to assist with these tasks. Finally, important challenges associated with AI and other innovative technologies and skill sets which forward-thinking finance and accounting professionals should develop are covered.
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Navigating AI: a pragmatic guide for corporate boards
- Article
- 01 Oct 2023
- Chris Smith
The article focuses on how the exponential growth of artificial intelligence (AI) across various sectors is compelling boards to redefine their roles in providing oversight and guidance on AI strategy and risk management. It emphasizes the importance of a human-centred approach to AI, aligning strategic decisions with an organization's mission and values, addressing ethical dilemmas, intellectual property concerns, and privacy challenges.
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Strategic storytelling: How to amplify your impact and drive better risk management discussions
- Article
- 01 Oct 2023
- John P.Angkaw
The article underscores the transformation of risk professionals into trusted strategic business partners. As part of this shift, the author believes risk professionals need to expand their skillset to communicating complex information well to a diverse set of stakeholders. He outlines a strategic storytelling framework that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of any risk professional, detailing a range of potential engagement scenarios.
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Innovation baskets: A new path to strategic innovation
- Article
- 01 Sep 2023
- Christoph Loch, Stelios Kavadias, Haijian Si
Companies typically treat their innovation projects as a portfolio, aiming for a mix of projects that collectively meet their strategic objectives. The problem, say the authors, is that portfolio objectives have become standardized, and innovation projects are often only weakly related to a company’s distinctive strategy. Here they introduce a new tool to help leaders better align their innovation investments. Their strategic innovation tool kit has two elements: a strategy summary framework and an innovation basket.
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A company reinvents itself in sign of hope for Japan
- Article
- 24 Aug 2023
- Winnie Hsu, Sano Hideyuki
The huge conglomerate Hitachi became a symbol of corporate Japan's slide toward mediocrity when it got into difficulties during the global financial crisis and posted the biggest loss ever by a Japanese manufacturer. Yet the company has since undergone a turnaround, revamping its strategy to focus on growth and making its board more international and independent.
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'SAFE' to invest in Israel: no tax on conversion 'benefit' for foreign investors - part one
- Article
- 03 Jul 2023
- Henriette Fuchs
In the first of a two-part article, Henriette Fuchs of Yaron-Eldar, Paller, Schwartz & Co in Tel Aviv reports on Israel tax authorities' acceptance of the SAFE for investment in innovative and tech companies.
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How generative AI can expand human innovation and creativity
- Article
- 01 Jul 2023
- Tojin T.Eapen, Daniel J.Finkenstadt, Josh Folk, Lokesh Venkataswamy
Five ways in which generative artificial intelligence (AI) can assist organisations by amplifying the creativity of employees to help them generate and identify innovative ideas - and build on the quality of raw ideas. The article is illustrated with images of potential product ideas created using prompts in Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, two popular AI text-to-image tools.
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The right tool for the right job
- Article
- 01 Jul 2023
- Costas Markides, Anita McGahan
A review of the available innovation tools to develop ideas, nurture inspiration and creativity, and set innovation in motion. Tools covered include familiar concepts such as brainstorming and the Kano model, as well as lesser-mentioned tools, such as VUCA, innovation portfolio and transient advantage.
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Human creativity can be augmented by generative AI
- Article
- 01 Jul 2023
- Tojin Eapen, Daniel J Finkenstadt etc
There is tremendous apprehension about the potential of generative AI—technologies that can create new content such as text, images, and video—to replace people in many jobs. But one of the biggest opportunities generative AI offers is to augment human creativity and overcome the challenges of democratizing innovation. In the past two decades, companies have used crowdsourcing and idea competitions to involve outsiders in the innovation process. But many businesses have struggled to capitalize on these contributions. They’ve lacked an efficient way to evaluate the ideas, for instance, or to sy...
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Winning the innovation game in emerging markets
- Article
- 07 Jun 2023
- Manuel Hensmans
This paper aims to provide advanced market managers in Europe, the USA or Japan with a long-term framework to prepare for and seize emerging market innovation opportunities. It is based on eight years of studying emerging market innovation opportunities, how to prepare for them and how to seize them.
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China enhances tax relief for innovation and small businesses
- Article
- 08 May 2023
- Lewis Lu
Lewis Lu of KPMG China discusses enhanced tax measures to support innovation and small businesses.
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Innovation without disruption
- Article
- 01 May 2023
- Chan W.Kim, Renée Mauborgne
Disruption is a fashionable phrase in business. But companies don't have to disrupt to innovate, the authors argue. They suggest ways to create new markets for growth without destroying existing companies or jobs.
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Inc. Best Workplaces 2023
- Article
- 01 May 2023
- Bill Saporito
Business magazine Inc.'s list of the best US companies to work for in 2023. Some of the most popular companies focus on employee wellness - particularly mental well-being and work-life balance. They have found ways to extend their culture without busting the budget; for example setting up a meditation room or offering a quarterly 'mental health day'.
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Resiliency and strategic risk management: Protecting strategic value includes a mix of metrics, cybersecurity, reputational risk management, and more
- Article
- 01 May 2023
- Mark L.Frigo, Dennis H.Chookaszian
The authors discuss how CFOs and boards can support strategic resiliency and risk management skills as core competencies for creating and protecting long-term value. In a conversation together, they look at tools for long-term value creation, cybersecurity and resiliency, strategic resiliency and risk assessment, reputation risk, skills for business leaders, strategic life-cycle analysis and lessons on resiliency from bank failures.
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How to create a stakeholder strategy
- Article
- 01 May 2023
- Darrell Rigby, Zach First, Dunigan O'Keefe
Companies have recently come to recognize the limitations of the view that they must create value only for shareholders, with many CEOs pledging to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and shareholders. Discusses how firms can use data to help develop a clear description of their purpose, establish criteria for evaluating progress toward it, set priorities among stakeholders and start measuring value creation for each group.
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Startups stung by UK delay in awarding tax credits to innovators
- Article
- 13 Apr 2023
- Aisha S Gani
Some UK startup businesses have been waiting upwards of six months to receive research and development tax credits from HMRC, forcing some to take out loans to plug the gap in funds. The Fintech trade body Innovate Finance said it has member firms worried about lengthy delays that make it difficult to predict their cash flows. HMRC has acknowledged that it had extended processing times.
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Is risk management redundant?
- Article
- 01 Apr 2023
- Marinus De Pooter
Marinus de Pooter takes a look at the risk management industry and its potential downsides. He argues that finding a new perspective on dealing with uncertainty could
better support the goals of companies when trying to future-proof. Finance professionals should be thinking about risk management in terms of success as an organizational unit, function or project.
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Supporting intelligent treasury
- Article
- 01 Mar 2023
- Gilly Wright
With a possible economic slowdown looming, treasurers are keeping an especially close eye on their cash. Deloitte’s Global Treasury Survey 2022 found liquidity risk management was the top mandate for treasurers. Corporate treasurers are also investigating the promises of data insight from application programming interfaces (APIs), which bring new functionalities and convenience.
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Developing an entrepreneurial small business strategic plan
- Article
- 01 Mar 2023
- Hakan Butuner
Feature explaining how to use shortened Systematic Strategic Planning (SSP), a tool particularly suitable for developing strategic plans for SMEs. The article uses a case study of an entrepreneurial new business to demonstrate how the first four steps of a shortened SSP strategic plan can be applied.
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Managing interest rate risk with FASB’s new hedging flexibility
- Article
- 01 Mar 2023
- Mark D.Mishler
Find out how to apply FASB’s updated hedge accounting guidance, which more closely aligns a company’s financial reporting with the results of its risk management strategy. The update also simplified fair-value hedge accounting for investments in debt securities.
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Nurturing the UK's innovation ecosystem
- Article
- 07 Feb 2023
- Sebastian Klovig Skelton
Andrew Roughan, CEO of technology innovation hub Plexal, discusses how tech startups collaborate with the UK government to transform public services, the barriers to entry, and how the process can be improved.
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How CFOs can better manage: Strategy execution
- Article
- 01 Feb 2023
- Seth Elliott
Best practices in business strategy execution can help CFOs balance their traditional role of oversight and control with their emerging role as a catalyst for growth. Seth Elliott discusses using the objectives and key results (OKR) framework to track progress and organize goals. includes figures: 'The four faces of the CFO' and 'The quarterly OKR cycle'.
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Design thinking for innovation
- Article
- 01 Feb 2023
- Kristine Brands
How management accountants can apply the 'design thinking' approach to innovation to achieve a competitive edge. According to IDEO's Tim Brown, this human-centred approach can be used to integrate people's needs, technology, and business success factors to achieve innovation. The article applies design thinking to the example of a company needing to integrate its basic cost accounting system with its general ledger and other departmental functions.
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Do internal controls stifle corporate innovation?
- Article
- 01 Feb 2023
- Brian Miller, Amy Sheneman, Brian Williams
Internal controls are often thought of as bureaucratic hurdles that stifle creativity, but better control systems just might be a key to greater innovation, say the authors. Their research suggests that the improved information environment from higher-quality internal controls can help companies identify and patent their most innovative ideas.
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Innovation-driven culture
- Article
- 01 Jan 2023
- Mark L.Frigo, Terry E.Groff, Hans Laessoe, Darren Snellgrove
Developing a culture that prioritizes innovation is the key to creating long-term sustainable value, say the authors. They use three companies as case studies - Reading Bakery Systems, Johnson & Johnson, and the LEGO Group. Former leaders from the companies share insights on developing an innovation-driven culture.
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Expand your pricing strategy
- Article
- 01 Jan 2023
- Rafi Mohammed
Pricing consultant Rafi Mohammed recommends that companies should re-examine not just their prices but their pricing strategy - looking for different ways to charge customers. Looking at models used by other industries can offer inspiration for pricing innovations, such as offering to rent a product that's typically bought, or selling a service by the hour instead of by the day. By adding new pricing options, you increase the odds that customers will find one tailored to their needs.
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AI and digital discrimination
- Article
- 01 Dec 2022
- Arif Perdana, W Eric Lee
The article points out that management accountants and other financial professionals can minimize artificial intelligence (AI) discrimination by contributing to responsible AI practices and risk mitigation. Topics covered include the role of data in AI, examples of apparent biased automated decision-making system and the ethical challenges concerning biases in automated decision making. It also cites how to promote responsible AI practices and the importance of data governance and curation.
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The ideas that inspire us
- Article
- 01 Nov 2022
- Roz Brewer, Stephane Bancel, Anish Shah
Harvard Business Review asked eight current and former CEOs from some of the world’s top companies to describe the innovative ideas that have propelled their own careers and organizations. Two themes emerge: first, the need for constant innovation and out-of-the-box thinking as markets become more dynamic; second, the importance of purpose and a vision that encompasses all stakeholders.
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The next generation of industry changers
- Article
- 01 Sep 2022
- Nate Hopper, Britta Lokting, Kim Kavin
Interviews with fifteen innovative company founders in sectors including real estate, financial software solutions and data labelling.
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Rethinking risk management: Anticipating emerging risks means reshaping the board
- Article
- 01 Sep 2022
- Glenn David, Chandrosekor Venkatoromon
Anticipating emerging risks means reshaping the board, say the authors. They recommend changes boards should consider to enhance their risk management approach and better help their companies navigate emerging risks. These include separating the Chair and CEO roles and consider providing directors with a travel allowance to visit company locations, in order to better understand the business.
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Strategy making in uncertain times
- Article
- 01 Sep 2022
- Mark Gottfredson, Michael Mankins
Most companies have stuck with conventional techniques for strategy-making. In this article the authors describe what it takes to produce great results during economic uncertainty, and propose a practical model for strategy development that they have seen work at several leading companies.
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Succession stories: lessons learned from former family office CEOs
- Article
- 01 Jul 2022
- Jane Flanagan
The article discusses succession planning in family enterprises, considering how CEOs may retire without causing significant disruption to business operations. The author highlights the importance of trusted advisors as sources of guidance, and outlines certain key aspects of the strategic succession planning process, including training future leaders and writing clear job descriptions for successors.
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Strategies for individual leadership
- Article
- 01 Jul 2022
- Mark L.Frigo, Kathleen Stokes
Advice on translating great business strategy to create great leadership strategy for both individuals and high-performance teams. The article contains a short interview with Kathleen Stokes, who gives her perspective on leadership driven strategy as a finance leader.
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Tax directors expect high tech costs in new UAE regime
- Article
- 01 Jun 2022
- Danish Mehoob
tax professionals say the incoming corporate tax regime – the UAE's first ever – will use cutting-edge tax technology add-ons but they may be expensive
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McKinsey lays out what makes 'next level' Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) teams
- Article
- 18 May 2022
- Sheryl Estrada
CFOs from McKinsey and other businesses answer the question: 'What do you need from your FP&A team?'. Answers included harnessing data to make quick decisions, automation, and providing insights to strategic thinking.
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CEOs who take risks with sports may do the same with taxes
- Article
- 11 May 2022
- Michael Cohn
CEOs who prefer risky sports hobbies are more likely to take a risky approach to their company's tax planning, according to a new study published by the American Accounting Association. The sports hobbies of CEOs could become a possible tool for auditors interested in assessing corporate tax risk or even for integrated reporting.
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Use small nudges to avoid employee misconduct
- Article
- 01 May 2022
- Tijs Besieux, Femke de Vries, Wieke Scholten
Behavioural nudges can complement traditional methods of risk management. These changes in processes or organizational contexts may seem small, but they can have profound effects on behaviour. The authors of this article draw on their experience advising some of Europe’s largest financial institutions to present an alternative approach to compliance that is based on the principles and discoveries of behavioural psychology.
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The impact of remote workers on crisis, risk and business continuity management
- Article
- 01 Apr 2022
- Andreas Rodman
Andreas Rodman discusses how the shift to remote working since the outbreak of COVID-19 has affected enterprise risk management, business continuity management and crisis management. He shares tips, software tools and processes to help employers manage this impact.
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Three tricks to make hard decisions easier
- Article
- 01 Mar 2022
- Marc Randolph
Entrepreneurs often face what feel like impossible or unknowable choices. Marc Randolph shares three decision-making tricks he relied upon as cofounder and CEO of Netflix - and that he still uses today for business strategy decisions. These include the 'one-way or two-way door decisions' identified by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
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