FEI strategic planning focuses on member needs.

• Author: Abel, James J.
• Position: President's page

Ibarely have to remind you that these are very challenging times for leaders in the financial community--regardless of the industry we work in. To wit: we are witnessing first hand the importance of the housing and general construction markets to the country's overall economic performance and the ripple effect that they have had on banks. To complicate matters, the broader credit markets continue to surprise us as we can't seem to find the bottom of the cycle.

However, as is often the case, difficult times create opportunities for us to re-examine our priorities and rekindle our sense of urgency.

Within FEI, this has led us to refresh our strategic-planning process and ensure that we are focusing the organization on the key areas that will help us better serve our members and the broader financial community over the next several years.

This is consistent with FEI itself responding to the external community--and that is our purpose. When it was founded in 1931, FEI was the Controller's Institute of America, formed for controllers, the then-top finance person in organizations.

As the finance role grew and the CFO role came to being during the 1960s, FEI changed to reflect that change, by changing our name--to Financial Executives Institute--as well as our scope of activities. And as corporations began becoming more global, in 2000 FEI again changed its name--to Financial Executives International--and its focus to embrace more of a global strategy.

FEI Strategic Planning

The process is ongoing. Our strategic planning committee, under the direction of George Boyadjis, EVP, CFO, secretary and treasurer for American TeleCare Inc., is in the early stages of this process. The committee is comprised of a broad range of members from around the country and augmented by experienced leaders of FEI's staff.

There are several obvious areas where we will be providing leadership, input, discussion and communication. These areas include the convergence of International Financial Reporting Standards with U.S. GAAP; the implementation of extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL); and the extensive changes in taxation that are under consideration as well as potential changes that the consequences of the upcoming presidential election may bring.

While we are still fine-tuning how these issues fit into the overall plan, we have already launched new programs and services that will essentially be part of the plan's overall execution. In the international arena...