Recent FEI Teleconferences Examine Timely Finance Topics.

• Position: Brief Article

Recent FEI teleconferences discussed timely finance topics: Standard & Poors' change in its policies regarding commercial paper back-up; evaluating intangibles; and how your company can evolve into an e-business. The transcripts are available on FEI's web site, www.fei.org.

S&P's New Criteria Give CFOs Flexibility

On Nov. 17, Solomon Samson, a managing director of Standard & Poors, said that company's new policy regarding commercial paper backup will give CFOs greater flexibility in choosing a back-up approach. "Now companies can opt for less than 100-percent coverage," Samson said. However, he cautioned, companies must tailor the measurement of their program in terms of the maturity dates of the paper being backed up. Samson also said the new policy "requires predictability of borrowing needs to make it work." Finally, he noted, it "needs monitoring to ensure compliance, a clear idea of what's involved and a commitment to following the policy."

You may direct follow-up questions to Samson at (212) 438-7653.

Getting a Grip on Intangibles

"Intangibles are the largest asset most companies have," Prof. Baruch Lev of New York University's Stern School of Business told callers to FEI's Dec. 1 teleconference, "Why Value Intangibles?" Managing them, he added, "means at some stage measuring them" -- and protecting them. But that's often easier said than done. Just look at American...