New research upcoming from FERF.

• Author: Ladd, Scott
• Position: FEI NEWS - Financial Executives Research Foundation

Among the recent research that can now be downloaded from the website of the Financial Executives Research Foundation, the research affiliate of FEI, is;

MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE FOR EFFECTIVE INTERNAL CONTROL

Professional guidance on internal control, such as the guidelines from the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO), strongly emphasizes the importance of the "tone at the top." Nevertheless, despite times of deep financial crises, it is still often overlooked how executives and senior management must combine their principles and practices to establish a tone that enhances effective internal control through all ranks of the business.

Effective internal control starts at the top. While the requirement of specific policies and procedures can be prescribed and enforced by the regulator, ultimately it is in the hands of executives and senior management to significantly influence a culture that is supportive of effective controls.

In doing so, financial executives should have a clear idea of how an effective tone at the top can be created, how culture interrelates with control and how the tone will influence each individual in the organization, independent of physical location. Drawing from interviews with executives, this new Issue Alert will discuss how tone at the top imprints on an organization and why that imprint works.

BENCHMARK STUDY: THE STATE OF CAPITAL PLANNING

In a new first-of-its-kind study of senior financial executives, FERF research reveals that global enterprises rely on out-of-date technology and manual processes for capital planning, preventing them from fully maximizing their return on capital (ROC). The current planning process and...