It was a very (you fill-in-the-blank) year.

• Author: Crooks, Christina
• Position: Cover Story

In choosing a roller coaster image for the cover of the January/February 2011 issue of Financial Executive, it was pointed out that "at least the car is on the way up." And the year started out optimistically enough, given what the nation had experienced with the financial crisis beginning in 2007-08, the ensuing stock market plunge and the subsequent great recession.

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But 2011 has provided little to sustain that early optimism, job growth and business expansion has lagged, unemployment in the United States has held at or near 9 percent or more--the highest numbers since 1982--and Europe's economic travails introduced a new and anxiety-inducing element of uncertainty into the global financial picture.

Nearing the close of this year, the roller coaster remains an accurate reflection of how the year played out. It was a year of ups and downs, steep drops, thrills and sudden stops, leaving more than a few knots in the stomachs of American business leaders.

It's necessary to take a step back and see just how wild the ride has been and to take stock of how Financial Executives International has responded to the challenges that senior-level financial executives are currently facing.

The Year in Review

This year has comprised major events that seemed to be happening every other day. It began in January, when Republicans took control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 2007. Responding to a message from the Tea Party that pushed Republicans to victory in the 2010 elections, the 112th Congress promised a repeal of President Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as its first vote of the new session.

Though the vote was mainly symbolic, its passage in the House of Representatives was a blueprint on how Republicans would lead over the course of the year.

Republicans, including the large block of Tea Party-supported members elected in 2010, promised to cut spending and not raise taxes. This caused cheers among conservatives, but many agreed it was not the best formula to govern effectively, especially with the U.S. facing its highest levels of debt and unemployment in generations.

Throughout late winter and early spring, it seemed almost weekly that the federal government was facing a potential shutdown. There were numerous instances where a shutdown appeared imminent but was narrowly averted due to spending cuts in the billions of dollars.

The constant threat of shutdown illustrated the inability of a Republican-controlled House and Democratic-led Senate to come to any agreement, especially to bridge ideological divides to enact a budget--which failed to occur for the entire year.

By late spring and early summer, as deficit spending pushed the government toward breaching its most recent debt ceiling, both Republicans and Democrats came out with deficit-reduction proposals, including a controversial proposal by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee. Obama and Ryan publicly battled over their respective proposals in attempts to gain the upper hand in the ensuing debate.

Obama's plan called for a reduction of $4 trillion over the next 12 years that would be achieved in part by letting the 2001-03 individual tax rates, the so-called "Bush-era" tax cuts, expire. Ryan's plan would also trim $4 trillion, in part by repealing Obama's 2010 health care laws and cutting government spending to below 20 percent

The Budget Control Act of 2011 was signed on Aug. 2, bringing to a conclusion the summer of...