What is FERF? 70 years of thought leadership.

• Position: RESEARCH FOUNDATION

We at Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF)--a valuable resource at your fingertips--would like to welcome the new members of our Board of Trustees for fiscal year 2014-15 as well as the non-trustee members of our Development and Research Committees. They bring a diverse array of knowledge and experience that will add value and perspective to our unique and unbiased research, made possible by voluntary contributions from our generous donors. We remain committed to providing you--our readers and partners--with continued support to help you make timely, intelligent and informed business decisions.

FERF Research is Getting Noticed

In mid-September, FERF was invited to the XBRL U.S. National Conference in Bellevue, Washington, to moderate two panels on disclosure management solutions (DMS) based on FERF's recent report SEC Reporting and the Impact of XBRL: 2013 Survey. The first panel discussed how disclosure management solutions are maximizing effectiveness in the reporting process. The panelists from three different companies shared their implementation experiences and current processes. The second panel focused on controls around DMS. Chuck Harris, Partner at PwC, described changes the 2013 COSO Framework may have on DMS. Michelle Linders Wagner, Senior Manager at Deloitte, elaborated on its impact. Another recent FERF research report. Impact of the 2013 COSO Framework, provides more extensive Interviews regarding the new framework.

2015 FERF Board of Trustees

CHAIR

Raymond Purcell

Director--Financial Controls

Pfizer, Inc.

VICE CHAIRS

Merrill Ayers

Monty W. Garrett

Vice President--Corporate Finance

Verizon Communications

Edward V. Weller

Chief Accounting Officer

Federal Home Loan Bank Pittsburgh

PRESIDENT AND CEO

Marie N. Hollein

President and CEO

Financial Executives International

Financial Executives Research Foundation

TRUSTEES

Sam Eldessouky

Senior Vice President,

Controller and Chief Accounting Officer

Tyco International Ltd.

Marie T. Gallagher

Senior Vice President and Controller

Pepsico

Hubert D. Glover, Ph.D.

Clinical Associate Professor

LeBow College of Business

Drexel University

Bruce M. Goldstein

Senior Vice President, Controller

PVH Corporation

Paul Hensley

Senior Vice President and CFO

HOLT CAT

Ruud R Roggekamp

Assistant Treasurer

Corporate Finance & Banking

The Boeing Company

Martin C. Ross

Terence R. Stack

Vice President, Treasurer

Harman International Industries, Inc.

Nikhil P. Varaiya, Ph.D.

Director of Graduate Programs and Professor, Finance

San Diego State University

M. Mark Walker, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Finance

University of Mississippi

Michael J. Wood

Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer

Raytheon Company

EX-OFFICIO

John K. Wulff

Chair, Hall of Fame Selection Council

2012 FEI Hall of Fame Inductee

The 2014 Leadership in Finance award winners represent companies featured in the Modern Finance in the Digital Age research conducted by FERF and sponsored by Oracle.

In late September, Marie N. Hollein, President and CEO of FEI and FERF, was a guest panelist at Oracle's Open World for CFOs and discussed the digitization of finance based on research findings from an upcoming research report, Modern Finance in the Digital Age. To help CFOs succeed in the new digital age, this research report will explore new finance best practices that CFOs are adopting to support more agile, technology-enabled business models and stronger C-suite collaboration. Pictured left to right: Niranjan Pradbu, Director, Enterprise Solutions, The University of Melbourne; Bradley O'Bryan, Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, Hyatt Hotels Corporation; Nick Wood, Senior Director, Strategic Finance Systems, SITA; Fabio De Felippis, Financial Controller, Nufarm S.A.; Marie N. Hollein, CTP, President and CEO, FEI and FERF; Jeff Henley, Vice Chairman of the Board, Oracle Corporation

FERF's Chapter Challenge Program

What's new?

* FEI Chapter Insight, the opportunity to author a thought leadership piece distributed to FEI membership--and beyond;

* The choice of complimentary conference registrations at FEI Leadership Summit or Current Financial Reporting Issues (CFRI); and

* Recognition and complimentary seats at the FEI Hall of Fame Gala (scheduled this year on November 17th at Gotham Hall in NYC)

What hasn't changed?

* Professional Development sessions

* Ad space in Financial Executive magazine

* Subscriptions to FERFPros CPE

* The Chapter Academic Award Program; and

* Acknowledgement at FEI Conferences, on our website, and in FERF communications.

Contact Kit Hall at khall@financialexecutives.org or 973.765.1064 for more information.

Recently Published Reports

Audit Fee Survey

FERF's Annual Audit Fee Survey 2014 Results revealed that nearly 400 respondents' audit fees increased by 2.7 percent, on average, over prior year's for public, private and nonprofit companies. Public respondents reported a 4.5 percent increase over the prior year, primarily due to review of manual controls resulting from PCAOB inspections and other PCAOB issues, ultimately causing a change in company controls and/or controls documentation. Inflation was identified as a cause for the increase for both private and nonprofit companies. Additionally, more than half of the public company respondents indicated an increase in internal cost of compliance with SOX over the past three years. However, many stated they believe they now have improved internal controls. The report provides 11 exhibits to help senior-level financial executives benchmark their fees and experiences against their peers.

Beware XBRL Errors in SEC Filings

The intention of this issue alert is to emphasize that all errors cannot be caught by software, so senior-level financial executives and their teams should beware and be aware how to identify and remediate errors before submitting their XBRL files to the SEC. In addition, the report provides examples of common errors detected through manual review, as well as the most common errors detected by software systems.

The Importance of Business Intelligence to Strategy

What type of information is finance capable of providing to the business? What barriers exist that prevent finance from providing better information? Which functions within the organization does finance partner with to provide information for critical business decisions? This report addresses these questions and provides five steps that financial executives can take to improve their finance processes.

Upcoming Reports

The Evolving Role of the Disclosure Committee Although not required, a well-established disclosure committee can help financial executives comply with complicated and time-consuming regulatory requirements. This upcoming report will share common practices gathered through peer interviews and survey results. The most common theme Is that the disclosure committee has to "have the right people in the room to be successful."

Revenue Recognition ASC 606

Following the recently issued joint revenue recognition standard, FERF and PwC conducted a survey on companies' preparedness on implementing the standard by 2017 for public companies. This research report will reveal how companies rank in preparedness among their peers. Preliminary results show that familiarity with the standard was heavily skewed to the finance function, with greatest impact on systems.

Research Projects Requiring Your Participation

Technology Issues for Financial Executives Survey--Are You Getting Enough Value from Your IT Investments?

FEI's Committee on Finance & IT (CFIT) and Gartner collaborate annually with FERF to conduct the Technology Issues for Financial Executives survey. In its 16th year, the survey's goal is to gain financial executives' perspectives on information technology within the enterprise. New questions this year will ask members for their opinions on the skill sets required by their IT departments and whether their IT projects are achieving their desired benefits. The survey should only take about 10 minutes to complete. All responses are confidential and participants will remain anonymous.

Financial Executive Compensation Survey--Flow do your and your staff's pay stack up against your peers' compensation ?

The ninth annual survey reports on the salaries, bonuses, long-term incentives and retirement benefits of CFOs, corporate controllers, treasurers and other financial executives among public and private companies in the United States. This year's survey will also focus on acquisition and retention strategies for top talent. This survey should take less than 15 minutes to complete and, as always, all responses are confidential and participants will remain-anonymous.

Support FERF

Established in 1944, Financial Executives Research Foundation is the research affiliate of FEI. FERF is a non-profit, non-political, educational organization under Section 501 (c)(3) of the 1RS. Our mission is to provide knowledge and insight that enable informed decision-making by senior-level financial executives and...