February issue
Australia’s top companies have much healthier cash flows than they had a year ago, but sticking to a lean diet in 2010 will test CFOs and company directors, Shaun Drummond writes.
Opinion
The future’s looking brighter, but is it time to put on the shades? Last year wasn’t as bad as many thought it was going to be, due largely to Australia’s fortunate reliance on emerging economies. We also had a willing equity market keen on a bargain.
The CFO of the Norwegian company behind some of Sydney’s major toll technology says the financial crisis has brought him closer to his global customers
Scrip
Liabilities move sparks controversy | Slow payers stifle recovery | Corporate rush possible to US bond market | Beijing "may curb its enthusiasm for commodities" | Forum looks at boosting debt market
The global financial crisis has prompted companies to be more selective when appointing new directors, a trend that favours retired corporate executives, especially those with comprehensive and specific skills.
Timid regulators in Australia should keep an eye on events in the United States, where a grassroots reaction is under way aimed at curbing the banks’ insatiable appetite for fee revenue from transactions.
The Seven Network’s financial chief is looking forward to a brighter 2010 and his new role as G100 president, Shaun Drummond writes.
Management
After eight years as CFO of Zurich Financial Services Australia, Chris Powell left at the end of last year confident that he had given the company a competitive advantage by improving its reporting ability.
The GFC has accelerated moves to throw out budgets, with some companies switching from preparing conventional annual reports to making short-term rolling forecasts. Shaun Drummond reports.
The world economy is now looking rosier, especially in Asia, but the challenges for this year are controlling inflation created by stimulus packages and doing a better job of fixing the banking system.
Financial chiefs can transform people management from a warm and fuzzy art to a quantifiable process, Craig Donaldson writes.
Focus: corporate travel
Business types appear to be heading for the pointy end of the plane again. But their finance and procurement departments are seeking to drive hard bargains with the airlines.
Fly-in, fly-out service contracts make sense for finance chiefs in resources firms as they gear up for resurgence, Dan Hall writes.
As economic conditions improve and new trends emerge, this year marks the final boarding call for getting hold of corporate travel bargains and negotiating the best rates and deals, Dan Hall writes.
Finance & treasury
The GFC is over and bond markets are open for business again, but CFOs thirsty for more diversity and longer tenors than available on the domestic market are shopping offshore for debt, Kate Mills writes.
Australia’s resilient economy makes it attractive to foreign investors, but companies hoping to tap into offshore debt funds still need to meet high individual standards, Shaun Drummond writes.
Accounting standards have been generating a lot of heat but proposed guidelines for emissions trading could prove the hottest of all, Leon Gettler writes.
