New and noteworthy information you can use

Survey suggests most CFOs have no succession plan

Few financial executives know who will fill their shoes one day, but most have no plans for leaving, a new survey shows. The majority (72%) of CFOs polled said they haven’t identified a successor for their positions. Sixty-three per cent of respondents cited no plans to leave their present companies in the near future as the primary reason.

The survey was developed by Robert Half Management Resources and was conducted by an independent research firm and includes responses from 270 CFOs from a stratified random sample of Canadian companies with 20 or more employees.

CFOs who haven’t identified their successor were also asked why. While most cited the fact that they had no plans to leave, 24% suggested it wouldn’t be a priority because they would no longer be with the company, and another 7% suggested that there were no qualified candidates currently working at their organization.

“Executives should plan for all contingencies, even if they have every intention of staying in their current role,” said Paul McDonald, executive director of Robert Half Management Resources. “Change — planned or otherwise — is a fact of life and companies that are prepared are better equipped to maintain productivity during times of transition.”

McDonald noted that with many baby boomers nearing retirement, succession planning is especially important. He noted that it’s never too early to identify and prepare promising candidates for leadership positions. “Advance planning ensures a smoother transition when passing on the management reins.”

For more information on the study visit www.roberthalfmr.com.

2007 International Financial Executives Leadership Forum comes to Montreal

CMA Canada, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and the UK-based Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) are hosting the first annual 2007 International Financial Executives Leadership Forum in Montreal, October 3-5, 2007.

This one-of-a-kind forum will feature outstanding international keynote speakers, expert panelists from around the world, and a range of plenary and concurrent sessions addressing critical global business issues that today’s financial professionals face.

Among the many topics being covered at the conference are the following:

• Beyond the traditional: how outstanding senior financial leaders reposition their organizations, develop partnerships, and improve business performance;

• The unique role of the senior financial leader as change agent;

• Governance challenges in the global environment;

• Smart sustainability strategies that drive the bottom line; and

• Technological change: what every finance leader should know.

For more information visit www.ifelf.com/.

Canadian IPO market remains stalled

New public offerings on Canada’s equity markets remained stalled in the first half of 2007, with the value of new issues off 400% from the same period of 2006, the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) six-month survey of initial public offerings reveals.

Just $855 million in new equity reached markets in the first half of 2007, down from the $4 billion in the same period of 2006, when income trusts represented more than half of the buoyant market for new issues.  There were 37 IPOs on the TSX and TSX Venture exchanges during the period January-June 2007, down a third from the 57 new equity offerings in the same period of 2006.

The TSX accounted for just 13 of the new issues so far this year versus 36 in the first half of 2006.

The largest IPO in 2007 was the $148 million placement in the second quarter by Northstar Healthcare Inc. This is a far cry from the $700 million generated by the Teranet Income Fund IPO during the first half of 2006 when there were 13 new issues with a value greater than $100 million.

“The first half year results are in line with our expectations at the end of 2006,” said Ross Sinclair, national leader for PwC’s IPO and income trust services. “With the momentum of income trusts gone, the IPO market lacks the direction and enthusiasm of the last two years and is now in a very unusual state of running counter to the overall Canadian equity market. Any recovery is going to take some time; we probably won’t see it in 2007.”         

For more information visit www.pwc.com.

Most Valuable Canadian Brands Index 2007 gives RBC top marks

Brand Finance Canada recently published the third edition of its Most Valuable Canadian Brands Index. To determine Canadian brand values, it used the Royalty Relief brand valuation methodology, which is based on documented, third party transactions and removes much of the subjectivity associated with brand valuation. It ties back to the commercial reality of brands — specifically, their ability to command a premium in an arm’s length transaction, and can be performed on the basis of publicly available financial information.

According to the index, the total value of Canada’s 50 most valuable brands is $74 billion. RBC is the most valuable brand at $5 billion, and six of the top ten brands are in the financial services sector.

Manulife was the fastest riser from 2006, jumping from #15 to #3 — a testament to management’s focus on brand management throughout  a series of acquisitions. Meanwhile, Loblaws dropped from #2 to #7, reflecting the company’s unclear strategic brand and business objectives amidst increased competition from other players, including Wal-Mart.

Tim Hortons, ranked at #29, completed a successful IPO during the last year and has maintained its track record of excellent brand management; the brand represents over 17% of its total Enterprise Value.

Brand Finance Canada is a subsidiary of Brand Finance plc, the world’s leading independent brand valuation consultancy.  Its partner in Canada is LEVEL5. RBC, Manulife Financial, Molson and Yellow Pages all received A+ Brand Ratings.

“In an increasingly open world economy the route to sustainable advantage is the creation of strong intangible assets including patents, designs and above all, brands,” said David Kincaid, president and CEO of LEVEL5. “Understanding the drivers of brand value and brand equity is vital if Nation Brand Canada, as well as individual Canadian brands, are to maintain a competitive position. This year’s (study) indicates that Canadian brands are rising to the challenge.”

For more information visit www.brandfinance.com.  

Snapshot

Excel-erating the automation process

Ken Puls, CMA

There’s a lot of truth to the saying that necessity is the mother of invention. Just ask Ken Puls, CMA, accounting supervisor and systems administrator at Fairwinds Community & Resort in Nanoose Bay, BC. Due to staff cuts in his department in 2002, Puls had to try to automate as many functions as possible to maintain the quantity and quality of work they produced. In the process, he became an expert in Visual Basics for Applications (VBA), the computer language behind the entire MS Office suite, including Excel.

Using his knowledge, Puls is able to automate many functions in Excel, and now helps others do the same through his website, ExcelGuru.ca. In fact, NASA programmers recently decided that they wanted to take reports for their power systems and automate the process that takes the Excel data and puts it into PDF format. They now use a modified version of a process developed by Puls to do so.

As J. Yimin, from the International Space Station Power Resource Office at NASA, said to Puls, “There was definitely no way that I would have been able to do this without your code, so thanks a million, we appreciate it.”

In 2002, when it all started, Puls was just trying to keep everything at the office running smoothly. “At first, it was really all about survival,” he notes. “What really spurred me on was finding an online forum where I could exchange information with others. That was amazing. I found people willing to help me, and I became a bit of a learning addict. Eventually, I just wanted to give back as well, so I created my own website and blog to help others.”

Puls firmly believes that, properly set up, a computer can process numbers and data far more efficiently and accurately than any human, and that human brainpower should be devoted to solving strategic problems, not data input.

Beyond his day job, Puls has done some consulting. “But I don’t chase the work, it finds me,” he says. “At least a dozen of my colleagues in this field are doing consulting work full time in the VBA area. There’s definitely a market for it.”

In Puls’ experience, accountants don’t use Excel anywhere near as effectively as they could.

“Accountants use Excel every day, it’s at the heart of the work we do, but very few know the power that’s sitting under the hood,” he insists. “I just taught a class in Excel, and not many people have any idea what’s available to them.

“Generally we pick things up on the job but most accountants use about 10-20% of the power available in the program,” he continues. “For instance, I taught a class in Nanaimo recently on creating a reusable spreadsheet, and only one person in the class had even used VBA code.  Only half had ever used any type of lookup formula.”   

Puls volunteers in several online forums, as well as sharing his ideas with friends and colleagues around the world. He was awarded a Microsoft Excel MVP award in October 2006. There are currently only three Microsoft Excel MVPs in Canada and 90 worldwide. The award program recognizes and thanks outstanding members of technical communities for their community participation and willingness to help others. It is given to exceptional technical community leaders who foster the free and objective exchange of knowledge by actively sharing their real-world expertise with technology users.

Puls has been an active member of CMA B.C., having held the position of Upper Island Chapter Chair for three years. He is also a founding member of the Professional Office Developers Association, a fledgling association dedicated to promoting excellence within the Microsoft Office development field.

Talent crunch threatens tech industry

Canada’s technology and telecommunications companies are faced with unprecedented growth opportunities, but at the same time a talent crisis threatens to jeopardize their success, according to new research conducted by Deloitte, with support from the Information Technology Association of Canada.

TechTalent, a survey of 60 Canadian technology and telecommunications organizations, reveals that developing and retaining talent is cited as the most critical people issue technology and telecommunications organizations face today. But, alarmingly, only 10% of companies surveyed have talent strategies in place (33% cite themselves as unprepared, 52% are still in the process of preparing). 

“Canadian technology companies are poised for great success over the next few years, but must overcome a talent crisis to stay ahead,” says Richard Lee, human capital practice leader with Deloitte. “The key to fuelling growth and performance will be effective talent management — knowing how to find, retain and develop the best talent, skills and leadership.”    

The findings reveal the majority of companies expect their workforce to grow by at least six per cent annually (25% expecting double-digit growth). At the same time, the retirement of baby boomers, declining birth rates and increased labour mobility all contribute to why 95% of respondents cite the talent shortage as a fundamental business challenge facing their organizations today. In particular, leadership talent will be at a premium as an ageing workforce results in the loss of knowledge workers (70% of respondents anticipate a shortage of senior executives and senior leaders over the next three to five years). Developing leadership talent is cited as the most critical talent issue (67%), followed by retention of key talent (48%).

Despite acknowledging these talent challenges, the vast majority of Canadian technology and telecommunications companies are confident of finding the right talent.  Sixty-eight per cent of respondents believe the skills they need to enable future growth are readily available in the labour market. However, the survey findings indicate that industry leaders might not have a clear picture of the talent they need. The majority of respondents note that demographic changes and pending skills shortages are discussed infrequently at a senior level.  Nearly a third of participants said their organization hasn’t yet defined a list of critical skills for future growth, while another 32% have only just started to do so, but have yet to complete the analysis.

When it comes to managing talent, the majority of companies continue to rely on traditional approaches to ‘buying talent.’ The survey findings reveal the majority of respondents plan to increase their investment in recruiting, with 67% relying on financial rewards and incentives as the most common strategy to attract and retain talent.  However, numerous studies show that money is only a top priority when it’s much too low and that it fails to address the long-term talent issue. 

“As technology and telecommunications companies bid on increasingly scarce talent, at some point they will find the talent they need simply isn’t available — at any price. While a company must offer competitive salaries and incentives, they must adopt a fresh approach to managing talent,” noted, Richard Lee from Deloitte. “Companies that don’t act now face a talent crisis down the road.”

For more information visit www.deloitte.com.

High tech

Security and speed, in a flash

SanDisk Corporation recently introduced Cruzer Professional and Cruzer Enterprise, two USB flash drives that deliver strong security and state-of-the-art speed to business users.  Cruzer Professional is primarily for individuals and small businesses that want to protect crucial data while also making it easy to share selected files. Cruzer Enterprise is primarily for medium and large organizations that require mandatory policy enforcement, central management and regulatory compliance.

“USB flash drives offer an inexpensive and convenient way to carry large amounts of digital information in a pocket or purse, yet without proper security these benefits become a huge threat to businesses of all sizes,” said Yariv Fishman, product manager for enterprise solutions in the USB business unit at SanDisk. “Cruzer Professional and Cruzer Enterprise are business tools... which help ensure confidential data remains confidential — even if the drives themselves are lost or stolen.”

Cruzer Professional and Cruzer Enterprise offer password protection and virtually ironclad data security through hardware-based 256-bit AES encryption. Hardware-based encryption is much more reliable than the software-based security used in most consumer USB flash drives with password protection, because software-based protection relies on the host computer — which can be compromised by spyware and other threats — to perform security operations. Cruzer Professional and Cruzer Enterprise are true plug-and-play devices, requiring no software installation on a host computer, so the drives will connect instantly to any computer running a modern version of Microsoft Windows.

Cruzer Professional and Cruzer Enterprise are also very fast, with read speeds of 24 megabytes (MB) per second and write speeds of 20 MB/sec. This reduces waiting time, which is particularly noticeable when moving large files, such as business presentations and video productions.

For more information visitwww.sandisk.com.

New Software

• CyberShift’s Workforce Management Solutions with BlackBerry support
• Doc.It Suite’s new Smart Scheduling in Workflow Manager 

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