| 301 Getting the Most from Every Dollar |
Hosted By:
American Express
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Speaker:
Celina Rogers, Associate Director, CFO Research Services
Eduardo Vergara, SVP, Global Product Management & Marketing, American Express
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Focus:
In March 2008, American Express commissioned a new mid-size company research study from CFO Research Services (a unit of CFO Publishing Corporation). The research study, Getting the Most for Every Dollar, with responses from 402 financial executives, recognizes that in today’s uncertain economic environment opportunities to drive greater savings with sufficient financial controls is top of mind. Key findings and best practices shared reveal that finance executives currently have a heightened desire to control costs including indirect expenses and are ultimately in search of striking the right balance in price, service and quality from their vendors while achieving sufficient flexibility and control for their employees. Join this workshop to learn:
1. The research results of the March 2008 CFO Research Services white paper, Getting the Most for Every Dollar.
2. Best practices that can be implemented at mid-size companies to create bottom-line dollar value through creation of preferred vendor relationships, negotiations and management.
3. How to achieve the appropriate balance of price, quality and service through vendors: flexibility and control for employees.
4. Indirect expense management strategies that have proven successful in American Express Corporate Services experience.
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Take Away:
Workshop attendees will be able to:
1. Gain a clear understanding of strategies and best practices to identify savings priorities and opportunities;
2. Gain strategies on how to meet company-specific needs to drive value through spend data access, analysis and vendor management;
3. Leave with an understanding of how to approach select appropriate strategies, programs and tools and leverage best
practices to optimize hard dollar savings given today’s economic environment.
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| 302 Driving Business Performance: Thinking Bigger about Business Intelligence |
Hosted By:
Microsoft
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Speaker:
Guy Weismantel, Director of Marketing , Microsoft Corporation
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Focus:
Survey after survey lists business intelligence (BI) at the top of software spending priorities for companies of all sizes. And yet, despite the time, money, and resources aligned against the goal of making better business decisions, finance departments do not yet have a solution that lets them address these issues in a strategic and integrated fashion. Attend this session to hear best practices and solution examples around how finance departments today are “thinking bigger” about business intelligence, moving beyond the rigid tools and applications they’ve had to use in the past and drive their organizations reach their full potential.
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Take Away:
After attending this session, delegates can expect to have an understanding of Microsoft’s approach to performance management. They will also learn best practices from organizations and the approach they are taking to performance management.
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| 303 Fraud, Policy and Prevention: Driving Down Expenses in an Unpredictable Economic Climate |
Hosted By:
Expedia Corporate Travel
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Speaker:
Rob Greyber, SVP, North America, Expedia Corporate Travel
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Focus:
Travel and entertainment (“T&E”) expenses are the third largest controllable expense for most corporations. In this session, we address two critical issues that impact T&E costs: Fraud and Travel Industry Consolidation. First, when fraud is committed by employees, it can have a serious impact on the bottom line. Through real-world examples, attendees to this session will learn best-practices for spotting and preventing fraud in their travel and expense budgets. Second, airline industry consolidation is widely expected to increase travel costs; consolidation in other areas of the travel industry is expected to have the same result. In this session, we will briefly review the drivers of industry consolidation in the airline, hotel and car rental industries, focusing on what you can do to maintain — or even improve — the cost and cost/value equation for your company.
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Take Away:
The average company in the US loses 5% of revenues each year to fraud. Attendees to this workshop will gain an understanding of how to find and minimize the impact of expense fraud to their bottom line. Through a discussion of the drivers of industry consolidation, attendees will gain an understanding for what will motivate airlines, hotels and car rental companies in this environment, and how companies can use that to gain better pricing — and service — for their business travel.
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| 304 Going Green- What Makes Sense in Real Estate? |
Hosted By:
CresaPartners
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Speaker:
Matt Feeney, Managing Principal, CresaPartners
Deborah Fuller, Sustainability Specialist, HOK
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Focus:
This session will address the Corporate Real Estate aspects of “Going Green,” including:
• Why would an organization choose to go Green?
• Cost/Benefit of going Green
• When does it make sense to go Green?
• What exactly is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification?
• What is the process of getting office buildings LEED Certified?
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Take Away:
By attending this session, attendees can expect to understand the benefits and costs associated with going Green in real estate, as well as understand how to go Green.
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| 305 Insulating Earnings From Pension Volatility ― Run Your Pension As A Business Unit! |
Hosted By:
PensionSpan from Barclays Global Investors
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Speaker:
Eugene Podkaminer, Strategist, Barclays Global Investors
Andy Hunt, Strategist, Barclays Global Investors
Stephen Bozeman, Head of Defined Benefit Outsourcing, Barclays Global Investors
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Focus:
It’s no secret that earnings, equity, income, and cash flow have been affected by recent pension legislation and accounting standard changes, compelling CFOs and Treasurers to view the pension as they would any other financial subsidiary of their firm. A new type of diligence and different skill set is required to ensure that your company is not financially or competitively disadvantaged by its obligation to its retirees. Part history lesson, part Case Study, part panel discussion, our workshop examines bringing your pension in line with your business, investing with a view towards the liabilities, and freeing you to re-focus on the Operating company that is the core of your job. Tomorrow’s pension plan will meld performance improvement with risk management, to the benefit of customers, shareholders and employees alike.
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Take Away:
When you leave our session you should have a better understanding of:
• What the impact of your defined benefit pension plan is to your shareholder’s equity, earnings, and cash flow.
• How pensions have been run historically in the US and why the old model doesn’t make sense going forward.
• What you can do to mitigate the impact of pension volatility on your balance sheet while improving the security of employee benefits.
• How costly plan terminations and buyouts can become in lieu of successful governance and management.
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| 306 Key Challenges in Managing Shareholder Value |
Hosted By:
Booz Allen Hamilton
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Speaker:
Sam Knox, Director, CFO Research Services
Juan Carlos Webster, Principal, Booz Allen Hamilton
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Focus:
The institutionalization of investor capital, the increased accountability for shareholder value, and other stakeholder demands have increased the need for improvements in performance planning and management. In the past much of the value generation came from financial engineering while today, value is created largely through management-based improvements. This workshop will provide insights into the key challenges faced by corporate leaders and how success is achieved through a disciplined approach to strategy definition and execution.
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Take Away:
Through a combination of examples, research among senior finance executives, case studies and best practices, you will be provided with the ideas to generate shareholder value and address the big questions facing management today — e.g., what are the trends and forces affecting short- versus long-term decision making? How should performance be measured? How can portfolio management strategies optimize lines of business and shareholder value? How does management’s relation with the board of directors and other external stakeholders affect value creation?
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| 307 Successful BPO Planning and Implementation |
Hosted By:
Exterieur Resources Worldwide
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Speaker:
Charles Freiboth III JD, CPA, President and CEO, Exterieur Resources Worldwide Inc.
Keith Fiveson, Managing Consultant, ITESA, Diversified Technology Solutions International, Inc.
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Focus:
Key issues that will be discussed include:
• Overall rationale for outsourcing and offshoring,
• The financial and accounting sourcing framework — what functions to outsource/offshore and what functions to retain,
• Service levels methodologies — scoping and baseline costing,
• Proper transition planning vis-à-vis internal sensitivities,
• Risk management — shared services versus independent service providers,
• Collaborative governance processes and relationship management.
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Take Away:
Attendees will leave this session with a general understanding of how to successfully plan for and implement outsourcing and offshoring projects within their own organizations. They will gain insights on relevant strategies (the why) and tactics (the how), proper transition planning in relation to internal sensitivities, risk management issues, collaborative governance and relationship management.
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| 308 Improving EPS and Forecasting through Pricing Excellence |
Hosted By:
PROS
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Speaker:
Doug Fuehne, Senior Director of Science Solutions, PROS
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Focus:
This session will cover the following areas:
• Importance of pricing decisions to finance organizations,
• Pricing strategies that can result in higher EPS,
• Science-based forecasting to improve the budget process,
• Helping your sales teams work with your customers’ strategic sourcing groups.
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Take Away:
After attending this session, delegates can expect to understand the value of science in improving an organization’s bottom line. They will also have new ideas about how to manage the finance organization’s daily life.
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| 309 Addressing the Health Care Bottom Line: Improving Employee Health and Lowering Costs |
Hosted By:
Cigna
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Speaker:
Bill Reindl, Senior Vice President, Consumer Segment, CIGNA
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Focus:
In the past ten years, employer gross health care costs have increased to become one of the largest cost pressures on company income statements. And since the U.S. spends significantly more on health care than other similar countries, the cost increases are impacting U.S. global competitiveness. The solution is not in cost-shifting through plan design. An effective health benefits strategy focuses on financial ownership and health improvement to drive long-term health and productivity. A successful strategy will incent employees to become active participants in their health. This workshop will discuss how to get employees to treat their health care expenses differently and will look at the importance of getting employees to take responsibility for their health to avoid unnecessary health care costs.
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| 310 The Evolving Role of Tax |
Hosted By:
Ryan
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Speaker:
Jon Sweet, Chief Stategy Officer, Ryan
Chuck Carvell, Head of the U.S. Tax Group, Vestas-American Wind Technology, Inc.
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Focus:
For tax and finance executives, a new reality has emerged. Greater internal scrutiny and complexity have combined with an ever-changing and increasing level of external influences that are compelling organizations to reconsider their approach to tax planning and management. For those companies who choose to build a culture of best practices, the right alignment of people, processes, and technologies can lead to enhanced reliability, accuracy, and overall efficiency. In this session, we will discuss the emerging trends and pressing challenges facing today’s tax and finance executives as validated in a recent CFO Research Services study, and outline a series of best practices that will help tax departments deliver greater value to their organization.
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