We're broadening our mission in response to your needs

404 Institute members have always played a vital role in determining our agenda. Five years after the adoption of Section 404 became mandatory; our members report that compliance activities are continuing to be integrated into the corporate environment. As a result, members previously focused entirely on compliance are taking on increasingly operational roles. Given these dynamics the Institute is expanding its focus to meet your evolving needs by continuing to offer guidance and thought leadership on the broader set of financial management issues that affect you.

To help address your needs, we will cover a range of topics in addition to section 404 compliance - including financial reporting, and risk and controls. This will enable us to continue providing you with an open forum where ideas can be exchanged and leading practices developed on issues that impact you most.

We invite you to explore our updated Web site to find the wider range of topics and events we're scheduling to help you address the broader scope of issues you face.

As always, please contact us with any questions or suggestions you may have going forward.

Given the imperative for accurate forecasting, the availability of better tools and techniques, and the recent empowerment of CFOs to implement change, why aren't' companies more successful in their forecasting efforts? Tools and techniques alone cannot produce successful forecasting. Companies have struggled to forecast with reliability because they haven't focused sufficiently on forecasting fundamentals -- what we call the three D's: decisions, data, and discipline.

All organizations use forecasts to predict and manage their future performance. But although organizations invest significant time and effort in this important task, only one in five currently produce a forecast that is reliable. This research report by KPMG and the EIU is based on a global survey of mover than 540 senior executives involved in the forecasting process from a cross section of industries.

In a recent survey, 83 percent of executives said managing working capital was the highest or a high priority at their companies, yet only 37 percent of those surveyed had a working capital improvement program in place during the past five years. That's just one key finding from The Importance of Preserving Cash in a Downturn, new KPMG research conducted by CFO Research Services. Click the link above to access the full survey results.

New demands from the board, senior organizational leaders, and regulators are requiring internal audit groups to refocus their efforts beyond regulatory compliance issues. Through its core competencies, internal audit is positioned to assist in a number of areas.

Technology advancements and the constantly changing regulatory environment are prompting leading organizations to accelerate the implementation of Continuous Auditing/Continuous Monitoring to improve risk and controls management and enhance cost effectiveness.

Across industries, companies are beginning to recognize that their risk assessments are inadequate and, in fact, may be failing. Risks change continually along with business or market circumstances, but many organizations do not routinely adjust the risk profile to reflect such changes.

The June 2007 issue of KPMG’s Defining Issues describes the new interpretive guidance for management evaluations of internal controls over financial reporting and related rule amendments that are intended to allow management to comply with section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act more cost-effectively.

The SEC proposed to defer for an additional year the deadline for non-accelerated filers to comply with the Section 404(b) requirement that auditors attest to management reports on internal control over financial reporting.1 The proposal is intended to give the SEC staff the opportunity to complete a cost-benefit study before non-accelerated filers must comply with the requirement.

How 1A professionals can identify and capture opportunities to use their core skills of risk and control analysis to create value for organizations.

"Ogranizations with the desire to improve business performance through optimizing risk and controls management can not only reduce volatitity and increase sustainability, but can enhance corporate reputation and build shareholder value"

KPMG's Defining Issues newsletter presents highlights from the recent AICPA conference on SEC and PCAOB developments, which took place on December 8-10, 2008 in Washington, D.C.

KPMG's Issues In-Depth, offers a comprehensive view of the recent AICPA conference on SEC and PCAOB developments. At this conference, speakers explained the likely effects of current economic conditions on financial reporting and disclosures, the convergence of IFRS and U.S. GAAP, and more.

The SEC approved issuing a proposal that would require companies to submit XBRL-formatted financial statements as exhibits to their files financial statements, phasing in the requirements over three years. Click here to download pdf.