Don’t be surprised to find your finance department in the cloud. In 2008, IT researcher Gartner, of Stamford, CT, declared “Cloud computing will be as influential as e-business.”

Based on a survey of 244 executives, International Data Corp. (IDC), Framingham, MA, another IT research firm, predicted in late 2008 that cloud computing was poised to go mainstream, and noted that cloud computing was entering a period of accelerated growth.

Your finance department probably already dabbles in the cloud. Anybody using a free Gmail account from Google? That’s the cloud. Does your organization use Salesforce.com? Another big cloud player. more

Earlier this week, while news of the AIG bonuses was still burning into the national consciousness, I linked to Aaron Zelinsky’s suggestion that Tim Geithner should press the IRS to find the payouts nondeductible because they fail to qualify as “reasonable” compensation.

It might have been a more elegant and prudent way of defusing the AIG furore, compared with what we’ll likely end up with. In its haste to been seen as doing something, the House yesterday passed a bill imposing a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to any employee whose family income is more than $250,000 and who works for a company that has received $5 billion or more in TARP funds. The Senate will likely weigh in with its own bill next week.

Does this tax-it-off-them approach not seem just a tad imperial? Here we have a piece of punitive legislation designed to bring the full majesty of the tax code down on the head of one particular group of people. Can this be even close to constitutional? more

More evidence that the Era of Transparency is upon us: Reputation risk management is on the rise, according to the Conference Board.

The organization has just published a new report in the topic.

Why is it on the rise? There are several reasons, including the development of methodologies that quantify the value of reputation and the growing impact of social media (and the continued failure of most companies to address this impact).

“Although consumers and investors are increasingly gathering information from blogs, online forums, and social networking sites, only 34 percent of the survey respondents said they extensively monitor such sites, and only 10 percent actively participated in them,” the report’s authors assert. more

In a new interview with me, Michael Kramer talked about his stint as CFO of clothing manufacturer Walls Industries, Inc., where he tackled the problems caused by an incentive system based on EBITDA. Here’s more on the theme of siloed compensation metrics. more

Even as the economic crisis continues on its not-so-merry way, a few products, services, and companies actually are doing OK. Some even are thriving. Several that buck the overall doom and gloom:

Dollar stores: It’s no surprise that sales here are up, as consumers try to get the most bang for their own dollars. Dollar General’s revenue jumped 10 percent during fiscal 2008, and management is planning to open 450 new stores this year. Sales at Family Dollar Stores rose nearly 9 percent in the quarter ending in February.

Atlas Shrugged: Sales of Ayn Rand’s story of “men of the mind,” such as inventors, business leaders, and scientists, going on strike and refusing to contribute to society have risen as the economic turmoil has unfolded, as outlined in this article in The Economist. more