Got a grip on nexus? Or has it got you by the throat?
Your customer exemption management: Adept or inept?
Are your use tax processes …
a. A well-oiled machine?
b. More or less adequate?
c. What’s a use tax?
Here’s a quick way to find out. more
A cloud computing cost analysis from Infosys, the big outsourcing provider based in India, came up with interesting results. In the first year, the on-premise system appears much more costly than the hosted cloud-based system. By the third year, the cost gap between the two is not substantial. By the fifth year, the on-premise system actually looks better. However, when you figure the costs for license renewal and a hardware upgrade that fifth year, the on-premise system will lose its cost advantage.
A McKinsey report in 2009 also looked at the payback from cloud computing and, according to a review of the report by Bernard Golden, came to the opposite conclusion: that cloud computing is more expensive. Golden’s interesting analysis is here.
The truth is that every organization will come up with different result when it plugs its own data into a business case for cloud. To figure out whether cloud computing is right for your organization, wiredFINANCE suggests evaluating three areas in both quantitative and qualitative terms. more
It’s no surprise that the very area where the downturn arguably exposed glaring deficiencies in the finance function is the same area where innovation is now taking root.
As forecasting capability becomes more of a central focus for most finance organizations, forecasting software is once again under scrutiny. While spreadsheets still dominate the finance department, new forecasting applications are proving effective in the area of cash forecasting. more
Earlier this month I noted (here) that for cash-strapped states, turning up the heat on unclaimed property audits is “basically a no-brainer because compliance with unclaimed property regs is so poor.”
A new poll from the Tax and Accounting Business of Thomson Reuters confirms that many companies are indeed out of compliance and, whether knowingly or not, are courting audit penalties. more
It’s a tenet of investing drilled into first-year business students: A diversified portfolio offers lower risk and higher returns than investing in single assets, as Investopedia explains. After all, the likelihood that several unrelated types of assets will move in the same direction at the same time historically has been pretty low. That’s why many corporate treasurers must follow a diversification strategy that’s laid out in their company’s investment policy.
However, investors – whether individuals or companies – can’t assume that adding new instruments to their portfolios automatically mitigates risk, says Lance Pan, CFA, and director of investment research with Capital Advisors Group, in Newton, Mass. Pan also is the author of a recent white paper, “Prudent Risk Diversification.” more
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