CFO SUMMIT

Conference held in Toronto on January 26, 27 & 28, 2005
Chairs: Samuel Dergel, CFO2Grow; Alan Willis, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants; James E. Kofman, UBS Securities Canada Inc.; Brian Watts, Ontario Public Service, Human Services Cluster

CD-ROM: Over 10 hours of video presentations

To purchase, please contact Federated Press.

REINVENTING THE CFO

CEO/CFO relationship: The core of executive leadership
Keith Findlay, Mitec Telecom Inc.

• The CFO as steward and strategist
• The new CFO and the indispensable CFO
• The evolution of a CFO's role toward a COO
• The convergence of objectives

"The CEO/CFO marriage is critical, sensitive in terms of heightened financial scrutiny, new accounting regulations and greater shareholder attention. The relationship is based on mutual trust and respect, and abiding friendship."

Video: 19 minutes • Overheads • Speaker's Paper 1,850 words (9 pgs.)

Human capital management from the CFO's perspective
Lili de Grandpré, Mercer Human Resource Consulting

• CFO's changing approach to human capital
• CFO involvement in human capital decisions
• Key performance measures

"Strong emphasis on human capital strategy and measurement will support the desire of HR practitioners to be seen as contributing to the bottom line."

Video: 49 minutes • Overheads

Part-time CFOs
Samuel Dergel, CFO2Grow and Dennis Ensing, Wise Mentor Capital

• Defining the part-time CFO
• Making the case for a part-time CFO
• Part-time CFO in a public vs. private company

"Most of the time, an A-level part-time CFO will give the equivalent amount of work and add a lot more value than a full-time B- or C-level executive."

Video: 33 minutes • Overheads

CFOs on track to becoming CEOs: CFO today, CEO tomorrow?
Raoul F.J. Heredia, Friedman Taub Heredia Consulting Group Inc. and John Koopman, Spencer Stuart

• Understanding the CFO's role
• The CEO/CFO relationship and Board
• The CEO track: CFOs on the rise
• The CEO track: beyond the numbers

"The new strategically oriented CFO must go beyond simply providing financial advice to the CEO; he/she must first and foremost become the CEO's business partner and help shape the strategic thinking."

Video: 50 minutes • Overheads • Speaker's Paper 864 words (4 pgs.)

CORPORATE & FINANCIAL GOVERNANCE

Restoring investor confidence
Ian P.N. Hague, Accounting Standards Board – Canada and Alan Willis, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants

• Accounting standards update and future directions
• CSA's continuous disclosure initiatives
• CICA's MD&A guidance
• Board oversight of financial reporting
• CEO/CFO certifications
• Impact on investor relations officers

"At the end of a day, we have to ask ourselves: "Is it all cost effective in restoring investor confidence? Does it enhance corporate governance or increase D&O liability? Does it add value and strengthen the business? What are the implications for future CFOs and their roles?"

Video: 44 minutes • Overheads

Relationship with the corporate boards and audit committees: Their impact on the CFO
Elliott M. Jacobson, Mintz & Partners

• Overview of the new MI 52-110 reporting rule
• Obligations of the audit committee under MI 52-110
• Audit committee and non-audit services rules
• Audit-disclosure issues

"The new MI 52-110 rule is designed to encourage reporting issuers to establish and maintain strong, effective and independent audit committees in order to enhance the quality of financial disclosure. These are new tests of “independence” for audit committee members."

Video: 43 minutes • Overheads

The CFO liability minefield: More than your reputation on the line
René R. Sorell, McCarthy Tétrault LLP

• Sources of liability for CFOs of Canadian public companies
• Making materiality judgments
• Providing earnings guidance/earnings forecasts
• Interaction with research analysts
• Responding to regulatory enquiries

"Is it an overstatement to say that CFOs are walking into a minefield? What's happening in the U.S. and what's looming in Canada, is the criminalization of mistakes, for which increasingly executives are going to face, if not jail time, reputational harm and perhaps very heavy fines. The components of the minefield that I think are the most frightening are the banal ones that are met everyday such as making materiality judgments."

Video: 40 minutes • Overheads

Good corporate governance: A CFO's perspective
Mark W. Kohler, AirIQ Inc.

• Challenges of maintaining good corporate governance
• Synopsis of the new rule-driven era
• Practical implications for the CFO
• Opportunities: communication with the Board
• Committee mandates and code of ethics

"Maintaining good corporate governance means staying on top of the rule changes, documenting Board discussions and required corporate records, engaging first rate advisors (legal counsel and auditors) and arming the Board with the ability to access their own external advice."

Video: 41 minutes • Overheads

THE FINANCIAL ROLE OF THE CFO

Aligning budgeting strategic planning & forecasting to drive corporate performance management
Nat D'Ercole, Deloitte & Touche LLP

• Strategic plan, investment decisionmaking and other typical issues
• Deloittte's integrated performance management (IPM) framework
• Leading practices planning and budgeting cycle
• GAP analysis roadmap example

"This presentation provides a few examples of the types of integrated performance management (IPM) practices, techniques and tools that should be explored. There are many ways to improve IPM within your organization."

Video: 30 minutes • Overheads

Panel: CFOs & capital management – Rising to the challenge of raising long-term capital and improving cash flow
Anthony J. Cohen, Gulf & Pacific Equities Corp.; Wayne R. Ehgoetz, Congress Financial of Canada; James E. Kofman, UBS Securities Canada Inc.

• Accessing capital for short and long-term needs
• U.S. equity issuance and equity-linked alternatives
• Raising capital in difficult times
• Pros and cons of asset-based loans for the first-time borrower

"Regardless of economic fluctuations there will always be times when opportunities are present. MBOs, LBOs, industry consolidation, and international expansion are all situations where asset-based loans provide more senior capital and therefore reduce or eliminate the need for significantly more expensive sub-debt mezzanine or equity."

Video: 26 minutes

Panel: Growth through M&A in the new business environment
Tony Ianni, Ernst & Young; Brian A. Ludmer, Ogilvy Renault; Peter R. Pielsticker, Xentel DM Incorporated

• Key observations of a changing transaction market
• Fees and other hidden costs of acquisitions
• Finding the right target
• Structuring the deal and due diligence practices

"There are too many companies chasing too few deals, and a lot of interest in growth by acquisition and industry consolidation. Today growth and acquisition are playing out in an increasingly litigious and hypersensitive environment to conflicts. Challenges to transactions are expected now. The issue of being responsible for acquisition is driving a more detailed process, a more costly process and a longer process; it's inevitable and unavoidable."

Video: 32 minutes

CFO and the IPO
Harold M. Wolkin, BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.

"The focus today is a discussion of a private company wanting to go public by way of an income trust, which puts additional pressures of a different type on companies and less flexibility. It is difficult to take companies public that don't have real demonstrated track records and where cash flow is not part of the story, whether by income trust or more traditional equity IPOs."

Video: 41 minutes • Overheads

IT'S IMPACT ON THE BOTTOM LINE

Aligning IT strategy with business objectives: The CFO/CIO relationship
Bruce Hooey, Universal Music Canada

• TheCFO/CIO relationship: best practices
• Getting beyond the utility stage of IT
• Facilitating IT relationships throughout the organization
• Information technology model examples

"Can you get sustainable competitive advantage out of IT or is it just a utility network? You must consistently and effectively implement technology. A couple of key ways to gain competitive advantage are having an organization that knows how to execute projects is and to focus on the business and not the applications."

Video: 28 minutes • Overheads

Case study: Beyond transaction processing
Deb Craven, Purolator Courier Ltd.

• The "plan of attack"
• Internal and external customer feedback
• Leveraging system investment
• Developing understanding of the business

"With the development of new systems and tools, we gained a new skill set within Finance: a combination of finance and systems skills. It is critical to use these skills to continue to enhance the tools developed. We also recognized the need for “Operations for Dummies” course, and not just for finance. We are working with Operations, Legal and HR to develop a prototype course to be expanded in the future to other “non operations” area."

Video: 47 minutes • Overheads

How to use IT to reduce operating costs
Stuart Hartley, FocusROI Inc.

• Assessing IT spending
• CEO-CFO certification & IT
• COSO enterprise risk management framework
• How to prioritize and opportunity assessment

"Formal management policy requires monthly reconciliation of inter-company accounts and confirmation of balances between business units. No process exists to ensure procedures are performed on a consistent basis. Reconciliations are not performed on a timely basis. Differences are frequent and significant. Management does not perform any alternative controls to investigate significant inter-company account differences. Is this a material weakness?"

Video: 37 minutes • Overheads

Best practices for avoiding bad IT investments
Brian Watts, Ontario Public Service, Human Services Cluster

• Understanding each other's business
• Balancing risk vs. procurement policies
• Vendors of Records benefits and challenges
• Lessons learned: total cost of technology vs. total cost of ownership

"Introducing a Total cost of Ownership (TCO) model gives clients a good introduction in the costs related to supporting one workstation. Many people feel IT is truly a “black hole” drawing money at an every increasing rate. With a published TCO, it gives clients a better appreciation of these costs (transparency)."

Video: 36 minutes • Overheads