Dating back to the days of the mainframe, general ledgers have grown steadily flabbier as companies have piled more and more detail into their chart of accounts. The result: slow, inefficient, redundant financial systems. A white paper from ISA Consulting points to a way out.

John McCain and Barack Obama both want to introduce a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions. A PricewaterhouseCoopers report looks at the implications for corporate financial statements.

Think of it as an opportunity to reconstitute your business, when old debts can be extinguished and new fortunes can be made. Kirk Blair and Anthony Sasso of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services explain how "fresh start" accounting is helping businesses view the glass as half-filled.

If the SEC mandates international financial reporting standards (IFRS), many U.S. companies will need, for a while at least, to be bilingual in IFRS and U.S. GAAP, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. And the time to start learning the new grammar is now.

Is there any escape from the cycle of late nights staring at spreadsheets and enormous changes at the last minute? A report from Deloitte suggests some first steps.

A growing procession of less scrutinized but revealing numbers is leading finance executives to complement the enduring wisdom of the income statement with balance sheet and cash flow insights.

Undaunted by a cooling economic climate that makes software initiatives a tougher sell, niche providers continue to set the pace of innovation.

Interest in global accounting standards is on the rise among finance pros, though many fret about the cost and complexity of conversion from U.S. GAAP.

CFOs can play a key role in developing a realistic, risk-aware performance management strategy to help their organization neutralize threats, exploit opportunities, and avoid nasty surprises.

Barcodes for financial reports? Authors Peter Weverka and Wilson S. So explain the basics and the benefits of eXtensible business reporting language in a new book.