Cover Subtitle - Working Council for Chief Financial Officers ...

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Quest Diagnostics Incorporated • CIGNA • Tiff any & Co. • Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. • Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. • Nestlé S.A. • T-Mobile • Bristol-Myers Squibb Company • The Coca-Cola Company 

• The Hershey CompanyWyndham Worldwide Corporation Lafarge • Mars, Incorporated • Food Lion • National Semiconductor Corporation • Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA • International 

Monetary Fund • General Mills, Inc. • Frito-Lay, Inc. • Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. • Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG • DuPont Black Hills Corporation • Agriliance LLC • Samsonite Corporation • Maytag 

Corporation • Kronos Incorporated • Flextronics International USA, Inc. • Banco Santander Central Hispano, S.A. • AB Volvo • Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited • Fujitsu • 

InterContinental Hotels Group • Jockey International, Inc. • Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America • Syngenta • Staples, Inc. • Marriott International, Inc. • Océ • Pace Micro Technology plc 

• Schering-Plough Corporation • Amica Mutual Insurance Company • Borders Group, Inc. • Axcan Pharma • MassMutual Financial Group • Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. • Gas Natural SDG, S.A. • 

AEGON Scottish Equitable • APL Limited • FMC Corporation • Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC • Royal Mail Group plc • The Ryland Group, Inc. • The Boston Company Asset Management, LLC 

• Afl ac • Movado Group, Inc. • Apple Inc. • AK Steel Corporation • Sanofi -Aventis • Comcast 

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• Kirkland & Ellis LLP • Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises • Symantec Corporation • 

Goodwill Industries International • Chiquita CFO Executive Board Brands International, Inc. • Kohler Co. • Penske 

Truck Leasing • Barclays Bank PLC • Michelin Group • Deloitte & Touche USA LLP • Alcon, 

Inc. • New York Life Insurance Company • Benjamin Moore & Co. • Colgate-Palmolive Company • Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. • Altria Group, Inc. • Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company • 

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts • SUEZ • Xerox Corporation • Nissan North America, Inc. • Alticor Inc. • DaimlerChrysler Kongsberg Gruppen ASA • Brunswick Corporation • McDonald’s • The Royal Bank of 

Scotland plc • BMW of North America, LLC • Lexar Media, Inc. • Dominion Resources, Inc. • Morgan Stanley • John Hancock • Aon Corporation • Alliant Credit Union Special Olympics, Inc. • Procter & 

Gamble • Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company • Renault • Automatic Data Processing, Inc. • Bausch & Lomb Incorporated • Highmark, Inc. • Exel Transportation Services, Inc. • Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. • 

 

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An Overview and Summary of Member Services 

I. Corporate Executive Board Overview 

II. Finance Practice Overview 

III. CFO Executive Board Value Proposition 

IV. Key CFO Executive Board Services 

For further details, please e-mail CFOExecutiveBoard_India@executiveboard.com. 

Shell Oil Company Coca-Cola Enterprises • Adobe Systems Incorporated • BEA Systems, Inc. • Abbott Laboratories • Sun Chemical Corporation • BellSouth Corporation • Akzo Nobel nv • Owens Corning 

• Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. • First Financial Bank • Balfour Beatty plc La Poste • Commerzbank • BMO Financial Group • Kraft Foods Inc. • United Nations • Sun Microsystems, Inc. • Wachovia 

Corporation • Raytheon Company • Bank Of Cyprus Group • BearingPoint, Inc. • Expedia, Inc. • Conde Nast • Leighton Holdings Limited • The National Bank of New Zealand • The World Bank Group 

• Benihana Inc. • Cathay Pacifi c Airways Limited • The Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited • Anthos • Coventry Health Care, Inc. • Ford Motor Company • PSA Peugeot Citroën • Zimmer, 

Inc. • Novo Nordisk A/S • Saab AB • Affi liated Computer Services, Inc. • Eli Lilly and Company • Comisión Federal de Electricidad • Kaiser Permanente • Brinker International • TD AMERITRADE IP 

Company, Inc. • Air Canada • British American Tobacco p.l.c. • Omni Hotels • Sage Telecom, Inc. • Blockbuster Inc. • Adecco • Del Monte Foods • National Australia Bank Limited • Hitachi Data Systems 

• Crocs, Inc. • Canadian Broadcasting Corporation • The Ford Foundation • Abertis Infraestructuras S.A. • Lifetouch National School Studios Inc. • CVS Corporation • Circuit City Stores, Inc. • Zurich 

Financial Services • Bulgari S.p.A. • Carnival Corporation • Lloyds TSB Group plc • Nikon Corporation • Merck & Co., Inc. • Alion Science and Technology Corporation • Bell Canada International Inc. • 

Autodesk, Inc. • BASF Aktiengesellschaft • First Data Corporation • Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation • Buckman Laboratories International, Inc. • Royal Philips Electronics N.V. • Allina Health 

System • The Washington Post Company • Hill-Rom, Inc. • Pfi zer Inc. • Novartis AG • Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. • Timex Corporation • CEMEX S.A.B. 

de C.V. • XM Satellite Radio • Crate & Barrel • Boral Limited • Cimpor - Cimentos de Portugal • Scotiabank Mary Kay Inc. • Cummins Inc. • 

Black & Decker • Coach, Inc. • ACCO Brands Corporation • Deutsche Telekom • Crédit Agricole S.A. • Gates • Bacardi & Company Limited • 

JPMorgan Chase & Co. • BT Group plc • PricewaterhouseCoopers • Cirque du Soleil Liz Claiborne Inc. • QUALCOMM Incorporated • Alcoa 

Inc. • Corning Incorporated • Advanta Corp. • Loews Corporation • SanDisk Corporation • Aetna Inc. • Sandia Corporation 

• VeriSign, Inc. • Stein Mart, Inc. • HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation • LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. • Choice Hotels International, Inc. • De Beers Centenary AG • RBC Financial Group • PepsiCo Inc. • Ab 

Nynas Petroleum • Westpac Banking Corporation • Northwest Airlines • Fiat S.p.A. • Amcor Limited • The AXA Group • Burger King Corporation • NCL Corporation Ltd. • Enterprise Ireland • Sealed Air 

Corporation • Canadian Pacifi c Railway • Bayer AG • American Modern Insurance Group, Inc. • Overstock.com • Lockheed Martin Corporation • Iron Mountain • Corporacion Andina de Fomento 

ALSTOM • Imation Corp. • Lucite International • AMCORE Financial Inc. • Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited • Bank of America Corporation • Olympus America Inc. • Emerson Electric Co. • Ernst & Young

1 | Corporate Executive Board Overview 

Introduction to the Corporate Executive Board 

The World’s Premier Executive Network 

25+ 

Years of 

Experience 

50+ 

Countries 

Represented 

in Our Network 

2,500+ 

Staff Across 

Four Continents 

4,700+ 

Member 

Organizations 

Worldwide 

150,000+ 

Active 

Corporate 

Professionals 

San Francisco 

Chicago 

Year of Founding: 1983 

Initial Public Offering: 1999 

Employees: More Than 2,500 

CFO1AJDG19 © 2008 Corporate Executive Board. All Rights Reserved. 

London 

Washington, D.C. 

New Delhi 

Sydney 

Our Journey in India 

Operations started in late 2004 to tap into the high-quality 

talent base for supporting global research operations. 

The current India staff count is 200, including a dedicated 

team of more than 25 fi nance researchers. 

High demand for services drives expansion of the global 

network in India. 

2008 marks the launch of the Finance and HR memberships 

(CFO Executive Board and Corporate Leadership Council, 

respectively) in India. 

Company Information 

NASDAQ Symbol: EXBD 

2007 Revenue: $533 Million 

Market Capitalization: More Than $1.5 Billion

2 | Corporate Executive Board Overview 

A New Model for Delivering 

High-Quality Insight at Low Cost 

Executives turn to us for guidance on their major challenges… 

High-Quality Insight 

Dedicated Research Teams 

Cross-Functional Perspective 

On-Demand Networking 

Executive Education and Training 

Unbiased Advice 

Organization-Wide Staff Support 

On-Site Customized Workshops 

Decision-Support Tools 

Benchmarking Services 

Access to Global Network of Peers 

Unparalleled Network of Peer Executives 

Unbiased Advice 

No consultants or vendors 

in our membership 

or meetings 

Research agenda driven 

exclusively by member 

interest 

Self- 

Organized 

Networks 

Local 

Networking 

Groups 

in India 

Unrivaled Best Practices and Data 

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Consultants 

Corporate 

Executive 

Board 

Provides Fully Provides Signifi cantly Provides Partially Provides Minimally Does Not Provide 

…and we create value through our four unique assets 

More than 15,000 

member executives, 

from more than 4,700 

leading companies 

Coverage across the 

entire executive suite 


More than 275,000 

corporate practices across 

45 executive functions 

Continuously updated 

“gold standard” 

performance benchmarks 

Unmetered Service Across the Year 

Single contribution for 

a year’s worth of support 

Dedicated service for 

seniormost and staff 

contacts

Financial 

Services 

Established: 1983 

Business Banking Board 

Council on Financial 

Competition 

Insurance Advisory Board 

Investment Management 

Executive Council 

Operations Council 

Retirement Services 

Roundtable 

The VIP Forum 

Sales and 

Marketing 


Advertising and Marketing 

Communications 

Roundtable 



Customer Contact 

Council 

Inside Sales Roundtable 

Market Research 

Executive Board 

Marketing Leadership 


Sales Executive Council 

Sales Operations 

Excellence Center 

Eight Principal CEB Practice Areas 

More than 45 membership programs in eight practice areas 

serve executives across all corporate functions and sub-functions 


Human 

Resources 


Benefits Roundtable 

Compensation Roundtable 

Corporate Leadership 


HR Leadership Academy 

Learning and 

Development Roundtable 

Recruiting Roundtable 

Corporate 

Finance 


Audit Director 

Roundtable 

CFO Executive Board 

Controllers’ Leadership 

Roundtable 

Investor Relations 

Roundtable 

Shared Services 

Roundtable 

Tax Director 

Roundtable 

Treasury Leadership 

Roundtable 

Strategy, Innovation, 

and Management 


Business Leadership 

Forum 

Corporate Strategy Board 

Legal 


Compliance and 

Ethics Leadership 


General Counsel 

Roundtable 

Corporate Executive Board Overview | 3 

Information 

Technology 


Applications Executive 


CIO Executive Board 

Data Center 

Operations Council 

Enterprise Architecture 


Information Risk 


Infrastructure Executive 


PMO Executive Council 

Operations 


Logistics Leadership 

Board 

Manufacturing Leadership 

Board 

Procurement Strategy 


Quality Executive Board 

Real Estate Executive 

Board 

Research and Technology 


Supply Chain 

Executive Board

4 | Finance Practice Overview 

Overview of the Finance Practice 

CEB’s Finance Practice serves the entire spectrum of the fi nance organization 

Audit Director 

Roundtable 

Core Research Terrain 

Financial/Operational Audits 

Audit Committee Management 

Audit Staff Development 

Unique Service Offering 

Calibrating Stakeholders 

Expectations Diagnostic 

Audit Reference Center 

for Staff 

Investor Relations 

Roundtable 


Earnings Guidance 

Policies 

Optimizing Corporate 


Measuring the Value 

of Investor Relations 


Historical Analysis 

of Guidance Policies 

and Trends 

Message Absorption 

Index 


CFO Executive Board 


Cost Management 

Finance Transformation 

Value Creation 

Working Capital Management 

Risk Management 

Planning and Forecasting 


On-Site Workshops 

Quarterly Updates on Trends 

in Finance Sub-Function 

Business Alignment Tool 

Finance Learning Centers: 

Budgeting and Planning, M&A 

Shared Services 

Roundtable 


Global Transaction 

Processing Design 

and Effi ciency 

Shared Service Center 

Quality Benchmarks 


Detailed 

Benchmarking for 

17 Back-Offi ce 

Process Areas 

Multiple Monthly 

Webcasts Featuring 

Actual Member 

Experiences 

Tax Director 

Roundtable 


Tax Compliance 

Tax Planning 

Transfer Pricing 


Tax Professionals 

Compensation 

Benchmarking 

Customized Budget, 

Staffi ng, and 

Performance Reports 

for Tax Departments 

Controllers’ Leadership 

Roundtable 


Accounting Policy 

Planning and Forecasting 

Cost-Transaction Effi ciency 

Enterprise-Wide Controls 


Accounting Practice 

Exchange (APEX) including 

IFRS and U.S. GAAP Tools 

Functional Benchmarking 

Diagnostics 

Treasury Leadership 

Roundtable 


Capital Structure 

Cash Management 

Liquidity and Credit 

Access 

Capital Allocation 


LiquidityEdge: 

Support for Managing 

Funding Partner 

Relationships 

CreditView Tool 

(Synthetic Ratings)

CFO Executive Board Value Proposition | 5 

A Membership That Pays for Itself 

Serving thousands of CFOs for more than ten years has enabled us to gain a unique 

perspective on their pressing challenges and how these can be overcome most effectively 

Mission 

The CFO Executive Board supports CFOs by 

ensuring that corporate finance strategy and its 

implementation is rooted in analytical rigor and 

economic logic. Our research gauges the business 

impact of Finance activities and focuses strategies 

and resources on the highest-return initiatives. 

Resources 

Members receive unlimited access to our services, 

including full access for the entire finance staff to our 

archive of more than 1,000 research briefs, attendance 

at executive retreats, training and development 

resources, finance diagnostic and benchmarking tools, 

teleconferences, and implementation support. 

Membership 

We serve the largest global network of CFOs— 

finance leaders in more than 650 member 

organizations, reflecting great diversity across 

industry, geography, and organization size. 

Service 

We ensure and guarantee a member’s return on 

membership. Upon joining the Board, members 

are provided with a comprehensive introduction 

to our services, and our account directors work 

closely with members and their team across the 

year to diagnose and respond to their organization’s 

most critical finance issues. 

Our Core Service Proposition 

Case-based best practices research (and proprietary quantitative research) through which we share insights 

and actionable solutions 

Cross-functional perspectives on corporate fi nance, drawn from the Corporate Executive Board's unique 

access to the insights of Finance’s business partners 

Practical tools and templates that provide accurate benchmarks, diagnose problems, train staff, and supply 

appropriate solutions 

Saving You Time 

We help you avoid 

reinventing the wheel with 

practices already profi led 

in our research. 

We shorten learning curves 

for staff. 

We save time by serving as an 

“always-on” project resource 

providing benchmarks, 

diagnosing problems, 

training staff, and supplying 

appropriate solutions. 


Improving Your 

Effectiveness 

We help you validate or 

reprioritize your strategic 

agenda. 

We enable you to avoid 

false starts and speed 

implementation. 

We provide key functional 

benchmarks (qualitative and 

quantitative) and guide you 

in improving performance. 

Saving You Money 

We help you shorten or avoid 

consulting engagements. 

We identify opportunities for 

cost cutting, standardization, 

digitization, and process 

streamlining. 

We replace the expense of 

one-off executive education 

and professional development 

seminars.

6 | CFO Executive Board Value Proposition 

Serving More Than 650 CFOs 

“ From the CFO on down, our fi nance team views the 

CFO Executive Board as a springboard for new ideas 

that are research driven and user friendly. We gain 

value from membership by using the services in three 

ways: motivation for continuous improvement, current 

insights on best practices and emerging issues, and 

support for internal initiatives.” 

Chief Financial Offi cer 

Food and Beverage 

Company 

“ One of my fi rst objectives for the fi nance function 

upon coming to the company was to transform the 

culture from survival mode to value-creation mode. The 

CFO Executive Board helped me establish benchmarks 

and think about how we allocate our resources within 

Finance. For example, they were able to provide some 

baseline benchmarks on costs and capabilities for our 

treasury and risk management functions that were 

helpful in shaping our fi nance organization.” 


Software Company 


Representative Global Members 

Bharat 

Petroleum 

“ This is my third year attending the CFO–only retreats. 

I always value the peer interaction and sharing, and 

I leave the sessions with a punch list of actionable ideas 

and follow-up. The recent session on the strategic 

planning process is really helping me think differently 

about how to push more expense out of the baseline 

to fund longer-term growth investments.” 


Technology Company 

“ The CFO Executive Board has been valuable to me 

during my transition to a permanent CFO role. My 

account director and his team engaged with me early on 

and provided support and resources that were on point 

with the issues a CFO faces. For example, I attended 

their New CFO Workshop and picked up ideas on how 

to better support business managers, communicate with 

stakeholders, and structure my fi nance function.” 


Technology Company

Best Practices 

Research and 

Emerging Issue Coverage 

Capturing Value 

Capturing During Value Post-Merger 

During Integration 


Post-Merger 

During 

Integration 

Post-Merger 

Integration 

A Comprehensive Suite of Services 

Across the membership year, the CFO Executive Board supports 

CFOs and their fi nance teams through its unique service offerings… 

Finance Spend as a Percentage of Revenue 

4% 

2% 

Core CFO Executive Board Service Offerings 

Benchmarking 

and Tools 

Industry Benchmarks 

Though many rely on industry benchmarks to assess spending decisions, industry 

comparisons only provide limited insight into the appropriate level of spend 

Case-in-Point: Finance Function Benchmarks by Industry 

Finance Spend as a Percentage of Revenue, Selected Industries 

Research on fi nance spend drivers 

reveals that “industry” plays a 

signifi cant role in determining 

spend levels only for companies in 

diversifi ed fi nancial services. Outside 

this sector, other factors may offer a 

more useful basis for analysis. 

0% 

Consumer 

Products 

and Retail 

Diversifi ed 


Services 

Source: CFO Executive Board’s 2003 Finance Benchmarking Initiative. 

…delivered through the Web site and live interaction 

Teleconferences 

Moderated, interactive discussions 

of urgent issues and best practice 

research, organized multiple times 

a month. Teleconference replays are 

also available for easy access. 

Online Finance Professional 

Profi les for Networking 

Searchable database of more than 

2,500 fi nance professionals to identify 

peers having relevant expertise, 

knowledge, and interests for 

networking. 

Online Discussion Groups 

Moderated, e-mail based peer groups 

that allow members to pose questions 

to their peers and gain their insights. 

Finance Learning Centers 

Online, self-paced training sessions 

(with audio support) on business 

and fi nance fundamentals. 

Energy 

Food and 

Beverages 

High 

Technology 

Decision Support Centers 

One-stop shop showcasing best 

practices research, case profi les, recent 

trends, tools, and links to online 

discussion groups organized by topics. 

Manufacturing 

Mean 

1st Quartile 

Median 

3rd Quartile 

Transportation 

Utility 

Finance FTEs per $1 Million in Revenue 

22 

11 

0 

Banking 

Finance FTEs per $1 Million in Revenue, Selected Industries 

Statistical analyses on fi nance 

headcount drivers suggest that 

“industry” is a signifi cant factor 

in determining FTE levels only 

for consumer products and 

retail companies. 

Consumer 

Products 

and Retail 

Diversifi ed 


Services 

Food and 

Beverages 

Insurance— 

Multiline 

Insurance— 

P&C 

Mean 

1st Quartile 

Median 

3rd Quartile 

Manufacturing Other 

Telecommunications 

SG&A Benchmarking Data 141 

Executive 

Education 


Member Networking 

and Insight Exchange 

Services Delivered Through the Web Site Services Delivered Through Live Interaction 

Tools 

Benchmarks 

Best 

Practices 


CFO–Only Forums 

Highly interactive meetings 

limited to seniormost fi nance 

executives that focus on urgent 

issues and results of our best 

practice research initiatives. 

Deputy CFO–Only Forums 

Interactive meetings organized 

for deputy CFOs to expose them 

to our best practice research and 

provide valuable learning and 

development opportunities. 

On-Site Working Sessions 

Customized on-site workshops 

for CFOs and their teams, 

to expose fi nance staff to best 

practices, recent developments, 

and innovative strategies in key 

priority areas. 

Business Alignment Tool 

Survey-based assessment service 

to evaluate the extent to which 

Finance’s performance and 

activities are aligned with 

its internal stakeholders’ 

expectations and examine 

Finance’s contribution 

to business growth.

8 | CFO Executive Board Value Proposition 

Challenges Our 

Members Currently Face 

Which of these are priority issues for you? 

Enterprise Risk Management 

Representative Challenges Representative Challenges 

Organizing for Risk Management 

Organizational structures that optimize 

risk management 

Identifying and Monitoring Risks 

Ensuring all risks are reported to the center 

Reporting Risks 

Communicating risks to the Board and investors 

Finance Transformation 

Identifying Stakeholder Expectation Gaps 

Identifying areas in which Finance’s stakeholders 

would like to see improvement in execution 

Decision Support 

Enhancing Finance’s contribution to strategic 

decision support 

Business Partnership 

Enhancing Finance’s ability to partner with the line 

Mergers and Acquisitions 


Cost Management 

Ensuring a Robust Due Diligence 

Organizing the due diligence process to uncover 

any hidden risks and identify synergies 

Navigating Post-Merger Integration 

Successfully integrating acquisitions to yield highest 

possible returns of deal value 

Developing In-House M&A Expertise 

Ensuring that fi nance staff is well versed with 

the merger process 

Capital Budgeting 


Implementing Quick-Hit Cost-Saving Tactics 

Quickly reducing costs in the short run 

Building Long-Term Cost Discipline 

Ensuring sustainable, long-term cost reductions 

Monitoring Cost-Cutting Efforts 

Tracking progress of various cost-cutting initiatives 

across the organization 


Finance Talent Optimization 

Assessing Finance Team Skills 

Identifying strengths and skill gaps in the fi nance team 

Retaining Critical Finance Talent 

Architecting a strong employee value proposition 

for fi nance staff 

Developing Finance Talent 

Building technical and leadership capabilities 

in fi nance staff 

Analyzing Potential of Project Proposals 

Using assumptions for hurdle rates, risk margins, 

and costs of capital that forecast NPV accurately 

Identifying Avenues for Growth Funding 

Ensuring that capital expenditure on old projects 

does not crowd out investment in new projects 

Aligning Capital Spend with Strategy 

Ensuring that all project proposals are evaluated 

on their contribution to overall growth strategy

Members Use Our Resources 

to Solve Shared Challenges 

Sample research, data, and tools we’ve recently created 

Enterprise Risk Management Finance Talent Optimization 

Organizing for Risk Management 

Risk Management Finance Learning Center 

Risk Management Online Discussion Group 

Deutsche Bank’s Division Level Operational 

Risk Dashboard 

Tomkin’s Business Unit Risk Quantifi cation 

Checklist 

Preempting Compliance Failures 

Finance Transformation Mergers and Acquisitions 

Escaping the Finance Transformation Trap 

Finance–Business Alignment Tool 

Enhancing Finance’s Decision Support 

Capabilities 

CFO as Chief Performance Offi cer 

Re-Architecting Finance for Value Creation 

Nestle’s Finance Activity Alignment 

for Value Creations 


Finance’s Role in M&A Decision Support 

M&A Finance Learning Center 

M&A Project Accelerator Toolkits 

Due Diligence Toolkits 

After the Acquisition: Best Practices 

in Post-Merger Integration 

M&A Online Discussion Group 

Cost Management Capital Budgeting 

Sustainable Cost Leadership I: Quick-Hit 

Cost-Saving Tactics 

Functional Staffi ng and Spend Benchmarks 

Sustainable Cost Leadership II: Beyond 

Short-Term Cost Savings 

Optimizing Working Capital 

Transforming the Cost Base I & II 

Finance Operations EPNGroup TM 


Building the Next-Generation Finance Team 

Finance T&D Online Discussion Group 

On-Site Finance Leadership Workshops 

Finance Bench Strength Assessment Tools 


Building an Effective CFO Succession Plan 

Disciplined Capital Budgeting 

Alcoa’s Growth Spending Set-Asides 

Budgeting and Planning Finance 

Learning Center 

Financial Planning and Analysis Online 

Discussion Group 

Cargill’s Hurdle Rate Determinants

10 | Key CFO Executive Board Services 

Search 

Simply search by keyword 

to obtain a comprehensive 

listing of our research, tools, 

and events about that topic. 

Upcoming Events 

Learn more about 

and register for upcoming 

meetings and teleconferences. 


The CFO Executive Board Web Site 

Members and their organizations have 24/7 access 

to our Web site throughout the membership year 

Benchmark 

Your Organization 

Learn more about our tools, 

benchmarking surveys, and 

diagnostics. 


Centers 

Browse through our best work, 

organized by topic. 

Connect with Peers 

Tap into our Executive Productivity 

Network to fi nd networking 

partners or pose questions to 

e-mail discussion groups. 

Featured Items 

Get quickly up to 

speed with our 

newest research. 


Your staff can access our 

online self-paced training 

modules on fi nance and 

business fundamentals. 

Interactive Membership List 

Sort a partial listing of our 

members using industry, size, 

and geography fi lters.

Powerful Decision Support Tool 

Member 

Question 

How should we 

deploy resources 

to align to the 

needs of the 

business? 

Key CFO Executive Board Services | 11 

Business Alignment Diagnostic Tool 

An assessment to ensure Finance is meeting the needs of its business partners 

The Business Alignment Tool is designed to help CFOs understand the needs of Finance’s internal business partners 

and to align Finance to the critical activities for the organization. Business partners and fi nance staff evaluate the 

importance and effectiveness of 31 attributes in the following areas: 

Importance 

to Business 

Partner 

7.0 

3.5 

1.0 

1.0 

Strategic Impact 

Performance Management 

Business Comprehension 

and Technical Management 

High Priorities 

for Improvement 

Attributes here represent the 

highest priority for additional 

focus by Finance. 

Process-Planning Excellence 

Partnering and Service Commitment 

Strategic Partnership 


Business Alignment Database Query Result 

Most Important 

Customer Attributes 

Attribute Importance Versus Finance’s Effectiveness 

Business Partners 

Communication 

Confl ict Resolution 

● 

Constructive Guidance 

● 

Cost Discipline 

Strategy 

Alignment 

5.79 

Business 

Partnering 

5.78 

Strategic 

Impact 

5.74 

Commercial 

Awareness 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

Objectivity ● 

Business Case Achievement ● 

Market Guidance 

Profi tability 

Assessment 

Risk 

● 

Management 

Management ● 

Finance Reporting 

Coaching 

● 

Strategic 

Resource ● 

● 

Focus 

Allocation 

● 

Strategic 

Partnership 

M&A Value Capture 

● Incentive Structuring 


Advisory 

Business Relevance 



Knowledge of Operations 

Business Case Development 

New Process 

Introduction 

Finance Shared Services 

Commercial 

Awareness 

Responsiveness 


Impact 

Teamwork 

Relationship 

Building 

● 

3.5 

Internal Reporting 

Requirements 

Finance’s Effectiveness as Seen by Business Partners 

Attributes in this range are in alignment. 

Potential Areas of Overinvestment 

Attributes here are areas where Finance 

may be devoting excessive resources 

relative to what their business partners 

value. 

7.0


The CFO Executive Board is a network of more than 15,000 senior fi nance executives across the globe at more than 

650 companies. The Executive Productivity Network is a collection of services designed to unlock the power of this 

network and make it more readily accessible to our members. 


Executive Productivity Network 

Leverage our network of more than 15,000 fi nance 

professionals through in-person and online interactions 

We will frequently convene a group of CFOs who 

share similar challenges for one-hour conference calls. 

We actively manage the list of participants to ensure 

a robust discussion between true peers. 

Recent Conference Calls: 

Pensions Risk Management 

Transitioning to Private Equity Ownership 

Preparing for an Economic Downturn 

Prediction Markets 

Debt Markets and Impact on Macro 

Economic Trends 

Biweekly one-hour calls allow CFOs and their teams 

to seek advice from another CFO. EPNDesk calls 

offer an opportunity to seek unbiased advice on urgent 

challenges; each call is built around a specifi c topic but 

there is no formal call agenda. 

Past EPNDesk calls include: 

Former Jack in the Box CFO John Hoffner talking 

about building a successful career in Finance 

Michel Baise, CFO of Fortis MilleniumBCP 

on activity-based costing 

Cedric Burger, CFO of KBR discussing spin-offs 

and divestitures 

Jay Morse, CFO of Washington Post on managing 

Finance in a decentralized environment 

Providing Urgent Project Support 

I. CFO–Only Conference Calls II. Finance Peer Groups 

This e-mail–based service allows members to pose 

questions to hundreds of peer executives in an easy 

and anonymous manner. We compile the answers 

and send them to the group in one Blackberry-friendly 

e-mail. 

Select Finance EPNGroups : 

India Finance Peer Group 

Shareholder and Board Relations 

Financial Operations 

Financial Planning and Analysis 

Mergers and Acquisitions 

Risk Management 

Finance Training and Development 

Capital Structure and Capital Markets 

III. CFO “Experience Desk” Calls IV. Online Finance Professional Profiles 

Secure, searchable database has more than 2,500 

fi nance professionals that have opted-in. Search 

EPNConnect to identify professionals with 

whom you might exchange ideas directly using 

criteria such as title, areas of interest and expertise, 

location, fi nance department, and organizational 

characteristics, and contact them directly. 

How Does It Work? 

At any time, you and your staff can search the 

profi les database for executives with certain 

expertise. Using the EPNConnect platform, you 

can request to communicate with that executive. 

Members who receive requests for advice are asked 

to reply within 48 hours.


The Finance Learning Centers are designed to develop 

fi nance technical skills through online training modules 

2008 Launch Topics 

Mergers and Acquisitions Capital Structure 

Budget and Planning ERP Implementation 

Module Training 

Training Is Conducted Using Online 

Self-Study Courses with Audio Recordings 

Project Accelerator Toolkit 

Immediate Benefi ts Are Gained 

Through Customizable Tools and Templates 

Target 

Identifi cation 

Integration 

Planning 

* Pseudonym. 

Due 

Diligence 

Deal 

Execution 

Integration 


* 

M&A 

Game Board 

Acquisition 

Planning Module 

Due Diligence 

Checklist 

Partnering 

Decision Process 

Map 

Merger 

Integration 

Timeline 


Excerpt from the M&A Curriculum 

Module 1: Valuation 

Valuation: Key Considerations Case Studies 

in Valuing Targets 

Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) 

Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) 

Quantifying Potential Synergies 

Module 2: Valuation 

Due Diligence Team Organization Case Studies 

What Documents Do I Need 

to Get My Deal Done? 

Corporate Governance for M&A 

Impact of Business Combination 

Accounting Standards 

Module 3: Post-Merger Integration 

Preparing for Post-Merger Integration 

Managing Financial System Integration 

Managing IT Infrastructure Integration 

Merging Corporate Cultures 

Post-Acquisition Reviews 

Module 4: Target Identification 

Improving Deal-Sourcing Capabilities 

Analyzing M&A Risks 

Maintaining an M&A Target Pipeline 

Strategic Alignment Considerations 

Module 5: Deal Execution 

Mitigating Deal Decision-Making Bias Case Studies 

Determining the Financing Structure 

Methods for Improving Bid Success 

in M&A 

International M&A Deals


Critical Market Insights Daily 

Daily News Highlights—Receive 

intelligently fi ltered summaries of the 

most relevant updates providing a 

quick synopsis, link, and our point 

of view on how it affects you. 

Daily Capital Markets Update— 

This daily snapshot includes key 

metrics regarding the health of the 

capital markets and critical news from 

the previous 24 hours. 

Practitioner Insight Alerts— 

Frequently updated profi les of the 

most intelligent approaches taken by 

Finance executives to address their 

most pressing concerns. 

Must-Have Resources for 

Managing the Financial Crisis 

Actionable advice and insights enabling member 

companies to emerge stronger in times of crisis 

On-Demand Expert Support 

Financial Crisis Help Desk— 

Pressure test and validate your 

decision making using our 24-hour 

support desk for rush presentations, 

and expert opinions. 

Plan Reviews—Gain confi dence in 

the strength of your action plans by 

comparing them against our archive 

of best (and emerging practices) to 

identify potential risks, opportunities 

for improvements, and cost savings. 

Peer Networks—Tap into 

the collective wisdom of leading 

practitioners, by submitting questions 

or thoughts via our peer networks for 

rapid response. 

An Indispensable Resource for Senior Executives 

Overview of the U.S. Credit Crisis (“Anatomy” Presentation) 

Crisis Resource Centers 

Capital Markets and Commodity 

Price Tracker—Gain a snapshot 

of capital and commodity price 

fl uctuations to enable timely response. 

Financial Crisis Visualization 

Toolkit—Decision support resources 

for leading your company through 

this period of heightened risk and 

uncertainty. 

Cost-Reduction Resource 

Center—The best, most innovative 

ideas to help you cut costs out of your 

budget right now. 

Consultant Optimization Portal 

(COP)—Vendor evaluation tool to 

select the right consulting projects and 

avoid unnecessary costs in the course 

of any engagement. 

“I received this deck in advance of my board meeting earlier this week and it was exactly what I needed. 

My board member with the strongest fi nancial background tore out the recommendations page and told 

the other members that it was what we needed to focus on right now.” 

CFO 

Retail Company 

Daily Capital Markets Update 

“Your organization is really tremendously relevant and resourceful…This is great information that helps with 

decisions.” 

Director 

Health Care Company 

CFO1AJDG19 © 2008 Corporate Executive Board. All Rights Reserved.

1 

4 

7 


Support on Cost Management 

Tools that enable CFOs to target specifi c cost heads… 

Labor 

How do we optimize our labor cost structure 

without sending the wrong message to the 

market and losing high-potential staff? 

Best Practice: Harrah’s Flexible Staffing 

Protocols 

Marketing and R&D 

How should we increase the return on our 

marketing and R&D investments? 

Best Practice: Vista’s Corporate Strategy 

Marketing Dashboard 

Finance Function 

How do we increase the effectiveness 

of the finance function? 

Best Practice: EDS’s Offshore Centers for 

New Business Analysis, HP’s Offshore Global 

Shared Services Model 

Monitoring Cost 

How can we ensure we have reliable, 

real-time cost data to monitor progress 

and support our decisions? 

Best Practice: ABB’s Drill-Down 

Cost Reports, Bayer’s Granular 

Impact Monitoring 

Optimizing Working Capital Management 

How can we specifically address our 

working capital requirements to ensure 

short-term liquidity and funds for future 

growth? 

Best Practice: Borealis’ Working 

Capital Management Approach 

Implementing Shared Services 

Which activities should be moved to 

shared services, and how can we do that 

while minimizing costs? 

Best Practice: HP’s Offshore Global 

Shared Services Model 

Addressing Specifi c Cost Type Challenges 

2 

5 

8 

Cost Hit List 

IT 

As IT innovation cycles become shorter and the 

technology more expensive, how do we manage 

growing IT costs? 

Best Practice: IBM’s IT Cost-Savings 

Redeployment 

COGS 

How can we reduce COGS in the short and 

long term? 

Best Practice: MSL’s Supplier Total Cost 

of Ownership Scorecard 

Capital Expenditures 

How do we ensure we are allocating resources 

to high–ROI projects? 

Best Practice: Alcoa’s Growth Spending 

Set-Asides 

…and implement enterprise-wide cost campaigns 

Enterprise-Wide Cost-Reduction Initiatives 

Rewarding Cost Discipline 

How can we incentivize staff on costeffective 

resource management? 

Best Practice: Borealis’ Working 

Capital Decision Support Incentives, 

Nucor’s Dynamic Productivity Controls, 

Engelhard’s Scalable Distributed Cash- 

Flow Control 

Standardizing Processes 

How can we standardize processes and 

technology to help reduce costs? 

Best Practice: CEMEX’s Process 

Standardization Blueprints, Swiss 

Re’s Consensus-Driven Process 

Harmonization 

Partnering Cost with Growth 

How can we ensure that we not lose 

cost discipline as we grow? 

Upcoming Research: Sustaining 

Cost Leadership 

3 

6 

9 


Compliance 

How can we quantify and reduce compliance 

costs? 

Best Practice: Alpha’s Peer-Based 

Control Testing 

SG&A 

How should we manage our SG&A resources 

to achieve superior results? 

Best Practice: Aviall’s Strategic Expense 

Driver Reviews 

Benefi ts 

How can we control benefits costs? 

Best Practice: Engelhard’s Pension Horizon 

Contribution Assessment, Dell’s Health Plan 

Customization 

Improving Supply Chain Processes 

How can we innovate supply chain 

processes to achieve sustainable cost 

reductions? 

Best Practice: Agere’s Demand 

Profiles, Nokia’s Supply Chain 

Visibility Tools 

Rationalizing SKUs 

How can we maintain a healthy product 

portfolio? 

Best Practice: Levi Strauss’ 

Risk-Adjusted Product Portfolio 

Rationalization 

Enhancing Cost Structure Flexibility 

How can we make our cost structure 

more flexible and responsive to internal 

and external changes? 

Best Practice: BMW’s Flexible 

Work Formula


Recruiting 

Finance Talent 

Creating a compelling job offer 

Drafting job descriptions 

Branding the fi nance function 

Hiring strategy creation 

Recruiting talent in 

emerging markets 

Developing a college 

recruitment strategy 

Our Resources 

Finance employee 

preference benchmarks 

cut by different job 

markets: 

North America 

Australia 

Europe and South 

Africa 

Searchable repository of 

hundreds of fi nance job 

descriptions 

Best practices in fi nance 

talent branding and 

recruitment 

Issue briefs on 

recruitment 

developments in 

emerging markets 


Onboarding and 

Career-Pathing 

Onboarding new employees 

Planning compelling 

career paths 

Rotating employees inside and 

outside corporate fi nance 

Identifying and avoiding 

fi nance career stall points 

Our Resources 

Onboarding plans 

Finance talent 

development program 

templates from leading 

companies 

Best practices in fi nance 

career-pathing and 

rotation programs 

Finance HR So 

Resources to optimize fi nance talent recruiting 

Skill 

Evaluation 

Identifying the requisite 

skill set for your team 

Isolating skills gaps in 

the fi nance organization 

Understanding how “soft” 

skills like leadership and 

critical thinking fi t into 

your talent plan 

Aligning fi nance training 

and development with 

business requirements 

Our Resources 

Coming Soon: Finance 

Skill Gap Diagnostic 

Use our competency 

framework to assess your 

team’s skills. 

Build a consensus on 

training priorities with 

an on-site presentation. 

Finance competency maps 

from leading companies 

The Finance–Business 

Alignment Diagnostic 

Skill taxonomy and 

assessment tools to use in 

your organization 

Consultation with a 

research director on skills 

assessment methodologies

lution Center 

, development, retention, and skill-alignment 

Leadership and Technical 

Skill Development 

Providing direct training 

opportunities 

Earning continuing 

education credits 

Developing a fi nance 

training curriculum 

Building unique career paths 

and training opportunities for 

high-potential staff 

Developing leadership training 

programs for line managers 

Teaching fi nance staff how 

to coach their peers 

Creating accountability 

for staff development 

Our Resources 

Finance Classroom, a 

comprehensive range 

of online technical and 

leadership lessons, which 

currently includes 136 

continuing education 

credits 

Multiple Web- and 

teleconferences each 

month on key strategic 

fi nance topics 

Sample fi nance training 

curricula from leading 

companies 

Leadership workshops 

for your staff 

Internal training 

material for your fi nance 

managers and HR 

partners 


Succession Planning 

Assessing fi nance talent 

“benchstrength” 

Managing executive 

onboarding and transition 

Identifying future 

fi nance leaders 

Building a succession plan 

for the fi nance function 

Our Resources 

Finance “benchstrength” 

assessment templates 

from leading companies 

Tactics for managing 

executive transition 

High-potential 

staff identifi cation 

methodologies 

Succession planning 

templates and strategies 

The Finance Succession 

Management Playbook 


Finance HR Benchmarks 

Determining fi nance 

employee preferences 

Building a Finance 

HR function or strategy 

Identifying CFO and Finance 

effectiveness shortfalls 

Rethinking Finance’s 

organizational structure 

Setting fi nance compensation 

plans and benefi ts 

Our Resources 

Employee preference 

database searchable by 

job market and employee 

demographic 

Finance HR and 

development program 

responsibilities 

The Finance HR peer 

group, a network of more 

than 1,000 Finance HR 

professionals 

A repository of fi nance 

function organizational 

structures searchable by 

industry 

The Compensation 

Calculator, a searchable 

database of fi nance 

employee compensation 

benchmarks


Decision 

Support 

Identifying new areas where 

CFOs require FP&A decision 

support 

Supporting cross-functional 

investment analysis 

Educating line managers 

on planning and budgeting 

fundamentals 

Standardizing assumptions across 

businesses 

Improving the rigor in working 

capital decisions 

Implementing activity-based 

costing 

Producing high-quality 

presentations for the Board 

Our Resources 


FP&A Solutions Center 

A new service for developing a world-class FP&A function 

Enterprise-wide G&A 

benchmarks: 

Industry and revenuespecifi 

c budget and spend 

data for major corporate 

functions 

Budget allocation 

by activity 

Outsourcing prevalence 

Tips on setting up FP&A 

decision support contracts 

in the business 

Tools for preparing highquality 

Board presentations 

Online library of recorded 

lessons on implementing 

forecasting, budgeting, 

and working capital 

process improvements 


Business 

Performance Reviews 

Supporting collaborative crossbusiness, 

cross-functional reviews 

Strengthening business case 

analytics 

Operationalizing key 

management reporting metrics 

Extracting drivers of industry/ 

sector behavior from economic 

forecasting models 

De-linking performance 

management targets from 

operating budget targets 

Our Resources 

Best practices for 

enhancing Finance’s role 

in business reviews 

Coming soon—Examples 

of performance 

management plans 

that do not focus on 

meeting budget targets 

Excel Tool Exchange: 

Performance-to-plan 

dashboards 

Earnings leaderboards 

Sample profi t plans 

Business case analysis 

frameworks 

Resource impact 

dashboards 

Cross-business 

performance contracts 

FP&A Organizational 

Effectiveness 

Determining the right 

organizational model 

for the FP&A function 

Embedding FP&A experts 


Outsourcing and offshoring 

FP&A activities 

Sizing up the FP&A budget 

Implementing rotational 

programs for FP&A staff 

Choosing the right IT planning 

platform 

Improving the yield on 

forecasting and planning 

solutions 

Our Resources 

Latest market trends in 

outsourcing / offshoring 

FP&A activities 

Best practices in organizing 

FP&A decision support for 

business and accounting 

groups 

Coming soon—Benchmarks 

for forecasting and 

planning IT solutions: 

Most popular and highly 

rated IT solutions for 

forecasting, budgeting, 

planning 

Common consolidation 

and management 

reporting platforms

Illustrative Tool or Best Practice 

Additional Tools or Best Practices 



Support on Mergers and Acquisitions 

Tools and best practices to help members optimize their M&A processes 

Opportunity 

Identification 

Partnering Decision 

Process Map 

This DuPont tool enables 

businesses to better 

evaluate new deal ideas 

and prospective partners 

by separating evaluation 

of the idea from the 

prospective partner 

assessment. 

Growth Strategy Evaluations 

Growth Strategy Evaluations 

Partnering Decision Process Map 

Partnering Decision Process Map 

External Business Development Decision Process and Deliverables 

External Business Development DuPont, Illustrative Decision Process and Deliverables 

Idea Evaluation DuPont, Illustrative 

Partner Evaluation 

Idea Evaluation Partner Evaluation 

Stop Build 

Stop 

Stop Build 

Stop 

Acquire 

Yes Yes No 

Acquire 

Should 

Yes Yes No 

JV 

we Should 

Can needed 

JV 

pursue 

Are barriers to 

we 

No No 

Can needed 

pursue 

Are barriers to 

capabilities be 

Is an optimal 

Yes 

What is the 

a new 

winning position 

No No 

capabilities be 

Is an optimal 

Yes 

What is the 

a new 

winning position 

easily built? 

partner available? 

optimal structure? Minority 

business 

insurmountable? 

2–4 weeks 1–2 weeks 1–2 months 

easily built? 

partner available? 

optimal structure? Stake Minority 

idea? business 

insurmountable? 

2–4 weeks 1–2 weeks 1–2 months 

Stake 

idea? 

Contract 

Contract 

1–2 weeks 

Capability Gap Assessment 

Partner Option Evaluation 

1–2 weeks 

Capability DuPont, Illustrative Gap Assessment 

Partner DuPont, Option Illustrative Evaluation 

Partnering Options 

Prospect Prospect 

Winning DuPont, Position Illustrative 

for 

DuPont, Illustrative 

DuPont, Partnering Illustrative Options 

Market Presence 

(1) (2) 

Prospect Prospect 

Winning Position for 


Market Presence 

1. Ability to delivery superior 

(1) (2) 

Acquisition 

value to the customer 

1. Ability to delivery superior 

Joint Venture Acquisition 

DuPont 

2. Time value to achieve to the winning customer 

Minority Joint Stake 

Build Criteria 

position 

Venture 

DuPont 

DuPont 

2. Time to achieve winning 

Contractual Minority Alliance Stake 

DuPont, Build Illustrative Criteria 

3. Financial position return 

DuPont DuPont 

Contractual Alliance 

Winning Position 



3. Financial return 

for Processes 

DuPont for Technology 

Internal development does not affect speed- 

4. Probability of success 

Partner Criteria 


Winning Position to-market 

for Processes 

for Technology 

Internal development does not affect speed- 

4. Probability of success 

Partner Criteria 

to-market 

5. Resulting competitive 

A less complex arrangement is not possible 

Capability Criteria 

Learning by doing provides valuable benefi ts 

landscape is favorable 

5. Resulting competitive 

For an A less alliance, complex DuPont arrangement brings unique is not value possible to 

Capability Criteria 

Internal Learning development by doing adds provides scale valuable (supports benefi ts 

6. Compatibility landscape of is cultures favorable 

the partnership 

Opportunity must be demonstrably larger than 

For an alliance, DuPont brings unique value to 

multiple Internal projects) 

identifi development adds scale (supports 

Opportunity ed capability must gaps be demonstrably larger than 

6. Compatibility of cultures 

For an the alliance, partnership exit provisions are easily 

7. Partner’s degree 

multiple projects) 

implemented 

Needed identifi capabilities ed capability are not gapstoo 

distant from 

Internal development provides unique means 

of commitment 

For an alliance, exit provisions are easily 

7. Partner’s degree 

core 

implemented 

Needed business capabilities AND core are capabilities 

of attracting 

not too distant from 

Internal development talent provides unique means 

of commitment 

For an acquisition, control is essential for 

8. Experience with alliances 

core business AND core capabilities 

of attracting talent 

overcoming For an acquisition, speed-to-market, control risk, is essential or 

If market uncertainty is high, technological 

for 

Technology needs for the proposed business 

Overall 8. Experience Assessment with and alliances 

technology overcoming access speed-to-market, concerns 

uncertainty 

risk, or 

If market must uncertainty be low (and is high, vice technological 

versa) 

are deemed Technology too needs proprietary for the to proposed share business Partner Ranking 

Overall Assessment and 

The technology cost of a collection access concerns of investment and 

Technology uncertainty barriers must cannot be low make (and up vice majority versa) 

Regulatory are deemed impediments too proprietary make it less to share desirable 

Partner Ranking 

licensing The cost arrangements of a collection does of not investment exceed JV and or 

of margins Technology barriers cannot make up majority to build 

Acceptable 

Regulatory impediments make it less desirable 

acquisition licensing cost arrangements does not exceed JV or 

Gaps of will margins not take longer to fi ll than rivals 

Unclear 

to build 

Acceptable 

The acquisition cost of any cost of the partnering modes does 

already Gaps or will just not emerging take longer in the to market fi ll than rivals 

Geographic barriers make building undesirable 

Unacceptable Unclear 

not exceed The cost the of size any of the opportunity partnering modes does 

already or just emerging in the market 

Geographic barriers make building undesirable 

Unacceptable 

not exceed the size of the opportunity 

Source: E.I. DuPont de Nemours; Corporate Strategy Board, Acquiring Growth Accelerators, 

Source: 

Washington, 

E.I. DuPont 

D.C.: 

de Nemours; 

Corporate 

Corporate 

Executive Board, 

Strategy 

2002, 

Board, 

pp. 

Acquiring 

32–33; Working 

Growth Accelerators, 


Tools to Support Line Business Decisions for Chief 

Washington, 


D.C.: 

Offi cers 

Corporate 

research. 

Executive Board, 2002, pp. 32–33; Working Council 131 

Tools to Support Line Business Decisions for Chief Financial Offi cers research. 

131 

Kappa* Corporation’s 

Build Versus Buy 

Evaluation Template 

Merger and Acquisition 

Teams 

Supporting the Line: 

Finance’s Role in M&A 


* Pseudonym. 

Complexity 

Complexity 

Due Diligence 

M&A Due 

Diligence Toolkit 

This toolkit provides the 

necessary tools to perform 

due diligence, including 

a model confi dentiality 

agreement and a sample 

due diligence checklist. 

The company designates 

a single The company “category designates 

gatekeeper” a single “category responsible 

for gatekeeper” each category responsible of 

requested for each information. 

category of 

requested information. 

“Closed Loop” Due Diligence Coordination 

The team that reviews 

documents The team within that reviews each 

category documents reports within to that each 

category’s category gatekeeper. 

reports to that 

category’s gatekeeper. 

Each team member is 

charged Each team with member responsibility is 

for charged checking with with responsibility the 

“category for checking gatekeeper” with the 

before “category bringing gatekeeper” another 

person before into bringing the process. another 

person into the process. 

The Procter & Gamble 

Company’s M&A 

Planning Top Sheet 

Alpha* Corporation’s 

Data Room and Due 

Diligence Checklist 

M&A: Balancing Central 

Control with Business 

Unit Autonomy 

Integration 

Planning 

M&A Integration 

Workbook 

This spreadsheet-based 

workbook contains many 

of the common tasks and 

responsibilities owned by 

the fi nance function in 

the integration process 

and is designed to give 

chief fi nancial offi cers 

and other senior fi nance 

executives a head start 

with integration planning. 

After the Acquisition: 

Best Practices in Post- 

Merger Integration 

Post M&A Toolkit 

Salerno’s* Merger 

Integration Timeline 

Upsilon’s* IT Systems 

Pre-Conversion 

Evaluation Form 

Theta* Corporation’s 

Deal Integration 

Dashboard 

Integration 

Execution 

Integration 

Dashboard 

Company Alpha* 

leverages its Internetenabled 

project tracking 

system to create a 

monitoring mechanism 

that detects potential 

integration diffi culties 

early. The dashboard 

tracks metrics that refl ect 

the timeliness and quality 

of the integration. 


During Post-Merger 

Integration 

Sigma* Corporation’s 

Business Unit Post- 

Alliance Analysis 

Upsilon* Corporation’s 

IT Systems Post- 

Conversion 

Evaluation Form


Organizing for 

Enterprise Risk 

Management (ERM) 

Identifying and 

Monitoring Risks 

Support on Risk Optimization 

Tools, checklists, and best practices to help 

members optimize risks across a growing enterprise 

Risk Lose Win 

Member-Donated Risk 

Management Frameworks 

Assistance in Building 

the Business Case for ERM 

Sample Organizational 

Structures That Support ERM 

Tools for Integrating Growth 

Strategy and Risk Framework 

Risk Quantifi cation Tools 

and Checklists 

Strategic and Operational Risk 

Dashboards 

Financial and Compliance Risk 

Dashboards 

Risk Prioritization Tools 

and Templates 

Merger Risk Assessment Tools 

You or your direct 

reports choose from 

a compendium of 

member-submitted 

risk management 

frameworks, and 

customize these to 

match your company’s 

underlying risk profi le. 

Your risk 

management staff use 

our comprehensive 

lists of risk categories 

and metrics to 

ensure that all 

operational, fi nancial 

and strategic risks are 

identifi ed, quantifi ed, 

and monitored. 

Building Risk 

Awareness 

Risk Management Finance 

Learning Center 

On-Site Risk Management 

Workshops 

Line Risk Assessment Tools 

Communicating 

Risks to the Investors 

Member-Donated Dashboards 

and Checklists for Reporting 

Risks 

Member-Donated Board 

and Investor Presentation 

Templates 

Tools for Measuring Earning 

Sensitivity After Risk 

Disclosures 

Your new-to-seat staff 

and line managers 

take these self-paced 

online training lessons 

(with audio support) 

to build enterprisewide 

risk awareness, 

thereby strengthening 

risk discipline. 

Your management 

reporting and IR 

staff utilize these 

member-donated 

presentations to 

clearly communicate 

risk philosophy, 

company risk profi les, 

emerging risks and 

viable risk-taking 

opportunities to 

internal and external 

stakeholders. 

Networking with Peers on Risk Management 

Online Risk Management Discussion Group: E-mail your questions to more than 1,500 global fi nance 

executives at member companies to receive inputs on any enterprise risk issue or initiative within three 

business days. 

CFO–Only Meetings and Teleconferences: Discuss your risk management initiatives and challenges with 

a carefully selected group of peer CFOs. 

Staff Meetings and Teleconferences: You or your direct reports participate in meetings and teleconferences 

to discuss developments in risk management and share best practices. 

Specialist-Led Teleconferences: You or your staff can pose questions around risk management to some 

of the world’s foremost fi nance experts. 

CFO1AJDG19 © 2008 Corporate Executive Board. All Rights Reserved.


Corporate Executive Board Overview | 21 

India Finance Peer Group 

Exclusive online forum for India-based members of the CFO Executive Board 

The CFO Executive Board is pleased to present an online India-specifi c peer discussion forum consisting of more 

than 300 members (including CFOs and their key personnel) to facilitate robust discussion around pressing 

member challenges. 

India Finance EPNGroup is an e-mail-based discussion forum that allows 

India-based CFOs and their staff to pose questions to their Indian peers in an 

easy, quick, and anonymous manner. The issues discussed vary from strategic 

to daily workfl ow-related problems on areas such as tax, accounting, fi nancial 

planning and analysis, risk management, fi nance operations, and training and 

development among others. Hundreds of executives use this online channel to 

leverage their peers’ insights and tested solutions on their issues. 

Key Features 

Tailored Research Insights—Generate peer insights tailored to your challenge. 

Single Output Report—All responses are aggregated, summarized, and sent to the entire group in the 

form of an e-mail. 

Guaranteed Confi dentiality—All groups are moderated, and contact details of members submitting 

questions and answers are reported under an appropriate pseudonym. 

Networking Opportunities—The CFO Executive Board can, in certain instances, facilitate direct 

networking if requested by members. 

Archived Discussion Summaries—All discussion threads are uploaded on the CFO Executive Board 

Web site to enable review by members at a convenient time. 

Sample Questions Asked in Peer Groups 

“Who does the head of Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) report to? How many FTEs are allocated to FP&A? 

What is the approximate size of FP&A budget (real and as a percentage of revenue), and how much of it is 

discretionary?” 

VP Finance 

Professional Services Company 

“We are in the course of reevaluating our planning and forecasting processes and systems and would appreciate 

feedback from the group on the following areas: 

Which ERP planning and forecasting solutions are the other companies using? 

Can these solutions eliminate the need for spreadsheet models in the budgeting process? 

Can these solutions be used to perform “what if” scenarios including Monte Carlo Simulations?” 

Senior Director of Financial Services 

Leisure Company 

“I’m interested in how other ERM practitioners are managing information gathered in the course of conducting risk 

assessments and studies. 

Do you use software specifi cally designed for this purpose? 

How do you consolidate the results of various assessments to draw a broader view of enterprise-wide risk exposure?” 

General Manager—Finance and Risk 

Energy Company

The Most Leveraged Hours of a CFO’s Year 

Levels of Involvement 

CFO involvement: 

Attend the CFO–Only forum 

Request ongoing research 

support from account 

director when needed 

Quarterly check-in calls with 

account director to ensure our 

priorities are aligned to your 

personal agenda 

Set agenda for workshop hosted 

for your team 

Participate in two to four 

teleconferences 

CFO direct reports’ involvement: 

Attend Deputy CFO–Only 

Forum 

Attend or delegate 

Teleconference and Finance 

Learning Center participation. 

Leverage quarterly 

sub-function updates to 

review high-level developments. 

Request support from your 

account director when needed to 

review the CFO Executive Board’s 

research library. 

Broader fi nance team (at corporate 

center and operating units): 

Participate in our teleconferences. 

Use our Web site as a consultative 

resource as well as a source 

of tools to embed into their 

workfl ow. 

Use Finance Learning Centers 

and tools to implement learnings 

and complement your own 

training modules. 

Even a minimal time investment of 20 hours per 

year enables CFOs to address key strategic priorities 

Proposed CFO Time Allocation for First Year of Membership 

Activity 

Orientation 

(Welcome) Visit 

Quarterly 

Check-In Calls 

Attend a CFO– 

Only Meeting 

with Peer CFOs 

Speak to 

Roundtable 

Subject Matter 

Experts on a 

Critical Priority 

Interactive, 

Personalized 

Walkthrough 

of Roundtable 

Research 

(2–3 per Year) 

Attend 2–4 

Roundtable 

Teleconferences 

on Urgent 

Emerging Issues 

Roll Out 

Finance Business 

Alignment 

Diagnostic 

Set Agenda for 

and Participate 

in On-Site 

Workshop for 

You and Your 

Team 

Time 

Investment 

per Year 

Benefits 

1 hour Your account director 

walks you and your team 

through CFO Executive 

Board’s services and our 

Web site resources. 

1 hour Update CFO Executive 

Board on your priorities, 

enabling effective 

partnering. 

7 hours 

(excluding 

travel time) 

Benefit from exclusive 

high-level peer networking. 

Engage in a candid 

discussion of company 

practices. 

1 hour Learn about emerging 

best practices. 

Receive feedback on your 

own practices. 

2 hours Spark ideas for potential 

implementation. 

Use CFO Executive Board 

research and data to drive 

your strategic agenda. 

Level-set best practices to 

guide your implementation 

plan. 

3 hours Benchmark peer responses 

to emerging issues. 

Learn about potential 

implementation pitfalls. 

2 hours Identify gaps between 

Finance’s priorities and 

internal stakeholder 

expectation. 

3 hours Develop staff’s 

understanding on critical 

finance issues and 

expose them to easily 

implementable best 

practices. 

Total = 20 

hours 


Improved 

Effectiveness 

Reduced 

Performance 

Risk 

Better 

Initiative 

Implementation 

Real Cost 

Savings

www.cfo.executiveboard.com 

Washington, D.C. London New Delhi Chicago San Francisco Sydney 

CFO1AJDG19 

 

Washington, D.C. London New Delhi 

www.xxx.executiveboard.com 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Meeting Location 

Date (delete if not needed)

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