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BI Takes Over Where Canned Reports Leave Off
So why don't more firms use Business Intelligence (BI)? Most of them just don't understand what BI is all about. Many firms have a pretty good report writer built into their time-and-billing system and their vendor provides many pre-designed reports, each with selection options. Moreover, many firms have someone on-staff who knows Crystal Report Writer. Isn't this all they need? No, it's not. Today's managers need more powerful and flexible access to financial information than canned or even custom-programmed report writers can deliver in a timely, economical fashion.
Todd Summerfelt, chief operating officer at the 60-timekeeper firm of Carney Badley Spellman in Seattle gets financial performance analysis requests from his partners all the time. He has, at his disposal, a slew of canned reports from his time and billing system as well as custom reports written in Microsoft ACCESS. These days, he finds it much faster and easier to simply use his Business Intelligence program to build an ad-hoc analysis of almost anything the partners request. “It is just so much easier to click on data elements from my data warehouse and choose an Excel Pivot Table as my output option. Canned reports, as good as they are, just can't handle all the special requirements,” says Summerfelt. Business Intelligence handles all the hard work. Excel Pivot Tables are challenging to build even for an experienced user; my BI program builds them automatically.”
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.