Showing posts with label Finance Organizations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Finance Organizations. Show all posts

Friday, May 6, 2011

So Where are the Jobs?



So Where are the Jobs? For The U.S. Economy, Bouncing Back Is Hard To Do
Construction, Finance, State/Local Government Holding Recovery Back

PR Newswire

NEW YORK, May 5, 2011

NEW YORK, May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to recessions, the U.S. economy doesn't bounce back like it used to, The Conference Board reports in an analysis released today.

By March 2011, the number of people employed in the U.S. was only 0.2 percent higher than in June 2009, when the recession ended, notes the report, entitled So Where are the Jobs?

The current recovery is the second slowest on record since 1961 – continuing a trend that began in 1991 of weak growth in both jobs and GDP. In the last three recoveries, neither GDP nor employment "roared back" as was typical after earlier downturns.

In the current recovery, some industries are doing better, others worse. "When looking across industries, the current recovery is showing some unique trends," says Gad Levanon, Associate Director of Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board, and author of the report. "For example, employment in construction, finance and state/local government is not only declining, but declining much faster than in any other recovery since 1960. The decline in these industries is a result of forces that go beyond the ups and downs we see in typical recessions, and a strong bounce back is unlikely in the near future." Since the end of recession, total employment in construction, finance and state/local government declined by 1.06 million jobs, while the rest of the economy added only 1.3 million jobs.

The Conference Board report includes a breakdown by industry, including a listing of job recovery rates by sector and over time. For example:

* Hardest Hit : The number of jobs in construction (-8.1 percent), finance (-1.8 percent), and state and local government (-1.0 and -2.6 percent respectively) continued to decline in the 21 months after the end of the recession.
* Disappointing : Healthcare and leisure and hospitality jobs have recovered, but at a rate slower than any since 1960.
* Doing OK : Manufacturing suffered less job loss than in recent recessions, and in the last 12 months, manufacturing employment has grown at the highest rate since the 1990s.
* Shrinking Government : The growth in federal government jobs during the recovery has been historically high (38,000), but not enough to offset the unprecedented losses in state and local government jobs (-429,000).


Employment Outlook

In the near-term, employment growth will continue to be slow. The housing downturn, high oil and commodity prices, government austerity measures and limited consumer spending will prevent GDP growth from being more robust. Unemployment is likely to remain above 8 percent through 2012. The Conference Board forecasts GDP to grow at about 2.5 percent in 2011 and 2012, much lower than the rate of 3.5 to 4 percent typically reached during expansions.

Adds Levanon: "Longer-term prospects are more promising, however. In the last six months, employment outside of construction, finance and state and local government has already been growing faster than nearly any other six-month period in the last decade. Once constraints in these hard-hit sectors loosen, overall job recovery is likely to pick up pace."

Source: So Where are the Jobs? For the U.S. Economy, Bouncing Back is Hard to Do

Executive Action No. 349

The Conference Board

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org

Follow The Conference Board

Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

SOURCE The Conference Board

CONTACT: Carol Courter, +1-212-339-0232, carol.courter@conference-board.org, or Jonathan Liu, +1-212-339-0257, jonathan.liu@conference-board.org

Web Site: http://www.conference-board.org



Tuesday, March 2, 2010

IBM 2010 Global CFO Study: Sixty Percent of Finance Organizations Plan Significant Changes to Adapt to New Economic Demands

2 Mar 2010 06:01 Africa/Lagos

IBM 2010 Global CFO Study: Sixty Percent of Finance Organizations Plan Significant Changes to Adapt to New Economic Demands

Findings Indicate Decision-Making Role of CFOs in the Boardroom More Important Than Ever; Point to Large Gap in Effectiveness

ARMONK, N.Y., March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced the findings of a major new study of over 1,900 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and senior finance executives from 81 countries and 35 industries worldwide, which reveals that more than 60 percent of CFOs plan major changes to respond to the new economic climate.


(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )


CFOs and senior finance executives believe the already intense pressure on three fronts -- reducing the enterprise cost base, making faster, more accurate decisions and providing more transparency to external stakeholders -- will increase dramatically over the next three years.


The IBM study is the largest sample of CFO sentiment during the worst economic downturn in decades. As part of the impetus for change, Study participants ranked "providing inputs into enterprise strategy" number one when asked what was most important. Surprisingly, cost reduction was not at the top of the CFO agenda. However, they also revealed a major gap in organizational effectiveness, as only 50 percent feel their Finance organizations are currently effective in providing the necessary business insight to support these broader enterprise priorities.


"Never before has the importance of strong Finance capabilities been highlighted more than during the recent global economic downturn," said William Fuessler, global leader, financial management, IBM Global Business Services. "Our study shows that CFOs are expected to provide fact-based leadership and strategic decisions grounded in sophisticated analyses to help navigate the enterprise through these new economic waters."


Since IBM's first CFO study in 2003, CFOs have continually stated their aspirations to shift more focus to analysis and decision support, however few have made significant progress shifting the workload. Among Finance's effectiveness gaps, the largest is in the area of driving integration of information. CFOs' responses indicate this is a major enabler for practically every area of business insight, but, at the same time, show just how difficult this kind of integration is to accomplish.


One group of CFOs, dubbed "Value Integrators," were found to consistently outperform their peers in all key financial metrics by driving two key qualities across their organization:


-- Finance efficiency - The degree of common process and data standards
across the organization
-- Business insight - The maturity level of Finance talent, technology
and analytical capabilities dedicated to providing business
optimization, planning and strategic insights.


Value Integrators have found a way to excel and navigate an uncertain economic climate. The study indicates that enforcing process and data standards, integrating information and applying business analytics are key capabilities that enable improved business insight and risk management.


In fact, when compared to their peers, their enterprises outperform on every financial measure assessed, including return on invested capital (ROIC), revenue growth and EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization).


Since Value Integrators enjoy proportional representation across various dimensions of the data sample, their performance signals better practices and is not just a consequence of industry, geography or company size. Their Finance operations reflect a pervasive corporate philosophy that encourages integration across functions to make smarter decisions that lead to better overall performance.


Predictive Insight


Many CFOs feel their Finance organizations are more comfortable providing "tail lights" rather than "headlights." With the appropriate analytical capabilities spanning process, technology and talent, results of the study indicate Finance can turn this wealth of financial and operational information into business insights, where decisions are no longer made on intuition, but are fact based.


Many respondents indicated that these capabilities can help Finance uncover correlations among seemingly unrelated pieces of information and find patterns nearly impossible to detect manually. In many ways, Finance's persuasiveness as strategic advisor hinges on having superior business insight capabilities.


Businesses and governments need more advanced data analyses, scenario planning and even predictive capabilities to contend with rising complexity, uncertainty and volatility and, in certain regions, sustained lower growth.


Becoming a Value Integrator


The study findings indicate that CFOs are increasingly playing a significant role on strategic and operational matters to help the business make better decisions faster. Value Integrators, at their core, integrate both efficiency and insight. "Value" conveys Finance's contribution to helping manage the Enterprise, while "Integrator" conveys the importance they place on standardizing and integrating information and processes, necessary enablers to partner effectively with the business.


Value Integrators are more than just information clearinghouses. Finance's mission should be helping the company think as an overall business instead of individual areas. Not surprisingly, Value Integrators indicated that a top priority was attracting and retaining the right talent and developing people in Finance in support of these increased demands.


Value Integrators - more than any other group - are equipped to advise at an enterprise level. They are positioned to evaluate business opportunity and risk in an end-to-end context and recommend difficult trade-offs among units, markets and business functions.


About the Global CFO Study


The findings of this report are based upon a survey conducted in the spring and summer of 2009 by IBM Global Business Services' Financial Management practice and the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV). Over 1,900 Chief Financial Officers and senior Finance executives from 81 countries and 35 industries participated in structured interviews or online surveys designed to capture insights on how Finance professionals are affected by and deal with performance, risks, operational levers and governance. The majority of these interviews were conducted in person by IBM practitioners, with the remainder interviewed online. Participants represent organizations across a variety of industries, geographic locations and revenue size.


For access to the full study findings and case studies, please visit: www.ibm.com/cfostudy


To join the conversation about smarter leadership, please visit: http://smarterleaders.tumblr.com/


Contact:
Steve Tomasco
IBM Media Relations
917-687-4588
stomasc@us.ibm.com


Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO
Source: IBM

CONTACT: Steve Tomasco, IBM Media Relations, +1-917-687-4588,
stomasc@us.ibm.com


Web Site: IBM


Hot Topics
Earthquake in Chile
Toyota Recall
Dow Jones Economic Sentiment Indicator Drops Slightly to 38.1; Slump Signals Continued Weakness in U.S. Economy
Online Job Demand Dips 66,900 in February, The Conference Board Reports
PepsiCo Completes Transformative Bottling Acquisitions
Authoritative Study of Domain Name Data Accuracy Released
Health Care Reform