Why hasn't the play "Decline of the CFO" been written as a contemporary expression of "Death of a Salesman"?  In the "world we lost," we admired CEO, COO and CFO through a telescopic lens, akin to the way we sight movie stars. Now, almost daily, the newspaper's front page microscopically details corporate theft and predicts jail locations and sentences.

To defend misdeeds to the office of the U.S. Attorney, CEOs are dismissing their responsibility, showing memos, sales agreements and board minutes in an attempt to declare that unbeknownst to them, deals were executed -- feeding their second-line troops. 

Good intelligence is oxygen for those down the corporate food chain. Technology-prudent writers of S404 and Bill 198 stipulate that upper management must have an up-to-date audit (SAS70) of outsourced technology: By the end of this decade, second-line troops will link to previously locked-up information connecting to back-end applications that will tab through a digital dashboard providing business intelligence, which could be any kind of information: financial, CRM, supply chain, mass-customization selling tool, employee healthcare data, competitive intelligence, ROI metrics, accounts receivable and payable information, and monthly sales and targets. 

Linking to previously locked-up information by connecting to back-end applications, the digital dashboard requires service-oriented architecture using middleware, single sign-on authentication, security and privacy. Mid-size firms are enterprises, with systems and networks in place that rival the functionality and raw performance of their large corporate counterparts. Imagine concurrently linking to previously unknown external discovery. Good intelligence levels the playing field.

There are still spots left for the "Business Intelligence Conference hosted by InfoToday on September 27-28, Hilton Hotel, New York City. Readers of BetaWatch News OnLine will receive a hundred dollars off the rather inexpensive two-day conference and can attend for $795, which you can receive by registering at VIP Registration 

For additional information on the conference, please view the detailed program. "Merging internal data and external discovery for return on investment IPO exit strategy" will be delivered by Temi Grafstein. We look forward to seeing you in New York. 

Established in 1999, BetaWatch Inc., home of digital due diligence(tm) is an independent technology audit corporation with no hidden agenda.  

Team BetaWatch International solves management of internal controls, provides effective and efficient compliance with applicable laws and regulations. BetaWatch has expert knowledge regarding with the International Organization for Standardization's document ISO 9126, a worldwide standard for software-product evaluation and quality, and are experts in COSO, SEC-mandated evaluation criteria.  

Using COSO methodology, Bill 198 certification is systematically expedited rapidly and correctly. BetaWatch provides an estimate. 

Identifying critical business process dependencies on databases and staff BetaWatch  documents, evaluates, and tests controls, handing off control monitoring to operational staff. 

With Team BetaWatch, board of directors, audit, and disclosure committees address today's higher standards of governance, identify and act upon appropriate accountability measures.