|
Click HERE to view the Working Capital agenda
The Total Working Capital Management Conference will be held at the
Marriott Long Wharf, Boston, MA on October 24-26, 2004.
Keynote Addresses:
Darren Jackson, CFO and EVP Finance of Best Buy, will discuss Best Buy's overall strategy, which involves pushing capital decisions down to the store levels thereby enabling the individual store decisions to be closer to the customer. Mr. Jackson also will discuss how Best Buy trains their front line employees to make these financial decisions. As part of this presentation, Mr. Jackson also will talk about the benefits and risks of focusing on such an unconventional approach to working capital management.
Stephen Payne, CEO of the REL Consultancy Group, is a respected authority in the field, and observes that most companies have about 25% more cash sitting in working capital than is necessary. In this session, he explains why this sorry state exists: business leaders fail to address the strategic and operational roadblocks to better working capital management. Payne argues that continuous improvements in cash flow can only come when monthly targets--as opposed to annual targets--for operating performance are top of mind for all managers. But that demands consensus on and commitment to improvements in both financial and operating processes. "And you cannot expect the Finance function to attack this problem in isolation." Payne offers concrete steps that the senior finance team can take along side senior operating managers to obtain large and lasting leaps in performance. Payne also dissects that results of the latest annual survey on working capital management conducted by CFO magazine and REL.
Robert Jaffe, Director of Treasury and Working Capital Services at American Express, will examine how many corporations want to pay vendors in 45 days or more, instead of 30 days. They would also like to get the percentage of spend with 2% discounts over 35%. Through the VPO process, they have done this and achieved up to $3 million of new capital per hundred million of spend, plus negotiated several hundred thousand dollars more discount income annually. Accounts payable and procurement like how the VPO process brings them closer together in a common goal. These departments typically do not realize the financial importance of these ideas, but once the CFO asks them to implement VPO, they do a great job in getting it done.
Other Featured Speakers:
Jesse Greene - VP and Treasurer, IBM
Stephen Timme - President of FinListics Solutions and Adjunct Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology
Ken Parkinson - Adjunct Professor, NYU
Sharyn Leaver - VP, Research Director, Forrester Research
Dennis Ling - Group VP, Global Finance and Treasurer, Avon Products
Robert Baldoni - Partner, Global Treasury Advisory Group, Ernst & Young
Sam Knox - Research Director, CFO Research Services
John Pearce - Investment Banking, CSFB HOLT
Robin Washington - SVP of Finance and Corporate Controller, PeopleSoft
Joseph Nemia - Senior Managing Director, GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending
Click here for more detailed speaker information.
|