How has the role of a corporate accountant changed since the recession went into full swing?
Are budgeting and asset management more crucial these days? What functions now take center stage? Joe Buonaiuto – Senior vice president, controller, American Electric Power Co. Inc. As the economic downturn has unfolded, the focus of our financial operations has adjusted and expanded in several ways. We still are keenly focused on the traditional earnings reporting and analysis that takes place in every organization, but scenario ongoing analysis related to our forecast is getting a lot more attention today. Additionally, there is a renewed and heightened interest in cash-flow management, and as a consequence, the development of more meaningful, timely cash-flow reports has moved to center stage. The focus on cash flow also has led us to take a critical look at many of our processes. For example, we’ve evaluated our tax-planning processes to see if there are legitimate opportunities for deferring the timing of cash outlays associated with our taxes. Finally, to take advantage of availa
