A larger contribution.

The challenges businesses have faced over the past year--rising prices, uncertainty, greater risk awareness--have brought to many people's attention the important role that management accountants can play in making organizations more nimble, more intelligent, and more productive. But are management accountants doing all they can to fulfill their promise in organizations? At a daylong conference hosted by The CMA International Centre in September at HEC Montreal, several presenters tackled this issue. This month, CMA Management shares the opinions of two of those presenters.

Alexander Mersereau, CMA, FCMA, believes that management accounting practices haven't taken as strong a hold in organizations as they should. In this month's first feature, "Pushing the art of management accounting," he describes the challenges that are slowing the adoption of critical management accounting tools in broader business, and offers several tips on how to better incorporate management accounting strengths in day-to-day strategic decision making.

Hugues Boisvert, CMA, FCMA, spoke on the subject of how budgets, cost models, management dashboards and continuous improvement are used today. Boisvert was involved with a study analyzing the use of these management accounting tools in a number of Quebec businesses, through the CMA International Centre for Studies of Business Processes. He found that these so-called management accounting techniques resembled management accounting in name only. They tended to embrace the objectives of financial accounting exclusively, rather than contributing to the larger corporate strategy. In "Organizational performance challenges," he explains how these tools can be used more effectively.

Boisvert's follow-up article, "Building more efficient businesses," builds on the strength of this first piece to explain how the finance function is merely one piece of the strategic puzzle that needs to be addressed to make a more effective, efficient business. To learn more, turn to page 32.

CMA Canada is always considering how best to provide valuable information to its members. Involvement in research here in Canada and abroad allows the organization to expand the knowledge set of members and the profession as a whole. One such initiative is the organization's membership in the Consortium of Advanced Management--International (CAM-I). In this month's Management Trends column, the value of this collaborative organization is explained. Turn to page 16 to learn more.

Glenn Feltham, CMA, FCMA, noted in the December/January issue of CMA Management, "this is your profession. It can and will only be as good as its members. Give freely of yourself. Any effort you give will be repaid several fold in personal growth." This is certainly true of Mary Beth Kyer, CMA. She has been involved with the Society in a number of ways and from that involvement has been able to develop, not only her own skill set, but also innovative technology that has, in turn, helped others. Read about her and her company, Euforea, Inc., in this month's feature profile.

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Robert Colman

Editor-in-Chief