From the EDITOR.

Not every chief financial officer has the skills or the drive to become a chief executive, but many do -- and the finance profession has been a proven route for many seeking the top job. The lead story in our cover package looks at the abilities and the experience needed to make that "leap," which, as author Paul Favaro notes, turns less on analytical acumen than on subtler skills like dealing with ambiguity and nuance. The record of CFOs ascending to the CEO post is mixed, he notes, but some have clearly excelled.

Other parts of the cover package include career advice for CFOs from a prominent recruiter and thoughts from companies on what can be a thorny issue -- the reporting relationship of the chief information officer and the CFO's role in managing technology spending.

"Transfer pricing" of tax liabilities isn't the easiest subject to get one s arms around -- which is fitting in a way, since various rulings around the world have followed the lead of the Internal Revenue Service, enforcing the "arm's length standard" for transfer pricing. Increased documentation requirements, along with penalties for non-compliance, mean that multinational corporations face far greater risk of transfer pricing audits and income adjustments than ever before, say authors Steven Felgran and Mito Yamada.

How does a good merger team work? We asked someone at Navigant International, a corporate travel firm in Denver, to profile its group, which has done dozens of mergers in the past few years -- although, truth be told, the short-term outlook for new deals is less than rosy. But it's a good nuts-and-bolts story of how a disciplined merger process and practice ensure that mergers add value.

As e-commerce grows, so do the potential risks surrounding it. No surprise there, but writer Barbara Morris examines how insurance coverage is changing and adapting to the world of cyber business. Too many executives, she finds, are taking a passive view of e-commerce risk because they are not actively selling products through their sites.

"Where was the audit committee?" asks Mark Pearson, a leading consultant with Ernst & Young. It's not just the outside auditor that's charged with ensuring the integrity of the financial statements, he argues, noting new rules that also place responsibility on the audit committee. Pearson reviews the most recent regulations and advisories governing audit committee practices.

And in a strongly worded Viewpoint, finance professor Raj Aggarwal wonders aloud if volatility is hard-wired into the financial system. Human nature and investor behavior, he suggest, make it unlikely that regulatory actions and assurances could ever stem big swings in market valuations -- though they could help.

Lastly, we're asking readers to help us. In what will be a regular feature, a questionnaire on page 13 seeks feedback, both about this particular issue and our coverage in general. Here's a chance to sound off about things you're seeing (or not seeing). I'm a big believer in constructive criticism, so if you think we could improve, please make the effort to tell us.

Jeffrey Marshall