From the editor.

It could be argued that, as much as any single issue, compliance is the business story of this decade--something financial executives know better than most. In our cover story, two executives from PricewaterhouseCoopers look at the compliance challenge from a best practices perspective, and conclude that smart companies are on the forefront of building new and improved structures that support and enhance this new compliance environment.

Is Sarbanes-Oxley really proving to be a deterrent to fraud? Writer Paul Sweeney put that question to a varied group of forensic accountants, company executives, governance experts and others, and found continued skepticism about the war against fraud--but a consensus that corporate governance and the "tone at the top" have improved since the law's adoption three years ago.

How are companies issuing management reports on their internal controls? Financial Executives Research Foundation reviewed a group of such reports from the first reporting period this past spring and found considerable variation in how the reports were structured and where various elements appeared.

Much has been made of the piles of cash that major software companies like Microsoft Corp. have amassed over the years. Managing that hoard, and controlling the risk for those monetized assets, is the job of Microsoft Treasurer George Zinn. In an interview with Executive Editor Ellen Heffes, Zinn offers a lot of detail about how the company's treasury works and how he approaches his job.

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Electronic discovery--the retrieval of email records, especially, at companies being sued--flared into the headlines earlier in the year when such records at Morgan Stanley helped financier Ronald Perlman win a huge judgment against it. Two members of Ernst & Young's Investigative & Dispute Services practice discuss how companies should manage their electronic communications to best prepare themselves for litigation.

Fear, uncertainty and doubt--collectively, the fabled FUD--is often cited as one of the technology vendor's most effective weapons against reluctant corporate spenders. Some technology experts who spoke with writer Skip Kaltenheuser contend that when it comes to IT security, financial executives shouldn't be snowed by technical lingo, but should concentrate on basic security that goes beyond just software.

Financing for a major manufacturing facility can be complicated, and the $872 million deal to build a new steel mill in Mississippi was no exception: a debt transaction syndicated by GE Commercial Finance; an export credit guarantee from Germany; equity from a Russian steel company, and grant and loan guarantees from the state. An inside look at the transaction and how it came together.

If you've been near the merger arena recently, you know it's a seller's market. Two attorneys argue that companies need to be careful not to get drawn into bidding wars, and should pay close attention to purchase agreements to make sure that their flanks (and their checkbooks) are being covered.

Healthcare costs are going up again. That's not exactly the surprise of the decade, but the silver lining, such as it is, is that the rate of increase is expected to slow again in 2006. The big issue looming on the horizon, however, is the seemingly inevitable push toward "consumer-directed healthcare"--programs in which employees will be asked to choose levels of deductibles and co-insurance as companies move away from conventional medical plans and seek to shift more of the cost burdens to the workforce.