From the editor.

Risk management, which has grown up with the modern corporation, has been around for many years. As it has developed, especially at larger companies, the focus has become enterprise risk management (ERM), concerned with a "big picture" view of everything from financial and reputational risks to internal controls, quality control, customer service woes and much more.

As writer Lawrence Richter Quinn details in our cover story, "ERM is a means of determining all the risks a company faces, both currently and in the near and long-term future--regardless of whether those exposures have been historically insurable or able to be hedged through the financial markets." He talked to a number of financial and risk officers and others to get a sense of how ERM has evolved, how it fits into the business plan and how it relates to recent rules and regulations.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has immeasurably boosted the level of debate about the value (or lack thereof) of being a public company. John Sinnenberger, an executive with a private investment firm, provides an effective review of the issues involved with going private. His conclusion? It isn't an easy or quick process, or a panacea for an ailing company, but it may well be worth the effort.

Investors' eyes will soon be turned to company reports on the effectiveness of their internal controls, stemming from Sarbanes-Oxley's infamous Section 404. Financial Executives Research Foundation's William Sinnett spoke to FEI members and others about their specific 404 efforts, including efforts to remediate any deficiencies, and provides a report from the trenches.

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Perceptions of outsized or unwarranted executive compensation--especially CEO pay--have been the stuff of headlines and investor agitation for years. One result: renewed attention on the directors' compensation committee. Writer Cynthia Waller Vallario notes that "directors can no longer ignore shareholders' expectations for implementing a more balanced approach and reining in unrealistic compensation packages ... investors and regulators want compensation committees to place trust and accountability on the top of their agendas."

With the restructuring of investment banking research in the past couple of years, following charges of insufficient independence and overt ties to the banking side of the house, many smaller companies have lost analyst coverage entirely. Investor relations expert Brooke Wagner argues that companies should rechannel their energies away from the "sell side," where this problem is concentrated, and do more to court institutional investors, the "buy side."

Major software vendors have been promoting Business Performance Management (BPM) systems for some time now, with considerable success. Yet executives aren't always sure about what these systems do or how they relate to business intelligence software--and how best to implement them. Hyperion Solution's chief technology officer, John Kopcke, answers a series of questions about BPM in an effort to "demystify" the subject.

And, in the Financial Reporting column, FEI President and CEO Colleen Cunningham provides a list of 10 financial reporting issues that will require attention in the year ahead. Some are carry-overs from the past year or years; others present new challenges. As we slide into 2005, there should be plenty of challenges to go around.