editor's page.

As Bruce Guptill and William McNee of Saugatuck Technology write in our cover story, in just a few years, Software as a Service (SaaS) has moved rapidly beyond its initial point-solution "outsourced application function" phase to become an important source of broad-based business functionality and competitive advantage. Saugatuck sees a trend that will take SaaS to "cloud computing"--the delivery of IT and business functionality in a utility environment, available on demand and via subscription solutions, But, due in large part to its relative newness and varied forms, they write, SaaS is also misunderstood, especially concerning its roles and benefits to the enterprise and to finance organizations.

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As the trend towards converging U.S. GAAP accounting with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) picks up steam, two articles in this issue aim to provide readers with information on this subject. In one, Executive Editor Ellen Heffes speaks with Joel Osnoss, lead partner, Global IFRS and Offering Services for Deloitte Touche Tomatsu, on changes expected for the CFO role and finance departments. By far the biggest change, Osnoss says, is "getting people to get off the bright-line bandwagon and really start thinking about judgments."

As writer Susan Schott Karr points out in her article on accounting education, the rise of IFRS puts a new burden on colleges and others that teach accounting. While students and financial preparers may face the brunt of the evolving shift to IFRS, others with the need to know more about the standards will include regulators, stock exchanges, investors and investment fund managers, auditors and more.

Health savings accounts (HSAs) and high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) are still new concepts for many companies, and the total number of people covered by them is just a small fraction of those in traditional health plans. While medical costs can frequently be lowered through offering them, as writer Karen Kroll explains, they don't really address the high use of health services by the chronically ill or serve as a brake on those costs.

Professor, researcher and author Geoffrey Heal has strong views about corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the way it is evolving, in this country and in Europe. Heal spoke at length to me about some of the themes in his new book and examines the challenges facing various industries and individual companies wrestling with CSR issues.

It's well understood in a lot of investment banking circles that the rise of the Canadian currency against the dollar has largely reversed the tide that historically carried U.S. acquirers to Canada, As Trenwith Securities' Matt Maher details, much of the deal impetus is now coming from Canada, and it's going beyond the usual major energy and financial services niches to include technology and the middle market.

In the Financial Reporting column, five FEI members write about the financial reporting and accounting issues they expect will affect their companies most in the next three to five years. Since the five come from different-sized public and private organizations, their concerns differ.

Turnover, while expected, is rarely a good thing--and it becomes far more painful when it starts to affect financial results. As two consultants with Sibson Consulting describe, companies are searching for ways to deal with turnover that recognizes its costs, causes and potential cures. As they point out, the real sources of why people leave are rarely the often euphemistic reasons they jot down for their exit interview with HR.