May 2008 — PRINT EDITION             Good guys finish first A growing number of companies are looking at their operations with an eye to using corporate social responsibility initiatives to improve their environmental and social track records. With the push to CSR, many firms are finding it’s improving their bottom line No pain, more gain In the past, companies would simply lower the ax on staff in order to pare expenses. With such easy cost-cutting methods squeezed out, trimming may not be harder, it just requires some corporate courage to experiment and take risks     People As president of Rotary International, Wilfrid Wilkinson had a busy year. The retired FCA traveled around the world meeting with government heads in an attempt to forward Rotary’s top priority: eradicating polio. And his journeys are not over — next stop? Africa     News and trends   •  Knightly news   •  News from the profession   •  Standards digest     Numbers game       Ask an expert My desk is buried in paper. How can I get more organized?     Bits & Bites   •  Don't worry, be happy   •  Bungled by bureaucracy   •  Wait 'til Tuesday   •  Next big thing   •  Referral results     Value added   •  Rating Canada’s audit committees Just how effective are Canada’s audit committees? And does company size matter? These are just two of the questions that KPMG’s latest annual audit committee effectiveness survey sought to answer.   •  Merger and acquisition outlook In 2007, Canadian businesses were engaged in more M&A deals than at any other time in history. So what does the near future hold?     Findings Benchmarking balance     Going concern Peter Gilgan, CA Founder/Owner & CEO Mattamy Homes       Personal financial planning Flow-through investing: looking to differentiate services? Consider this tax-saving strategy     Assurance The gray area of bias: revised international standardson auditing tackle possible bias in accounting estimates     Technology In the event of tragedy: the death of a key staff membercan cause chaos, which is why a business continuity plan is vital     Practice management A model of efficiency: no matter what size, all partnerships should have a transparent agreement in place     Standards Not just a buzzword: For auditing standards to keep pacewith the times, change is inevitable     Letters to the editor From the editor Going green Netwatch A Mac made in heaven Integration woes Integration is still the No. 1 problem facing many organizations that require more than one internal system. Fortunately, there have been improvements in the integration tools available. Outlook Hollowing out