The National Business Meeting of the AICPA (April 19-23) in San Diego, California, picked up on managing the Intangible Assets as a sub-theme. There were several sessions dedicated to topics related to the knowledge economy. ENTOVATION colleague Brett Knowles, co-founder of Know Inc. (Toronto, Canada), delivered a presentation - "Products and Services Available in the Intellectual Capital Arena." This included a description of recent initiatives, a product review and a preview of the contents of their new web sites: KnowledgeShop and KnowledgeCreators.
In a session entitled "Intellectual Capital and the Knowledge Economy: An Emerging Financial Leadership Role," Debra Amidon hosted the new monograph - Collaborative Innovation and the Knowledge Economy - which is co-sponsored by the Canadian Management Accountants, the CEFM sub-group of the AICPA and CAM-I. Copies are available in both English and French through e-mail (orderdesk@cma-canada.org).
In the collective audience of 160+, she inquired:
| Q1 | How many of you have heard of this new focus on hidden assets, intangible value, or intellectual capital? |
| R: | About 60% raised their hands |
| Q2: | How many had initiatives which had been launched in their companies? |
| R: | About 24 responded in the affirmative |
| Q3: | How many of you consider this focus to be just a fad. |
| R: | Only 4 raised their hands |
This was a bit of a surprise, but it appears that the finance community is received the message and are seeking guidance on how best to put the concepts into action. Our work is most timely!
