Thomas Hoffman

The increased financial scrutiny that many IT departments are facing isn't limited to the private sector.

Emcor Group Inc. is developing a Notes-based system to track its Sarbanes-Oxley compliance

Ever since the economy began to stumble in mid-2000 and companies began trimming IT spending, industry watchers have wondered how long organizations would stretch the lives of their desktop hardware before beginning widescale upgrades.

With the U.S. economy picking up steam, some recruiters are seeing a rise in demand for technology workers. But several IT managers who were interviewed in late November said they have a mix of hiring plans.

Although CIOs traditionally rank alignment between IT and business as a top priority, chief financial officers attending a recent conference in Chicago said that closing the gap often requires new ways of thinking

CEOs and chief financial officers who are obligated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to stand behind the financial accounting controls used by their companies are increasingly asking operating units, including IT, to certify that they have put adequate safeguards in place.

As companies finalize their IT budgets for next year, some CIOs are finding themselves eyeing their calendars for an altogether different reason: to mark the increasing amount of time they

"If there's any barrier to success between IT and business, it's communication," saidrn Randy MacDonald, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Ameritrade Inc.