Therese Tucker, CEO and Founder of BlackLine Systems, won the Stevie® Award for Executive of the Year  in The 2011 American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A. Therese will chair the committee for final judging of the management awards categories in The 2012 American Business Awards. (The final entry deadline for the 2012 ABAs is April 25, request your entry kit now.)

We asked Therese to share some tips with us on how managers can improve their end of year financial close processes.

What are your top 3 tips for senior managers looking to improve and streamline their account reconciliation and financial close processes?

1. Technology can automate repetitive, boring job functions and give your accounting staff more time to analyze and focus on strategic initiatives. 

2. Get organized: The best of tools won’t clean up a mess for you. 

3. Get executive sponsorship/buy-in early: Make sure that your CFO supports the initiative by understanding that a better process will give him/her confidence in the results. This will help garner the necessary time and resources to make meaningful changes and improvements.

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
Another plane crash, in Siberia.  Regulations can be onerous, but as a frequent traveler I’m thankful that I mostly take the safety of flying for granted!

Do you have a favorite app?
The Sudoku app on my iPad.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
I would be either a yoga teacher or a chef.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?
Honesty, intelligence, and heart.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
As the business keeps growing, the job keeps changing.  Being CEO of a company with five people is very different than having 105 employees and almost 500 customers. It stays interesting!

About Therese Tucker, CEO and Founder, BlackLine Systems:
After 25 years at SunGard Treasury Systems where she served as Chief Technology Officer and head of development for SunGuard's Global Trader system, Therese Tucker was ready for a new business venture using emerging technology. Wanting to combine her two talents, technology innovation and finance, Therese started BlackLine in 2001 to address the technology needs of financial organizations. Therese successfully launched BlackLine by developing an automated solution for account reconciliations which tapped into a previously un-served market. In recent years, Therese has led the company’s shift to a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) business model which has allowed to company to experience revenue growth of more than 50% in 2009, 2010, and 2011. In addition to her automated solution, Therese has developed other software including Tax Answer Scenarios, a tax planning product that has been marketed to over 1,000 tax preparers and CPAs annually since 1998.

About BlackLine Systems:
Founded in 2001, BlackLine Systems was the first to develop and offer a commercially available Balance Sheet Account Reconciliation solution.  BlackLine provides quick-to-implement, scalable, and easy-to-use applications that automate the entire financial close process to help improve financial controls for companies of all sizes.  BlackLine software applications complement existing Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. BlackLine offers clients its enterprise-class software in a simple and secure OnDemand/SaaS platform.  With a proven track record and a commitment to customer success, BlackLine seeks to reduce the burden the financial close places on accounting and finance professionals.  For more information, please visit www.blackline.com.

Today is the entry deadline for The 2012 (10th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A. If you haven't yet entered this year, the web site will be open all night to accept your entries. Request your entry kit here and you will receive it right away. Can't make today's deadline? Don't worry, we'll continue to accept entries through April 25 with a late fee of $35.00 per entry.

The American Business Awards honors all facets of workplace, our award categories include: app awards, company / organization awards, customer service awards, HR awards, IT awards, management awards, marketing awards, new product awards, PR awards, and website awards. See all of our business award categories.

All ABA entries are submitted directly online through your account. You can begin by registering here.

If you have any questions regarding the submission process, we have several helpful resources including a step-by-step video on how to submit entries,  past winners' entries for your review, and  7 tips on submitting winning entries to help you make the most out of your entries.

As always, don't hesitate to contact us with your questions about how to prepare and submit entries. You can reach us at + 1 703-547-8389 or email us at help@stevieawards.com and we'll get back to you right away.

The entry deadline for The 2012 (10th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., is tomorrow, Wednesday, March 28, 2012.

The submission process is easy. To start, you should:

1. Request an entry kit. The entry kit will have all of the information you need regarding entry preparation and submission.

2. Review the 2012 ABA categories. The ABAs have several categories that honor organizations, departments, teams, individuals and much more. Our awards categories include:

• App Awards
• Company / Organization Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• HR Awards
• IT Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards
• New Product Awards
• PR Awards
• Web Site Awards

See all business award categories.

3. Submit your entries. Select your categories, write your submissions according to the instructions, and submit your entries.

If you have any trouble selecting categories or submitting entries, you can contact us at + 1 703-547-8389 or email us at help@stevieawards.com.

Late entries will still be accepted through the final entry deadline of April 25 with a late fee of $35.00 per entry. 2012 Finalists will be announced in early May and 2012 ABA winners will be announced at one of our two awards ceremonies. Our traditional banquet will be held at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on June 18th and our second ceremony where we will honor our tech awards winners will be held in San Francisco at the Julia Morgan Ballroom on September 17th. Click here to see the ABA calendar.

March 28 is the entry deadline for The 2012 (10th annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. 

If you haven't downloaded the 2012 entry kit, you can find it online here. We also recommend that you watch the video How to Enter The 2012 American Business Awards for step-by-step instructions on how to successfully submit entries.

The ABAs have categories to recognize achievement in all facets of the American workplace, including awards for individuals, teams, departments, and organizations. Types of award categories include:

• App Awards
• Company / Organization Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• HR Awards 
• IT Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards
• New Product Awards
• PR Awards
• Web Site Awards

See all ABA categories here.

Entries submitted after March 28, through the final deadline of April 25, will be assessed a late fee in addition to any entry fee. 2012 Finalists will be announced in early May and the 10th Annual business awards winners will be announced at one of our two awards ceremonies. We will hold our traditional banquet at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on June 18th and have a second ceremony in San Francisco at the Julia Morgan Ballroom on September 17th where we will announce our tech awards winners. Click here to see the ABA calendar.

Need help answering  your ABA submission questions?  Email us at help@stevieawards.com  or call us at + 1 703-547-8389 and we'll get back to you right away.

We've created a video called "How to Participate in America Means Business." You can watch it here.

The video is a recording of our March 13 webinar of the same name. America Means Business is a new event by the Stevie Awards about how to start and create a business. It will take place in New York June 13-15, and there are opportunities for your organization to speak, exhibit, and sponsor.

We're particularly looking for speakers on topics such as:

• Getting started in business, and all that that entails
• How to raise money to start a business
• How and when to hire staff
• Management issues related to business start-ups and growth
• Technology issues that should concern entrepreneurs
• How to use social media and other web media to grow a business and a brand
• The importance of branding and marketing and how to develop a marketing plan
• Why public relations and publicity should be on a start-up’s priority list
• How to develop a sales plan and supercharge a sales effort
• How and why startups should excel in customer service
• How to develop and follow a product development and management plan

Watch the video to learn how to participate.

Donlen of Northbrook, Illinois, USA, received a Stevie® Award for Corporate Environmental Responsibility Program of the Year—Up to 2,500 Employees in the company awards categories of The 2011 American Business Awards. (The American Business Awards are now accepting entries. Download your entry kit here and submit your 2012 ABA entries by the March 28 deadline.) Here we take a closer look at what steps fleet financer and management provider, Donlen is taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As a global provider of fleet management solutions, the corporate awards winner was concerned with the following facts:

• Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are the leading cause of climate change;

• The commercial fleet industry currently manages nearly 3,000,000 vehicles, and one-third of GHG emissions in the United States come from the transportation sector; and

• The average fleet produces nearly 9,000 metric tons of GHG annually, which is equivalent to the GHG emissions produced by burning 1,012,373 gallons of gasoline.

In 2010, Donlen stepped forward as an industry leader and became a member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), collaborating with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in a CGI Commitment to Action titled “Commercial Fleet 20% GHG Emissions Reduction,” and launching Fleets for Change, a fully independent website and robust reporting database.

Utilizing significant Donlen resources, Fleets for Change works with companies to help transform the environmental impact of the U.S. commercial fleet industry. This five-year commitment will help to reduce fleet emission levels by 20%, generating a reduction of more than 500,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Pledging Reductions
Any company that is committed to working to track and reduce GHG is welcome to join Fleets for Change. After joining, participants pledge reduction levels then upload their fuel usage and MPG data into a secure database. There, they can not only track their progress against their own goals, but anonymously benchmark against similar fleets with regard to vehicle type and/or class, industry, fleet size, and other criteria. (No company names or identifiers are ever disclosed to other participants.) Access to this cross-industry and fleet data is unprecedented in the fleet management industry.

Creating Change
The organization awards winner's commitment to creating meaningful industry change is easily recognizable through their Fleets for Change initiative:

• This is an industry-wide initiative open to any fleet that wishes to participate, whether or not they are a Donlen customer. Fleets for Change is a fully secure, independent site.

• There is no cost for a company to participate in Fleets for Change. Donlen is underwriting all associated costs of the site, database, reporting, and analysis.
  
  
• Donlen is committed to protecting the security of participant information: no individual data is identified or used for any purpose other than confidential reporting by Fleets for Change to the Clinton Global Initiative.

Best Practices
For companies needing assistance to identify their reduction goals and strategies, business award winner, Donlen offers best practices based on extensive experience helping their customers to develop and implement sustainability initiatives. For their customers, Donlen consultants provide performance metrics, benchmarking data, analytical support, facilitating discussions around lifecycle costs and cost reduction. These effective strategies, some of which are shared with Fleets for Change participants, help to measure and reduce fleet GHG.

Corporate award winner and CEO Gary Rappeport spearheads Donlen’s innovation and unparalleled success in the fleet industry. His focus on employee and customer satisfaction, corporate social responsibility, and environmental consciousness has put Donlen in the forefront of workplace excellence, and allowed Donlen to experience unprecedented growth under his leadership.

“The transportation industry is responsible for 28% of the overall greenhouse gas emissions in the United States,” stated Rappeport.“As a leader in the fleet management industry, it’s important that Donlen takes the initiative to help reduce commercial fleet GHG on a broader scale. The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) offers us the ideal venue to address this critically important issue, and we're proud to collaborate with EDF to be part of the larger work of CGI.”

About Gary Rappeport:
Chief Executive Officer Gary Rappeport joined Donlen in 1986 and held a variety of roles prior to taking the leadership position in 1996. Named Executive of the Year-Services in The 2009 American Business Awards, Gary is committed to both employee and customer satisfaction, and developed the Donlen Service Success Chain in which annual goals are set and achievements benchmarked. Gary received a Bachelor's degree in Finance at the University of Florida and an MBA in Finance and Information Systems at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a member of the Chicago Chapter of the World Presidents’ Organization, and serves as chairman of the American Automotive Leasing Association. Gary is on the Dean's Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin Business School. He is an active member of The Sierra Club and is diligently involved with Children's Oncology Services, Inc. Prior to joining Donlen, he held sales and management positions at NCR and HP.

About Donlen:
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Hertz Corporation (NYSE:HTZ), Donlen (www.donlen.com), with headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois, is a global provider of fleet financing and management solutions. Since 1965, Donlen has offered its clients highly personalized and responsive customer service, and their workplace excellence has been recognized as one of Crain's Chicago Business "List of 20 Best Places to Work in Chicago" each year from 2009-2011, a Leader on "The Global Outsourcing 100®" list by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) for five of the last six years, a National Association for Business Resources "101 Best and Brightest Places to Work For in Chicago" each year from 2007-2011, the 2012 Gold Stevie® Award winner for Business Intelligence, and the 2012 Silver Stevie Award winner for Front Line Customer Service Team of the Year in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

The entry deadline for The 10th Annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., is quickly approaching – it’s Wednesday, March 28, 2012. You can start submitting your entries today here.

How the submission process works:

1. Request your entry kit. 
   Once emailed to you, the kit will be your guide on everything you'll need to know about how to prepare and submit your entries.
2. Review the 2012 ABA categories.
   Pick who you would like to recognize and why they should be recognized. We have categories highlighting organizations, teams, departments, and individuals, as well as:

• App Awards
• Company / Organization Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• HR Awards 
• IT Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards
• New Product Awards
• PR Awards
• Web Site Awards

3. Submit your entries.
   Select your categories, write your submissions according to the instructions, and submit your entries.

Benefits of submitting a business award entry:

1. More chances to win
   All Finalists in the Best New Product or Service categories will automatically be included in the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, a public vote that will commence in July. The People's Choice Winners will be honored at the new tech awards ceremony in San Francisco on September 17. Finalists in the Best New Product or Service categories will have an opportunity to win two awards: a Stevie® Award, as voted by your peers, and a crystal People's Choice Stevie Award, as voted by your customers.
2. New award distinctions
   The American Business Awards banquets will showcase our three levels of award distinction: Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards. You can learn more about the new awards here.
3. Multiple awards banquets
   The 10th Annual corporate awards will have two awards ceremonies. We will hold our traditional banquet at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on June 18th and have a second ceremony in San Francisco at the Julia Morgan Ballroom on September 17th where we will announce our tech award winners.

Helpful resources to make your submission process easier:

1. Step-by-step video on how to submit entries
   Watch our helpful video tutorial on how to successfully enter submissions.
2. Review past winners' entries here.
   They're great models for how you should write your entries.
3. 7 tips on submitting winning entries
   Read our tips on how to submit winning entries.

If you have any questions regarding your ABA submissions, call us at + 1 703-547-8389 or email us at help@stevieawards.com and we'll get back to you right away.

Not going to make the March 28th deadline? Don't worry, you can still submit entries through April 25 with a $35.00 late fee.   Click here to see the ABA's calendar.  

For First Time, Nation’s Top Business Awards to  Be Presented at Ceremonies in Both New York and San Francisco

The Stevie® Awards today issued the call for entries for The 10th Annual American Business Awards, the USA’s only all-encompassing business awards program, and invited all organizations nationwide to publicly recognize the achievements of their executives and employees by nominating them for a Stevie.

The entry deadline is March 28. Late entries will be accepted through April 25 with a late fee.  All individuals and organizations in the U.S. are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small.   The 2012 awards will honor work since the beginning of 2011.   Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA. 

Nominations are now being accepted in various category groups for  management awards, public relations awards, marketing awards, new product awards, human resources awards, information technology awards,  web site awards, and more. There are many new categories for 2012, including 18 new categories for smartphone and tablet apps, as well as the Best of the ABA Awards, five best-of-competition prizes that will awarded to the organizations that submit the best overall body of work to the competition.

For the first time, The American Business Awards will feature two awards banquets.  The first will take place on June 18 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City and will honor Stevie Award winners in traditional categories.  The second, a new event, will be held on September 17 at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco, California and will honor Stevie Award winners in all tech-related categories.

Also new in 2012, Stevie Awards will be conferred in three levels of distinction: Gold, Silver and Bronze.  To date, only overall category winners have been recognized as Stevie winners.

“We are excited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The American Business Awards and the Stevie Awards movement at a time when the American economy is rebounding,” said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards. “Whether they’re multinational corporations and top executives or local businesses and hourly employees, we believe everyone deserves the opportunity to be publicly honored for their hard work and achievements.”

The 2012 American Business Awards will include the Fourth Annual People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, in which the general public will vote for their favorite new products and services of the year. Each new product or service nominated in The American Business Awards’ new product awards categories will automatically be included in people’s choice voting.  Voting will open in early July and winners will be announced at the San Francisco ceremony on September 17.

The American Business Awards’ June event will be the culmination of the inaugural America Means Business, a celebration of entrepreneurship that will take place June 13-15 in New York City.  Created by the Stevie Awards to educate people about how to start and grow a business, America Means Business will feature inspirational keynotes, “How I Did It” case studies, one-to-one mentoring, an exhibition, and more.  America Means Business is now accepting proposals from speakers and attendee registrations at www.AmericaMeansBusiness-NYC.com.

2011 Stevie Awards were presented last June in The Ninth Annual American Business Awards to a diverse group of organizations including American Express OPEN,  Blackboard, EmpowHER Media, ESPN, Hewlett-Packard, Kwittken & Company, Millennial Media,  Overstock.com, Red Frog Events, and Tesla Motors, among others. 

To enter The 2012 American Business Awards, visit www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

About the Stevie® Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide.  Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com/, and follow the Stevie Awards on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. 

Sponsors and partners of The 2012 American Business Awards include American Support, Business TalkRadio Network, Citrix Online, Dynamics Research Corporation, iolo technologies, John Hancock Funds, LifeLock, PetRays, Primus Telecommunications Group, SoftPro, SDL and VerticalResponse.

We've published an 11-minute video about how to enter the 10th edition of the U.S.A.'s top business awards program, The American Business Awards.

Now in their 10th year, The American Business Awards are the premier business awards program in the U.S.A, with award categories including management awards, marketing awards, PR awards, HR awards, IT awards, web site awards, video awards, app awards, new product awards, and more. The entry deadline is March 28.

The short video covers:

• What the ABAs are, and their history
• The schedule for the 2012 ABAs
• How to review and select categories
• How to prepare and submit entries
• What’s new & different in 2012
• How the judging process works
• Best practices

If you plan to enter The 2012 American Business Awards, we highly recommend that you get and review the online entry kit in addition to watching this video which offers many helpful insights about the process of the awards program.

We have made two changes to our 2012 American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., to help make your Stevie Awards® submission process easier. (The 2012 American Business Awards are now accepting entries. Download your entry kit here and submit entries by the March 28th deadline.)

Our business awards updates include:

• A new link/file uploader
  We've added a Link/File Uploader to the online entry form. Click the link that says "Add Attachments, Videos or Links to This Entry" to add or upload any number of URLs or offline supporting attachments to an entry. Your attachments and links will then be presented to the judges.
  
  
• Online only submission acceptance
  Entries may no longer be submitted offline. All entries must be submitted online, even if you enter a category for which you'll provide materials for judging offline (e.g. Best Annual Report).

Our business award updates will help you to:

• Easily enhance your submission
  With our new link/file uploader, you have the option to upload a collection of supporting files and web addresses to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges.
  
  
• Keep track of the progress of your submission
  Our online submission center allows for you see all of your submissions in one easy-to-view location.
  
  
• Save your entries while perfecting your submissions
  Since all submissions will be entered online, you can save your submissions while you continue to work on other entries. You have the option to submit entries individually or all at once.

Let us know what you think about our new updates - leave us a comment!