The flawed accounting practice that ignored brands' asset capabilities is waning, says James Gregory, author of “Leveraging the Corporate Brand.” The Financial Accounting Standards Board is beginning to understand that "fair value" accounting for the brand is the only way to accurately report the one asset in the company that has the ability to grow in value, while all other assets only depreciate. And boards of directors are now demanding management report the statuses and values of their corporate brands. Gregory goes on to explain why the CMO post is the perfect training ground for a CEO. - "Fair-value" accounting methods will emphasize corporate growth on intangible assets
- CMOS are responsible for managing both product brands and the corporate brand
- CMOS gain a wider point of view of the corporation
- CMOS have inquiring minds and are willing to try new things that will enhance the business
- Boards are getting more interested and responsible for examining the whole corporate panorama
What I don’t see in this article is any mention of Online Reputation Management and the necessity to monitor and manage the conversations around your brand. Dell is the poster child for how online conversations can affect the value of your brand, but there are other case studies too. If CMOs are in-training to be CEOs, and brand value is the yardstick with boards demanding that management report the status and value of their corporate brands, they'd better get their wits around social media and online reputation monitoring. Perhaps we'll see some CMOs at our Social Media Bootcamp | 
