Financial market have grown more volatile since exchange rates were freed in 1973. Interest rates and exchange rates now fluctuate more rapidly than at any time since the Crash of 1929. At the same time, companies’ profit margins have been squeezed by the lowering of trade barriers and increased international competition. The result is that companies worldwide have been forced to come to terms with their financial risks. No longer can managers stick their heads in the sand and pretend that because their firms make car, or sell soap powders, they need only worry about this year’s convertible or whether their new formula washes whiter than Brand X. As many have found to their cost, ignoring interest-rate, currency or commodity risks can hurt a company just badly as the failure of a new product.