Please forgive me for my persistent rant and criticism against accountants who budget poorly or continue to calculate the substantial and growing high indirect and shared costs originating from resource expenses such as salaries, supplies, power, information technologies, and travel. I cannot seem to hold back my frustration.
Read MoreA paradox which continues to puzzle me is how chief financial officers (CFOs) and controllers can be aware that their managerial accounting data is flawed and misleading, yet not take action to do anything about it.
Read MoreUsually I am fairly rational and do not let my personal emotions interfere with how I interact with others. However, as the readers of my blogs and articles may have detected, my more recent writings increasingly reflect my frustrations with old school accountants. I cannot disguise my irritation and annoyance with accountants who refuse to be progressive.
Read MoreQuite naturally, many organizations over-rate the quality of their enterprise and corporate performance management (EPM/CPM) practices and systems. In reality they lack in being comprehensive and how integrated they are. For example, when you ask executives how well they measure and report either costs or non-financial performance measures, most proudly boast that they are very good. Again, this is inconsistent and conflicts with surveys where anonymous replies from mid-level managers candidly score them as “needs much improvement.”
Read MoreWhat might C-level executives write in their diaries in the future? My crystal ball is crystal clear. Seven years from now in 2023 here are the personal diary entries of the executives of a fictitious corporation reflecting on their experience implementing enterprise performance management (EPM) methods. As you’ll see, the last diary entry written by the CEO is the most surprising.
Read MoreEnterprise and corporate performance management (EPM/CPM) methods imbedded with business analytics are a hot topic. Will they stay hot? Or are they a business improvement fad, like the quality control circles in the 1980s? My bet is these methods are keepers. Why? It is for many reasons. A major one is the EPM/CPM methods are so fundamental to an organization’s health.
Read MoreHere is a fictitious story. But how true could it be?
Our company’s quarterly financial results were just announced. Our loss was unexpectedly double last quarter’s loss, and we have now been in the red each quarter for over a year. How can this be happening to us? Our company has been profitable for decades!
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