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 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 MoreI continue to get mixed signals regarding how advanced CFOs are with their journey to become the “strategic advisor” that is so frequently mentioned in finance and accounting magazines and consulting firm’s centers of excellence (CoE) websites. There are countless articles describing the vision of CFOs and their staff after completing a successful financial transformation of their processes. And I have also written inspirational blogs and articles about accountants transitioning from bean counters to bean growers. But I am unsure how much the evidence supports the vision.
Read More