Twenty years ago, Tom Peters wrote this classic which now acts a beacon in these changing times. Here is my take on his advice.
A General Electric executive has pointed out 9 out of 10 acquisitions are a waste of time and a destruction of shareholder’s value
McKinsey study in 1986 of acquisitions made between 1972-83 a […]
The belief that the month-end report is useful. It is too late to change anything, the horse has bolted, and management should know the number if they have been provided with key daily and weekly information. The M/E finance report should be a one pager (A3).
The belief that there is a magic number to aim for. Accountants […]
The accounts payable team is one of the most important in the accounting function. However, many APteams are stuck in the dark ages, which means:* monthly accounts cannot be prepared promptly, as AP is buried under a tsunami of invoices* budget holders are unnecessarily tied up in authorising and approving all transactions– no matter how […]
The annual planning process and the long, drawn-out annual reporting cycle are both perfect examples of catch-22s. To break out of them, finance teams need to attack the onerous processes that are hangovers from the past and that they have mistakenly stuck with. Read More
The average cost of a whole purchasing cycle is estimated at £30 to £40 per transaction. This cost is horrific when you realise that a high portion of your transactions is for minor amounts. The diagram to the right shows a typical profile of accounts payable(AP) invoices. Read More
To what degree has your finance team embraced the LEAN movement? – Invitation to attend a webcast run by ICAEW.
Join David Parmenter for a webinar on 9 October, 2014 at 9:00 AM (GMT). There is a small cost of non-members.
LEAN has now been embraced by accounting functions around the world. LEAN has not only re-engineered […]
The ability to deliver a bulletproof PowerPoint presentation is a vital skill that can help you on your journey to becoming great. However we are often guilty for underselling our carefully thought-through suggestions. Far too often we will short-change themselves by ‘under cooking’ our preparation and practice time before giving a ‘career limiting’ presentation. Here […]
All great managers help their staff score goals. Success breeds success. Consultants are no different. They may appear immune to difficulties, this is only a ruse. They need positive feedback as much or even more than your staff. Why? They often work in a dysfunction firm, trust me I know, and their only feedback is […]
All consultants, when being frank, will admit to the odd self-inflicted disaster. The responsibility of many failed projects rests fair-and-square with the initiators. They create projects or new starts with utter abandonment, overlooking the commitments each projects require. Like children, projects need to have plenty of affection, attention, and nurturing. The consequences for projects when […]
Relate the size of the contract to the risks involved. Contracts for minor assignments (less than £30,000) should be, at most, a two-page document. In most cases it could be all contained in an email with a confirmation or a simple signature, on the email, with the words “agreed as outlined above”.
We do need to […]