There are a lot of “Rules of IT” which people obsess about (like the fallacy of the holy specification). I don’t care about many of these. But there is one big rule about which I’m adamant: never, NEVER, test in production. While this rule is generally adhered to, I’m surprised at how often companies ignore it.
I recently attended a CFO Alliance event in New York. The discussion centered on banking and the tough environment for mid-market lending. The key, as derived from the presentation and conversations, is keeping the bank informed. If things start to deteriorate, don’t hide. Tell your story and, preferably, what you’re doing to fix the situation. As another attendee told me, although banks won’t act against their own interests, they will give you the benefit of the doubt in gray areas. And that can equal months of additional funding in a tight market. This is right in line with point number two – transparency – in 7 Ways to Make Data Work For You.
One of my clients asked where my funny posts come from. I’m flattered people like the writing. I try for amusing and entertaining, and I like to think I’m just naturally funny. But I looked at my data; and I realized it’s really more a matter of effort than talent. Let’s do the numbers. (And in the spirit of ditching your decimals, we’re rounding all numbers here.)
A big point of distinction between small companies and international enterprises is how many sets of books they maintain. Smaller companies tend to keep one general ledger. International enterprises need several. True, smaller companies often have different numbers for tax purposes, but these are usually handled by external accountants and kept outside their systems. But as companies grow, this no longer works.
Read more on Keeping Multiple Sets of Books in One General Ledger Package…
You have enough software; now make it work. That’s my mantra. But sometimes, people take it too far. It becomes “when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Case in point: My friend told me his company created a general ledger in Lotus Notes.
Read more on Bad Idea: Using Lotus Notes to Create a General Ledger…
Confusing Principles with Preferences
I’m a “circumstantial business coach.” I have no intention of coaching as a profession, but I sometimes find myself in this role because I’m the only neutral person clients can talk to. And people know I keep my mouth shut. So I get asked a lot of questions about “what I think.”
Have you ever worked in a company where people are quick to assign fault to individuals but slow to fix systemic problems that cause people to fail? Here’s an example: Last week, one of my guys accidentally emailed a series of reports to people who shouldn’t have received them. Thankfully, for unknown reasons, most of the emails got marked as spam and didn’t reach the recipients (something else we need to research). This hasn’t happened before. And while we’re quick to accept responsibility, the bigger question is how we got here.
I’ve often joked that with software you never get credit for the hard stuff (like combining five databases with ten currencies into one system), but, boy, do they love you for making it pretty. Nothing impresses like the company logo, pictures, graphs and multiple colors. I generally hold that it’s not worth it for people to pay us to make reports beautiful – this is part of the distinction between the role of tool master and data master. But lately, I’ve been reconsidering the importance of “making it look good.”
I’m not a big football fan. And I’ve never really thought that sport metaphors work all that well in business. (I mean people don’t body slam each other in IT projects – even if they wish they could). But I am a New Yorker and I’m really impressed by Eli Manning. So, in honor of Manning, I’ve put together a list of three things you can learn from football:
Read more on In Honor of Eli Manning – Three Things You Can Learn from Football…
In modern ERP and accounting systems, the problem is often not IF the system can do a certain calculation, but whether you can understand what it did six months later. This became clear to me this week when working on a currency revaluation issue for a client – a client with multiple subsidiaries in multiple countries, paying bills in multiple currencies, and with a good dash of intercompany complexity thrown in. After much discussion, we’ve gotten the accounting right and the system will do the key calculations. But the question remains: When an auditor asks how my client got these numbers, can they answer? It’s like high school physics. It’s important to get the right answer but just as important to show your work.
Read more on Showing Your Work by Adding Extra General Ledger Accounts…
