The Problem: Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) can be costly yet ineffective In a survey by CFO Magazine, 70% of CFO’s said that the costs of Sarbanes Oxley outweighed its benefits. Once you have a mound of control objectives, narratives and flow charts, is there really any guarantee that you won’t still have exposure for financial statement […]
Financial Presentations
The Problem – Presenting Financial Data to a Non-Financial Audience As CFO, my role was often to present financial information to members of executive management who need quick insights into our financial status and who, on occasion, did not have financial backgrounds. The Solution – A unique graphical approach I developed a variety of graphical […]
Inventory accuracy
The Problem – Inventory adjustments Physical inventory results had wild swings, leading corporate management to have no confidence in financial controls. Even in those situations where the adjustments were minor, there was no confidence that it was not the result of luck or that the results would be repeated the next period. The Solution – […]
Forensic Accounting
The Problem – Purchasing irregularities An employee noticed an unusual purchase. The Solution – Investigative analysis with strong systems support Working with I/T, system data over a number of years was reconstructed. A variety of query criteria were developed to uncover patterns for potential irregularities. In the process, three additional vendors were uncovered with unusual […]
Salary Planning
The Problem – Inconsistent application of salary guidelines by different managers The company salary planning guidelines were so loose that they provided very little direction to managers in establishing increases. As a result, the size of increases were often dependent on who you worked for and pay increases were inconsistent and not always commensurate with […]
Job evaluations
The Problem – Complicated compensation systems The Hay System provides a superb methodology to develop compensation ranges based on factors relevant to each unique job. Unfortunately, the calculation process itself uses four different charts, each with its own calculations, which made the application of the system incredibly time-consuming and error prone and frustrating to all […]
Business Intelligence
The Problem: Lack of information The company had over a dozen divisions, most of which were experiencing declining sales, but had no way to assess overall trends by geographic market, distribution channel or customer. They also had no way to share information on customer accounts between the divisions and were missing opportunities to leverage their […]
Innovation in Technology
The Problem: Under performing I/T investments and high staff turnover. Few employees really make full use of the technology tools provided to them. One of the greatest problems facing most I/T managers is recruiting and retaining good talent. The Solution: Vision and innovation. We were recognized as a technology leader and center of I/T excellence […]
Internet Strategy
The Problem: Not leveraging the Internet At work, browser-based technology was standard on all new PC’s that were being delivered but wasn’t being used for productivity improvements. At home, my wife and friends had businesses that could benefit from having an web presence. The Solution: Internet and Cloud based solutions I learned to develop web […]
Strategic Planning
The Problem – Top level strategic plans not tied to departmental objectives Strategic plans were prepared by top management but were not well linked to departmental objectives The Solution – Strategic departmental planning We carried the strategic planning process down to individual departments, using the following elements: Departmental mission statement supporting the company mission statement. […]
