Energized Accounting

Brag Bag Now Open!

2008-07-25T10:57:00.008-04:00

Chris Brogan, a social media expert, just tweeted about a great concept called the Brag Bag. Every Friday Becky McCray, who runs SmallBizSurvival blog, posts an article encouraging people to add a comment about something they're proud of. Some people talk about personal accomplishments. Some people brag about what friends or co-workers have done. Others just leave a high-5 to the other people who left their comments. The result is an energetic, positive tribute to the human spirit.

Hmm, maybe Becky should consider opening the bag on Monday mornings, when we could all use a little lift.

Accounting is an area with many unsung heros, people who go that extra mile for others, but who often don't get any public recognition, so let's do the same thing. If you have overcome an obstacle, tackled something new or would like to recognize someone else who has, please add a comment to this article and tell the world!

[Edit - Correction per Chris Brogan.]

Security Officer Goes Postal

2008-07-21T09:24:00.011-04:00

Today's Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper had this article about a city of San Francisco computer engineer who changed the security passwords on his employer's system. The system still works, but nobody can get in to set up new users, change passwords etc. The man, Terry Childs, is languishing in a local jail with bail set at $5,000,000.

As an accountant, should you care? I do. The accounting system I run is a major user of the computer network. A network security issue is a financial security risk.

My first thought was: breakdown in controls, i.e. segregation of incompatible duties. There should be more than one person with the system password. But then I thought, wait, what if the control system was in place? What if Childs just let himself in late one night, as he would typically do to apply new security patches, and changed the password? If he were in charge of security, it would be quite a normal thing for him to do. The difference is that he didn't notify the other security administration staff of the change.

My next thought was how to design a security system so that this couldn't happen. You would need at least two passwords, neither of which could change the other. Then there would have to be two independent security officers, etc. I checked with the security officer on our system. He said that we have three system administrators, each with a separate admin login and password. Even if one of them changed the password on all three admin accounts, it's still possible to unlock the admin password. Thank you, Microsoft!

But design is only half the issue. Even though our system could recover from a rogue security officer, that doesn't mean that he/she couldn't do a significant amount of damage. Control systems only go so far. They cannot protect you from human feelings and weaknesses. If your security officer does not feel that he/she is part of the team, then you have a major risk regardless of how well your system is designed.

So, who is to blame, the employee or the employer? The newspaper article doesn't shed much light on why Childs was so disgruntled that he would put himself and the whole city of San Francisco at risk, but my experience leads me to point the finger squarely at both. Putting Childs in jail will not correct the problem. Management needs to find out what the problem is and take positive steps to listen to employee concerns, and employees need to find a constructive way to air their grievances. In his own passive-agressive way, Childs has become the most outspoken of the disgruntled employees, but I'll bet you 10 pounds of Ghirardelli chocolate he's not the only one.

P.S. A note on security: one of my clients was doing an upgrade and I saw him logging in as "Bob". I told him that for this work he had to login as Admin. He just smiled and said the Administrator account actually had no system privileges. It was there as a decoy for hackers. The real power was in the Bob account. Lesson learned.

Accounting 501: Be Nimble

2008-07-18T10:44:00.006-04:00

The only time my father's employer changed was when his firm merged with another, whereas I have had several employers, including myself. I didn't plan it that way. In fact, I had every intention of staying with my first employer until I retired. But my generation was the one that coined the phrase negative growth, and so many things have happened in my career that I never expected:

International accounting firms laying off staff - It was the early 80's, before all of the mergers that turned the Big 8 into the Big 4.

Competent managers being counseled out - There was little room in the partnership, and it was either up or out.

Prosperous companies stumbling - During the job interview process, it never occurred to me to do a credit check on my employers. In hindsight, I should have.

Administration is an economy of scale - When two firms merge, the accounting department is one area where the new owners look for staff reductions.

As accountants, we have some advantages:

Transferrable skills - Allowing for regional and industry differences, accounting is pretty much the same the world over, if you keep up to date on your professional development.

Close to the truth - You know how well the business is doing. For example, when the owner of a company injected more personal funds to keep it going, I knew long before the other employees that we were in trouble.

Bottom line: be nimble. You have to be ready to change jobs at a moment's notice. Here is some of the hard won advice that I have received along the way.

Update your resume - At least once a year, update your resume, ensure you can contact at least three references and think about what you would like to do if your job ended suddenly. This advice came from a manager who thought he had a secure position until he was told that there was no room for him in the partnership.

Be business driven - If you are seen as being Administration, then you are expendable. If you are seen as being an integral part of Operations or Sales, then your position is much more secure. This advice came from a manager as our company was being reorganized from an independent unit into little more than a sales office.

Specialize - I had a hard time convincing a computer consulting firm that I could go back to consulting after having been a corporate Controller. The advice the partner gave me was pick an industry or a software package, but you have to specialize.

Constant learning - An interview question that lost me a job was, "What was your last professional development course?"

Do the right thing - I have been following the Livent accounting fraud case. The accusation was that the owners, "Drabinsky and Gottlieb operated a kickback scheme with two Livent vendors which siphoned approximately $7 million (Cdn) from the company for their personal benefit". The defense has been trying to prove that the fraud was perpetrated by the company's accountants without the owners' knowledge. Even though there have been no allegations that the accountants made any substantial personal gain from this fraud, clearly their lives and careers have been affected.

I wish I knew how to handle the last point. What do you do if you suspect your employer is defrauding the company? There usually isn't a smoking gun. It's usually more a case of suspicions and trying to understand people's motives. Fraud and incompetence can look very similar in the heat of battle. Of course you should get out of there fast, but the reality is that it can be extraordinarily difficult to find another position quickly. Unless you've learned to be nimble, that is.

It's MY data, dammit!

2008-07-12T09:50:00.008-04:00

The story you are about to read is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

It was Tuesday, July 8, a smoggy day in the metropolis. My name is Joe Friday, and I implement business systems.

Normally accountants are quiet, orderly people, but the Financial Analyst in front of me had more than just a hair out of place. She was spitting mad.

"Those Customer Relationship Management people have ruined my data."

"Just the facts, ma'am. What seems to be the problem?"

"We have duplicate customers all through the system. We should never have let them in. It's an accounting system. CRM is just an add-on."

I promised her I would get right on it, so, taking my morning coffee with me, I made my way over to the sales area. The Sales Manager was having his own problems.

"Turns out each member of the sales team had their individual way of keeping their list of key contacts. The goods ones used our official contact manager, but other guys used Excel or one even had them on 3 by 5 cue cards, just like his grandfather."

"What seems to be the problem, sir?"

"Problem is they don't want to give up their old ways. Different guys recorded the same customer different ways. When we merged the lists we created duplicates. That got Accounting really mad at us. They said we had to use their system, but frankly, all they care about is name and address. We have multiple contacts, the account history and the industry stats to load as well. But that's not the big problem."

"What is the big problem?"

"The big problem is that the sales team don't want to give up 'their' data at all. They're afraid that others will use their contacts or that we'll fire them when we have their stuff."

This wasn't going to be an easy case after all. Who really owns the data? Is it the sales staff who worked so hard to compile it? Is it the Sales Manager, who is responsible for the team's performance? Or is it really Accounting's data, since, after all, the information is going into a CRM add-on to the Accounting System. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion next . . .

I fast forward the tape to the next installment.

Friday here. The suspects are all together in one room. The time had come to put an end to the data ownership question.

"Listen up. I have interviewed each one of you and looked at all the relevant laws. Nobody owns the data."

Pandemonium erupted. Everyone shouted at once. Accusations flew. Then the door opened and an immediate hush descended on the room. There, standing in the doorway, was none other than the mysterious woman from the corner office.

"My grandfather started this company. I have worked here all my life. I own 85 percent of the shares of this corporation. I own the data."

She entered the room and walked over to the salesperson.

"George, you have a personal relationship with each of your customers. If they sneeze, you're standing there with a kleenex. But when you go on vacation and one of them calls, I don't know what the hell's going on. And I don't like that. Nobody can do your job like you, George. But nobody can do your job at all when you're not here. Got it?"

George nodded. The President moved to the Financial Analyst.

"Grace, you care about the information. Accuracy is your middle name. But you don't bring in a single sale. Not one. You've got to learn to get along with the others. You have to share your toys or we all won't get to keep playing the game. Make sense?"

Grace looked at the floor.

"Okay, Joe. I think they get the picture," she turned to face the group. "Show's over, folks. Back to work."

"That's my line," I said. She winked at me as she left the room.

Motivate Your Team

2008-07-08T06:45:00.006-04:00

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” In how many MBA classes, inspirational business speeches and management books has this speech by American President, John F. Kennedy been touted as the perfect motivational mission? (Example 1, example 2, example 3).

The latest to cross my desk is an article by Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden called “Motivation through Mission”. Their key concept is, “People don’t perform in an inspired manner without a big time commitment to a compelling cause.”

It’s hard to argue with that, but consider this example. Let’s say you’re the head of an accounting team and looking ahead to 2009. You have the monthly grind of accounting statements and management reporting ahead of you. In addition, there are the budgeting and audit cycles. You are midway through a computer implementation that has been delayed due to problems converting the history, and you have to change the whole General Ledger to the new International Financial Reporting Standards. What is the compelling cause you need to get your people to perform in an inspired manner?

Catlette and Hadden’s response is, “Whether your team competes on the global stage or a three-unit cube farm, they will move faster, get more done, have more fun, and make more money if all hands on deck share a common sense of purpose and direction. Make it your business to see that they get it . . . really get it.”

Forgive my cynicism, but I have seen this all before. I had a client in the insurance industry where all of the rooms had large motivational posters, but the staff plodded through their jobs like zombies. There was no shortage of messaging proclaiming the common purpose. The issue was that there was no buy in from the employees below manager level.

How do you get buy in? How do you motivate someone? The first thing you have to do is pay attention to the emotional conversation in the room. To borrow from Stephen Covey, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Start by abandoning the idea of motivating a whole team and focus on the individuals. Simply put, if you really care about each one of them, they will really care about you. If you pay attention to their agenda, they will pay attention to yours. If you are honest with them, they will eventually be honest with you. I say eventually because it may take them a while to trust you.

This conversation does not have to get too “touchy feely”. It can be limited to the job. You don’t have to take on someone’s personal problems, but you need to address their professional ones. The only way to find out what’s on their mind is to observe them and ask open ended questions. Notice when they come through for you and each other. Encourage them. Ask them what roadblocks they face.

Actually, just the feeling that someone notices and appreciates what you do can be enormously motivational. I was involved in a computer conversion where the old system was a card based “automatic” bookkeeping machine which belonged in the Smithsonian. We couldn’t convert the data. It had to be re-entered. The two women in the data entry department gamely took on this huge task and managed to convert a month’s worth of data every week until it was done. It being an Olympic year, I got some ribbon and those large chocolate coins in foil to make two gold medals, which we presented to them at a staff meeting. Afterwards, I worried that the whole thing had been a little hokey, but my boss said, “Look what they did with the ribbons.” Sure enough, both of them had pinned the medals up prominently in their workstations.

I have written before about being on a little team with big ambitions, and I have to agree with Catlette and Hadden that putting everything you’ve got behind an ambitious project (or a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal" as another consultant calls it) energizes a team. Just make sure they feel like a team first.

Just Like Buying a Car

2008-07-01T21:47:00.003-04:00

Turnkey: it’s a beautiful word, isn’t it? When used to describe accounting software, it conjures up the image of just turning the key in the ignition, hearing the roar of the engine and driving off into the sunset. It’s a whole sales pitch in a word. The only problem with it is that it doesn’t tell the whole story.

Let’s start with Excel. You buy it, install it and use it, right? It’s the perfect turnkey system. Well, if you ignore user training, that is. Have you ever seen a spreadsheet done by someone who wasn’t properly trained? The formulas are not consistent down the whole column, so you can’t just copy changes down. There are blank rows in the table so you can’t sort it. The formatting is awkward so it doesn’t print well. You get the picture. Excel is only a turnkey system if you ignore training.

But what about QuickBooks, one of the simplest accounting systems on the market? You buy it, install it, get trained on it and use it, right? If you ignore system configuration and internal processes, then yes, Quickbooks qualifies as a turnkey system. Even with a starter system like QuickBooks, designing your chart of accounts is not simple. I have seen accountants take weeks to set up their accounts. The time is well spent. You start with all your reporting requirements, e.g. financial statements for the bank, reports to the owner and tax schedules, and work backwards to figure out which accounts and departments you need. Determining your internal processes can take time as well. You want to be sure that transactions are properly approved and accurately entered. Any processes involving cash need special attention to be sure they are controlled. You also want documents to be stored in such a way that they can be easily retrieved.

Moving up the scale, you find Great Plains (Microsoft Dynamics GP), a package I spent a lot of time implementing. I shuddered when I heard GP described as a turnkey system, because it isn’t even designed that way. It is flexible, which means that it is also complex. In the right hands it can be moulded to fit a wide variety of different businesses. Each module has several set up windows to determine how that module works and how it interacts with other modules. There are third party modules designed to make the main, general purpose package work with specific industries. In addition to training, system configuration and internal processes, you have to spend time testing. Oh, did I mention data conversion? Typically you need to convert at least some of the history from a prior system to the new one. Because the logic behind the two systems is different, the way they store their data is different. Typically newer software stores more data than older systems did, so you need to decide how to fit the old data to the new system.

Navision (Microsoft Dynamics NAV) adds another layer: customization. GP can be customized as well, but NAV was designed for development. NAV gives you basic accounting software and expects you and your Microsoft partner to develop your own system. Whatever the package, once you decide to change the programming, you add the complexity of systems development. You need to create customer specifications, do the programming and test the results exhaustively.

All in all, the image I prefer to use with accounting systems is a marriage. You spend a lot of time first finding the right partner then figuring out how to live together. Only then can you floor the accelerator and drive off into the sunset.

Getting the Most from a Software Demonstration

2008-06-22T21:33:00.007-04:00

You can buy Microsoft Office from any authorized dealer. When you're considering accounting software however, half of your time should be spent evaluating the consulting firm. There is a lot of skill involved in fitting accounting software to a company in terms of determining requirements, examining business processes, converting data, training staff and staying within the budget. Obviously, you want the best consultant you can find.

In the past couple of weeks I have attended two demonstrations of Microsoft's new reporting package, Performance Point. I will have more to say about the actual software in a future post. Right now, let's concentrate on the demos.

Both firms are experienced at what they do. They both say they have a large number of happy clients. They both are represented by a seasoned sales representative who knows how to run a demonstration confidently, with no errors or software issues. The problem is that the demos were virtually identical. How is a customer to decide between two firms when their presentations are so similar? I have two pieces of advice for companies who demonstrate software: customize the default demo and don't tell me, show me.

Customize The Demo

It was no coincidence that the two software demonstrations were so similar. When you sell Microsoft software you are provided with a sales toolkit, including scripts for demonstrating the product and cool examples of what it can do. It's all there for you to follow. All you have to do is practice until you can do it without stumbling or software problems. This material is golden, particularly if you have a technical or accounting background and you have not ever actually had to sell anything before. It helps a small firm reach the level of professionalism that a sophisticated market demands.

If you are a seasoned implementation firm however, then you have actual client experience. You can enhance Microsoft's cool examples with some of your own. Why would you want to do that? Three reasons:

Microsoft's examples are aimed at an international audience, whereas you will want to show you're in touch with local needs,
It gives you a way to show your expertise, and
It differentiates you from your competitors.

Even if you decide not to go to all of the trouble of creating the sample data and turning a specific client report into a generic example, you can still talk about your experience, in other words, show, not tell.

Tell & Show

If a consultant tells a prospective customer how good they are, the customer will at best ignore the statement. If the same consultant shows the prospect what they have accomplished with other customers, particularly if the other customers have something in common with the prospect, then they will have the customer's attention.

In an individualized sales demonstration of course, the sales person will have done their homework and explored the real or perceived needs of that particular prospect. I would argue that even when you are just buttonholing people at a trade show, it's important that your presentation be tailored to show your expertise, because your competitor may be in the booth right beside you. And they have everything you have, unless you focus on your specific customer experience.

Tailoring the presentation does not have to be that time consuming. For example, Performance Point includes financial analysis software. Let's say you did a project for a company importing goods from China. The demonstration script could include a paragraph like:

Many of our customers import products for resale here. Recent large fluctuations in foreign exchange rates have made pricing their products difficult at best. To address this issue we not only helped a customer create a report that showed the effect of foreign exchange rates on gross margin by product, but we also added a parameter to allow them to see the effects on forecasted rate changes.

Faced with that kind of practical experience versus an out-of-the-box demo, I know which consulting firm I'd choose.

Customer Relationships - Wide AND Deep

2008-06-21T10:26:00.003-04:00

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software makes it easy to view customers as statistics. "How many calls have you made?" "How many answers to our email blast did we get?" Similarly, sales management software encourages pipeline analysis, e.g. "How many suspects, prospects, customers do we have?" "What is our conversion percentage from suspects to customers?"

Don't get me wrong. I'm in favor of tracking the stats. The reports are a good indication about whether things are going well or not. But quantitative analysis only tells part of the story. While it will tell you how many relationships you have, you have to dig deeper to determine the quality of those relationships. CRM software will give you some hints. If you see either old or a large number of unresolved issues with a customer, that's a sure indication of a deteriorating relationship. Similarly, if you see a large number of referrals you know your relationship is healthy. The problem is the 80% in between.

The older I get, the more I believe there is no substitute for human to human interaction. Human relationships are just too complex to be automated. You have to visit a customer to see what's going on. You find out things that would never otherwise come to your attention. Visiting a customer gives you a chance to celebrate with them, such as when they have just landed a huge new deal or your contact gets a promotion or achieves a higher level of education. It also gives you a chance to say, "Did you know we have a way of dealing with that issue?" about a challenge they didn't even consider asking you about.

How do you do this? Either you visit them or invite them to visit you. As I've said before, I never charged customers for phone calls or emails, because I WANTED them to call. Maybe I was giving up a quarter hour of billable time here and there, but I more than made up for it by being able to bill for a whole day when I visited them. But getting them to visit you is a whole other matter.

At my former firm, we struggled with getting customers out for events. Accountants can be a tough crowd! They shy away from anything that might be sales related. They tend to stay in their offices. You have to give away a significant amount of practical content to even get their attention. Charging them to attend a customer event is problematic at best. Then, when you finally get them to come, you have to crack the whip with your own staff to be sure they actually talk to the customers instead of to each other.

At the end of the day, there is no better relationship than knowing your customer so well that they view you as a trusted business advisor rather than just a vendor who uses CRM.

Be True to Your School

2008-06-19T10:03:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I attended an alumni event at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where I spent my formative years as an accountant. It was my first alumni event in longer than I care to admit, which was a big mistake. Several people I remembered from the good old days attended and I met several others. It's easy to meet people when you have so much in common. I actually ran out of business cards. My advice to you: if a firm you used to work for has an alumni event, go! Of course they see it as an exercise in relationship building (i.e. selling services), but it is a relationship that is mutually beneficial. You get to strengthen personal relationships as well as getting some Professional Development hours.

While we're on the subject of PD, could we talk about accountants presenting to accountants? Yesterday's talk was "The Economic Downturn: Practical Strategies and Ideas to Protect Your Business." It was an excellent subject presented by John McKenna, a partner in PwC's Corporate Advisory & Restructuring Group. McKenna is clearly an experienced, roll up the sleeves and get to it kind of guy. He had a bank of slides that analyzed the topic, dividing it into long term and short term tactics. He emphasized the defensive side of protecting your business, then he turned it around and gave some great tips about using a downturn to go bargain hunting.

The thing that was missing was the war stories. I love it that he broke down the topic into logical chunks and put them on the slides, but I can read slides too. What keeps me on the edge of my seat is the real life kind of stories, like the entrepreneur who was down to financing his company on his personal credit card and was about to call it quits when he landed the big sale, or the little company that managed to swallow the big one. I want to hear about the personalities of the players and the cool solutions to apparently unsolveable problems. The sort of story you'd tell to a bunch of colleagues over a beer.

One thing I'll say about McKenna is that he really came alive when asked a question. Someone wanted more information about dealing with bankers. McKenna had an excellent response off the top of his head and he had some good advice about how it's not enough to present a plan to the bank, you really have to believe it. Bankers are good at what they do; they can smell BS a mile away.

This change when someone gets off-script is actually normal. Many people are too formal when making presentations. For example, a lawyer friend of mine had to make a presentation to the International Olympic Committee as part of a bid. There are no second chances in something like that, so all the participants were professionally coached in how to make presentations. Here's what he had to say about that experience:

"At first they told me that they had to set up the cameras, so we just talked. They asked me questions about my background and the bid. Then they started filming and I did my presentation. Afterwards we had a long debrief using the footage they had just shot. They showed me that I was too stiff and wooden in my style. Then they said they had some video of how I should do my presentations. It turned out to be me answering questions at the beginning. They had been filming the whole time. They showed me how my hand motions and tone of voice were much friendlier and sincere when I was just talking. And that was the style I needed to maintain when giving a prepared speech. Really, I just had to be me."

It isn't easy presenting to accountants. We tend to be an unresponsive audience. It is often difficult to get us to participate or ask questions. But it's worth it. If you can just be yourself and talk as though you were among friends, it's surprising how quickly the audience will warm to you and what you have to say.

The Narrative Budget

2008-06-17T09:02:00.006-04:00

If the budget is viewed as a pointless exercise inflicted on a company by its accountants, then that is all it will remain.

If a budget is viewed as a plan, a blueprint for the future, then that is what it will become.

Nobody was born with the innate ability to budget. It is a discipline and, like all disciplines, the harder you work at it, the better you become. Experience, intuition and skill combine as you get better and better at honing in on what can reasonably be accomplished in the next twelve months.

A common weakness with budgets is that they are presented as a column of numbers with the focus on the bottom line. But what if more attention were paid to the story behind the numbers? The numbers by themselves will not energize a department or motivate a team, but a story can.

If we hit our first quarter sales goal, then there will be money for getting that hot new prototype into production.

If we hit our cost reduction target, then we can pay bonuses.

If we all support our environmental initiatives, then we can be both responsible and profitable.

In 1999, an Interchurch Stewardship Committee of eight major churches looked at church budgeting and realized that the mission was getting lost in the numbers. Church budgets did not engage church members. In their publication "The Narrative Budget", they made some powerful points that speak to organizations of every size and type:

A budget should tell a story.

A budget should reflect your statement of purpose.

When people feel that their involvement is vital to the success of the organization, they will actively support it.

What then is a narrative budget?

A way of presenting a budget in descriptive terms, not just numbers.

A way of presenting the financial needs of the organization while demonstrating how the mission is being supported.

A way of helping people relate their time and talent to the ongoing mission.

Narrative budgeting doesn't replace the numbers; it supports them. Normally budgets are broken down by department, which is necessary for departmental reporting. Having done that, try recasting the budget in terms of goals. Support the goals budget with a narrative describing how everyone's contributions add up to achieving those goals.

Final words: be patient and persistent. These are new muscles that you're asking people to stretch.

Getting The Most From a Conference

2008-06-08T07:53:00.007-04:00

Whether you're an attendee or a presenter, here are some tips to help you get more out of a trade show or conference.

Attendee

Get it in your calendar! I don't know how many times I've said, "Oh yeah, I meant to get to that" when a friend has mentioned going to a conference.
Decide ahead which booths / presentations you want to see. It will help you focus on what's important.
Stay away from the beer nuts. [Inserted by my editor/wife.]
Go with an open mind. Sometimes the banner across the booth is just what the company is promoting now. If you talk to them about what you need, you may find that they have something else to offer you.
Don't worry about giving out your card. The worst that can happen is that you have to say no to a follow up phone call or unsubscribe to unwanted email. Networking is more of an art than a science. There is no way of knowing who is in a position to help you, but I can guarantee that if you never give out your card, you will miss important opportunities.
Talk to other attendees. By definition, you have a common interest. Use the opportunity to make a few contacts. If there is a reception or meal, I look for the people on the edge of the group or sitting by themselves. They usually welcome some company.
Get the presentation notes electronically. If I'm handed a big binder full of material, it ends up on a shelf and will eventually migrate to the recycle bin. If I have the material in a pdf file, I'm more likely to find it when I need it.
Be an active listener. It REALLY helps the presenter if you nod your head occasionally (I don't mean the sleepy kind of nod) to show that you are following along. Feel free to ask questions and participate. Everyone will get more out of it.

When you get back to the Office

Sort through the business cards you received. Enter any new contacts into your contact software (you DO have contact software, right?)
Send an email to your new contacts so they don't forget you. If you can send the answer to a question they asked or point them to a web site they'd be interested in, so much the better.
If you received any material of interest to co-workers, send them a copy! That way your company gets a lot more bang for their money.
A consulting firm I worked for had the rule that anyone who went to a conference had to do a presentation at the next company meeting. It was a good rule.

Presenter

Many of us are technical experts in our field, but not seasoned presenters. At the very least, practice your presentation in front of a critical audience.
Don't believe them when the event organizer says that you will have access to high speed internet. Really. This is from experience. Make sure you have a local or cached copy of everything you want from the web.
Dress for success. [Inserted by my wife/editor.]
Give out your card and collect as many cards from your audience as you can. Act on these contacts while they're still warm, even if it's just to tell them where they can get an electronic version of your presentation.
Get multiple uses from your material. You put so much effort into creating it. Try reformatting it into an article for a magazine that serves your industry. If you then reprint it after it's published, it can be a powerful marketing message for your customers.
Don't cram your time too full of material. There is only so much that an audience can absorb in an hour. Limit yourself to three key points, but make sure you give your audience a way to find out more (i.e. your web site or contacting you).
Be interactive. Get to know your audience. Try to find out where their interest lies. Ask them questions, e.g. Have any of you faced this situation before?

When you get back to the office

[See above!]

At the end of the day, conferences are all about relationships, oh and maybe a little learning as well.

Who Feels for the Accountant?

2008-06-04T22:17:00.003-04:00

Yesterday marked the end of three weeks of grueling cross examination of Gordon Eckstein, the Chief Financial Officer of Livent (short for live entertainment), a company whose founders, Myron Gottlieb and Garth Drabinsky, have been accused of a massive fraud. Their defense? That it had been perpetrated without their knowledge by their accountant.

Eckstein is not innocent. He pleaded guilty to fraud a year ago and is the key witness for the prosecution against his former bosses. He has testified all along that he knew that what he was doing was wrong and made copious notes for the inevitable prosecution. He was quite aware that his bosses would turn around and blame him should the proverbial mud hit the fan. Brian Greenspan, lawyer for the defense, has dismissed Eckstein's testimony as "Nuremberg" (i.e. I was only acting under orders).

Eckstein has withstood attacks on his credibility and his character. He has been accused of being the solo mastermind of this nefarious plot. Viewed from the outside, this smokescreen by the defense is laughable:

Gottlieb didn't know about the fraud because he tended to sleep through meetings
Gottlieb couldn't have known about the fraud because he didn't sell any of his shares (although the way that the owners removed millions of dollars from the company has been well documented)
Gottlieb delegated all of the financial dealings to Eckstein (but somehow got the reputation of being a financial wizard on Bay Street - the home of the Toronto Stock Exchange)

The fact is that the defense was unable to show any way that Eckstein profited personally from being the financial mastermind behind the fraud. If he was such a criminal genius, why did he not keep any of it for himself?

Three weeks of cross examination by one of Toronto's best paid lawyers is a substantial punishment all by itself. The accusations of lying and cheating by themselves are soul destroying. Yet nobody in the courtroom takes the side of a witness to the prosecution. There was nobody to object to this farce on Eckstein's behalf. It sure makes you think twice before becoming a whistle blower or agreeing to testify for the prosecution, doesn't it?

The best thing to do would have been to just walk away the second he was asked to do something he knew was wrong. No matter how high the salary, your life is worth more.

Accounting IT Conference

2008-06-03T19:15:00.007-04:00

I have just come home from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants IT Solutions Conference. What a great conference! Alas, I haven’t learned how to self-virtualize, so I was unable to attend all the sessions, but here are some quotable quotes. Feel free to contribute yours (even if you didn't go to the conference).

Dan Lyons (Fake Steve) a writer for Forbes magazine who started writing a parody blog about Steve Jobs that became extremely popular – “I’m like the host at a dinner party” (context – he was making the point that many of the people who responded to the blog were talking to each other as much as to him. The key to blogging is interaction with your audience.) Also: "The old business models are blowing up. We don't know what the new models will be."

Barry Levine (RSM Richter) "Anything that doesn't contribute to the end goal is waste." While the context was Business Process Improvement, it led me to wonder how often we're unclear about what the end goal really is. Also: "Whatever you think the training budget should be, double it!" And: "Where there is a lot of people there is a lot of risk." I loved his advice that if you really want to change an organization start with a small group of keen people who want to prove they can improve.

Ian Clark (3 Peaks) "The key to a successful project is a QUICK ROI (Return on Investment)." I liked his session because he kept throwing in tips about free software, such as if your company purchases a Microsoft Office license, it includes home use by your employees.

Andrew Pridham (CGI) "We have fallen for the idea of shrink wrapped security." Andrew emphasized the need for people to be awake at the switch if you want good security. And: "Losses due to financial fraud (i.e. phishing) have overtaken viruses." He also poked fun at security consultants, calling them the "business prevention department" because they're always saying no.

Joshua Fireman (ii3) "Tagging is the most exciting development in document management." That's tagging as in Facebook pictures. I kid you not. You might have thought all that time on Facebook was being wasted, but someone was actually observing and learning. If you want to know about document management, contact Joshua. He lives and breathes it.

Catharine Devlin (devlin) I have to give Catharine full marks for interactivity. She was one of the few presenters who kept checking back with the audience to see if they wanted more about each topic. She made a terrific point about using eNewsletters, blogs, podcasts and web sites: "Buy a business card scanner and use it." She said that the business cards people trade at conferences end up in desk drawers where they're no use to anyone. Buy a scanner and make a habit of getting those cards into your contact database ASAP so they get the next copy of your eNewsletter before they forget you.

Microsoft didn't present, but I spent some time with a couple of consultants talking about PerformancePoint. I thought I was pretty up to date on Microsoft products, but I hadn't seen this one. It's actually a suite of products and several sources, e.g. FRxBuzz, have said that it will be replacing FRx, the reporting workhorse for Dynamics GP (Great Plains). A big advantage PerformancePoint offers is that it is based on OLAP cubes, meaning that you can define exactly which dimensions (i.e. fields) you want to include in your analysis. Personally, I like this approach because you can extend your analysis beyond the GL (unlike FRx) without having to expose unsuspecting users to ALL of the tables (unlike Crystal Reports).

Best Tag Line The best company motto I heard at the conference was from David Kilbourn of Blue Ridge Information Group: "We want you out of the office by five" and when he explained what he meant by that, I began to think it just might be possible.

What I loved about this conference was that it was accountants talking to accountants. They stayed away from the buzzwords and I felt that I was talking to people who have the same concerns and priorities as I do. I came away with tons of ideas. Watch this blog for future articles!

The Sojourner

2008-06-01T21:19:00.007-04:00

Last Sunday, a fifty-seven year old woman died of cardiac arrest in a hospital in Ohio. I never met her and didn't even know her name, Karen Gans, until I read the news of her passing, yet she had a profound effect on me and so many others.

I knew her as The Sojourner and she ran a group called ShockProof in SecondLife, an online community. She worked with stroke survivors to help them deal with the trauma they had faced and re-engage with life. SecondLife was perfect for her. Everyone could create the kind of person they wanted to be. There is unlimited potential in the programming tools you get. It didn't matter where you were. As long as you had a computer and high speed internet, you could get to the meetings, without any physical stress.

She was a woman of unlimited creativity. She would teach her people how to build (i.e. program) objects in SecondLife then turn them loose. She had all kinds of contests, like who could build the best tree fort, waterfall, haunted house or Mardi Gras float. She had a sandbox where you could build whatever you wanted. There were always friendly people hanging around Dreams, ready to help a newbie or just have a chat. I met her through one of the Dreams events, a fair where all of the community minded groups could set up a tent and invite others to join them.

I was one of the newbies who hung around Dreams for a while, learning how to function in an online world and meeting the people. Watching Soj, as we called her, in action was inspirational and opened my eyes to what could be accomplished in an online world. After meeting her and learning about Dreams, I wrote the poem at the top of this post. Soj was herself a stroke survivor and it is a testament to her spirit that she was able to transform her own struggle into such an inspiration for others. We all miss you, Soj.

Karen Gans (Derk), age 57, passed away May 25 after an extended illness. Her life revolved around being a loving and loyal wife to Donald and a devoted mother of Andrew. She is also survived by her parents Ernest and Rose Derk, mother-in-law Dorothy Gans, siblings: Theresa Smith, Rosanne, Diane, Dave, and Mike Derk, and a host of uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews, all of whom she dearly loved. She was raised in Perry, Ohio and earned bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees at Kent State University. She worked with stroke patients and multi-handicapped children early in her career and later taught and managed a federal grant at Kent State. Most recently, Karen developed and ran internet support communities for a variety of medical disabilities. She donated her body to the medical school in Rootstown, and a memorial service will be held Saturday, June 7 at 11 am at Saint Cyprian Church, 44223 Middle Ridge Road, Perry, Ohio. (RC 5/28/08)

Labeling Co-Workers

2008-06-01T07:13:00.004-04:00

"He is always goofing off."
"She never gets it right."
"He's always late for meetings."

People get labeled: the office clown, the slacker, the flirt. My spider senses start to tingle whenever I hear the words "always" or "never" applied to someone else on the team. It usually indicates that an unsubstantiated accusation is about to follow. As quickly as I can, I steer the conversation into specifics:

What actually happened?
When was the last time it happened?
Is there any documentation?
Were other people involved?
What behavior do you want the other person to change?

As a young manager, I was put in charge of the accounting department after a downsizing. As part of the restructuring I promoted an older clerk so that a younger one reported to her. What I didn't know was that the two women didn't like each other, to the point that what had once been an uneasy truce turned into open warfare. I tried to solve the situation by working it out with both women in the same room. Big mistake! First there was a stony silence, then the accusations started to fly. I ended the meeting and sent the combatants back to their corners. In desperation, I appealed to my father for help. His advice was, "there are some problems you just can't solve." The problem eventually solved itself when the younger clerk quit.

What did I do wrong?

As I look back at the situation, I let it escalate to the point where neither party was willing to negotiate. If I had to do it again, I would talk to the people individually. I would get them to stop using labels and be specific by continually asking for more details. Instead of "that old [censored] is so controlling, she won't let me do my job", I would encourage something like "when I proposed we move to issuing payments once a week, I didn't get any response". Instead of "that young [censored] never gets anything right", I would want to hear "the last two times she reconciled accounts payable to the general ledger she left an unexplained difference." They might never have become friends, but maybe we could have preserved the uneasy truce.

Another place where you see labels is the press. The article's title was Lost boys: Are we raising a generation of Peter Pans? and it was based on the research of Dr. Leonard Sax. Dr. Sax identified five reasons why young men seem to lack motivation:

Video games. These addictive activities disengage boys from the world. Some young men even seem to prefer online porno to the prospect of sex with another human being.
Teaching methods. Girls develop intellectually up to two years ahead of boys. Boys in grade school are naturally rambunctious. They need ways to express their native energy. They are being taught to read and write too early. Their mostly female teachers prefer compliant, dutiful girls.
Prescription drugs. Hyperactive, frustrated boys are increasingly being medicated. This we all know. What Sax claims is that these drugs shrink the motivational centres of the brain and that the effect of this lasts years, well after these kids stop taking their meds. I hadn't heard this before but if it's true, it is truly frightening.
Endocrine disruptors. Chemicals from plastic bottles, canned food linings and some shampoos mimic natural estrogen, the female hormone. Boys' testosterone levels are half of what they were in their grandfathers' day. Also, their bones are significantly more brittle.
The devaluation of masculinity. Boys don't know how to become men. They no longer have appropriate rights of passage. Once Father Knows Best was the paternalistic model but now he has been replaced (and mocked) by a dopey Homer Simpson. Sax likes the old virtues of courage and temperance, with a good measure of intelligence.

These are all observations based on study. They are unbiased and objective. The writer of the article, however, leaps from these observations to the emotionally loaded label, Peter Pan. Let's say you read the above article and have a young man in your department who seems to fit the mold. Use the information, but resist the label. Your job is to help one person, not save a whole generation.

In my experience, when people behave irrationally, the reason is probably emotional. Viewed through their eyes, their behavior makes sense. As a manager, your job is to understand the situation as your team member sees it, even though you may disagree with him or her. As Stephen Covey says, "Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood."

The person who keeps making mistakes may feel they're stupid. Try walking them through the procedure and getting them to make their own notes instead of following material prepared by others. That will help you understand where the problem lies.
The person with no ambition may feel there is no hope of promotion. When reviewing their performance, try to give them a sense of where they could progress to from here.
The person who can't meet deadlines may feel overwhelmed. Help them learn to prioritize and to work with their supervisor when they have too much on their plate.

When your team feels understood, then you have the opportunity to show them your view, and you're well on your way to re-energizing the department.

When You Grow Up . . .

2008-05-31T14:44:00.003-04:00

Have you ever been asked to speak to a class of high school seniors about choosing an accounting career? I did it for several years. The lawyer beat me hands down every time. His room would be brimming with kids, where I would be lucky to have a few die hards whose parents were accountants.

Clearly, accounting doesn't have the same excitement as a courtroom drama or suing some mammoth corporation on behalf of an underdog. Yet, at the same time, accounting has been a satisfying and relatively recession proof career for a lot of people. The nice man with the immaculate lawn down the street from me, who just celebrated his fiftieth wedding anniversary, is a retired accountant. I don't think he's had his fifteen minutes of fame, yet he had a long career, raised a family and did a lot of good work for the Presbyterian church. The next time you see a college student eager to sacrifice their soul, working insane hours for a law firm, why don't you mention accounting as a career alternative?

Of course, we tend to shoot ourselves in the foot. It isn't just that there are very few public accounting role models. (Trivia Question: name any famous accountants from popular films or television shows.) It's also that we're not good communicators. Trial lawyers are trained to present persuasively. Accountants seek objectivity. Did you take any communications courses on your way to becoming an accountant? Me neither.

When I was in high school I wanted to be a lawyer too, but I decided to study commerce as good preparation for law school. Looking back on it, I'm glad that I decided not to apply for law school. Specializing in computer technology turned out to be a good career for me. This all came to mind when I saw an announcement by McDonald's Restaurant that they had appointed Dave Simsons, CA, CPA as Vice President, Shared Services and Information Technology.

So, the next time you face those high school students, talk to them about a career in accounting information technology. That'll grab their attention!

(Trivia Answers: "The Accountant" (1989) starring Alfred Molina, the character played by Rick Moranis in "Ghost Busters", the man who wanted to become a lion tamer in the famous Monty Python skit. Any others?)

Too Much Administration?

2008-05-19T07:53:00.002-04:00

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is lobbying to remove the barriers to professional accountants working in multiple states. As they point out,

“Because the electronic age makes conducting business across state borders an everyday occurrence, a national effort is underway to adopt a uniform system that will allow licensed CPAs the ability to provide services across state lines without being subject to unnecessary burdens that do not protect the public interest.”

They go even further and say,

“This provision provides the right balance of trust and public protection. Removing notification is being coupled with automatic jurisdiction. By removing boundaries to practice in the U.S., CPAs will be able to more readily serve individuals and businesses in need of their expertise. At the same time, the state board of accountancy’s ability to discipline under the provision is enhanced and is based on the CPA and the CPA firm’s performance of public accounting services, either physically, electronically or otherwise within a state, rather than restricting the board’s authority to only those holding a state’s license.”

My question is why do we have state boards at all? If our goal is to protect the public, then the focus of the accounting profession needs to be international, not just inter-state. The state boards need to merge with the AICPA and become task forces of a united body, so that we can concentrate our efforts and present a united front. Yes, for historical reasons, the accreditation of CPA’s needs to be done at the state level, but in this age of instant communications, can’t we administer the program centrally?

Canadian Chartered Accountants face the same issue with the same results. We have the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) nationally and provincial institutes such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. It just seems to me to be such as waste to have two levels of administration when one would work.

What do you think?

Nickel 'n Diming

2008-05-11T17:59:00.003-04:00

Would you like an iron-clad, guaranteed way of annoying your clients and ensuring they think twice before calling you? A friend was venting this week about the bills he was getting from the firm supporting his accounting system.

"Every time I call them, they bill me for fifteen minutes. I've stopped calling them because I know I'll get an invoice, whether they know the answer to my question or not."

People don't like being "nickeled and dimed", i.e. seeing an invoice filled with little charges. They find it annoying and it leaves them with the feeling that they didn't receive value for their money. It can lead to their going through and questioning every line of every invoice, as well as a loss of trust in the relationship.

Here's an alternative: don't charge for telephone calls. You want your clients to call. In fact, I make a point of telling clients that I don't charge for telephone calls or emails if I can answer a question quickly. If their question is going to take some research time or I need to come on-site, then I'll tell them. That way the client feels in control. I also advise clients to keep a questions folder or error log for issues that are too minor for a special call. If I'm on-site for something else, I can address the smaller issues while I'm there. The result is that I get more focused time with the client and they see value in the consulting charges.

Here's another handy tip: if you can do the work in the client's office without incurring significant charges then make the trip. Even if you have to go out of your way, make an effort to put in at least the occasional appearance and make sure you get around and meet the people you know. You would be amazed the number of times you will hear, "I'm glad you're here. I've been meaning to call you . . . "

You won't miss those nickels and dimes when you can charge whole dollars!

Help a Young Career

2008-05-04T08:07:00.007-04:00

"Here is what you should know if you want to get ahead . . . "

Did anyone ever take you aside and say those words to you? Me neither. Yet it used to happen all the time, back when people stayed in one company long enough that there was time to plan for the future. The older executive would take the new recruit aside and teach them the subjects that they never got in school: how to work within the system, how to form alliances, how to help one another other climb the corporate ladder.

So, what would you advise the bright young professional accountant who has just passed the exams?

I would advise them to join the Board of Directors of a charity. Why? It's not just that there is a crying need for professional accounting in the not-for-profit sector. It's also a fast way to get practical experience working with a Board of Directors. Charity Boards are welcoming. Board members have the patience to help you along. But you need to be strategic:

Choose a charity you believe in. Then it won't feel like work.
As a professional accountant, they will want you to be Treasurer. Accept the position for one term (usually 2 or 3 years) then actively recruit a replacement so you can move to another position and learn new skills.
Make sure you donate money as well as time to the cause. It increases your credibility.
Keep moving up, recruiting a replacement as you go. Always ensure you bring fresh blood into the organization.
Focus on how you can help others and keep relationships active. That's called networking.

Learning New Skills

The broader your skills, the farther you can go in your career. Professional accounting skills are a great base, but if you can add revenue generating experience, such as fundraising or grant proposals, you have a dynamite combination.

Networking

Networking is more than just passing your business card around at an event. It's about establishing and maintaining relationships. The best way to build a relationship is to help someone. The second best way is to ask for someone's help. Since there's no way to predict who will be able to help you in future, try to be helpful to a wide variety of people and see what emerges.

Dive In!

Some Board members take a passive role. They read what they are sent and respond. Others take a more active role. They research the organization's needs. They participate in planning. They take an active role in furthering the organization's objectives. That's the kind of Director you need to be.

Rewards

Charitable work is often called its own reward. That's true, but there is a practical side as well. The issues you face on a charity Board, such as prioritizing resources, dealing with personality conflicts, wading through government filing requirements and forecasting the political future, are exactly the same issues you face on the Board of a for-profit corporation.

So, go get 'em, Tiger! And remember to mention me in your memoirs.

Systematize / Projectize - Which?

2008-04-27T07:30:00.006-04:00

Month end again. The normal processes kick into gear as we ensure there is a good sales cut off, the expense reports have been submitted, the banks reconciled and the overseas operations results are ready for consolidation. On the whole, month end is a well oiled machine where everyone knows what is expected of them. That's the mark of a good system, particularly if all of the processes have been documented and people check them off as they are completed.

Most of the work of the accounting department can be systematized, i.e. turned into a pattern of regularly recurring processes, but what about the surprises? You know, the President is looking at purchasing that little plant in Omaha, you need to have a Sarbanes Oxley review, the accounting software needs to be updated, the Chairman wants a five year forecast, etc. When the accounting staff have their hands full with the system, how do you handle these unpredictable requirements?

The answer is to projectize. Let's face it, even though nobody can predict what surprises lay in store for you next month or next year, you know for certain that they will be there. Why not include them in your planning?

Personal Goals

You know some of the projects that have to get done. In fact, some of them may have been waiting a long time for someone to have enough time to address them. At a recent client, I commented on how enthusiastically one of the staff had taken to the new reporting software. "That's because the new Controller included it in her personal goals for the year," the Assistant Controller said.

"Great," I replied. "What's your goal?"

"Clean up the GL," she said, with a sad smile. It was a big job.

Delegating projects to people is good, but that's only just the start.

Resources, Tools & Time

Of the three techniques available to a project manager, finding the time can be the hardest. Whatever else you do, the accounting system must be maintained. On the other hand, project work can be fun. It's a break from the routine. People get a chance to learn new skills and work independently. What better way to prepare someone for their next career step than to give them a project to manage?

In my experience, the best way to make room in the schedule for project work is to be open with the team about what you are doing. Then enlist their help in finding faster ways to do the normal work, such as automating or eliminating manual processes, getting transactions booked properly the first time rather than adjusting them at month end and reducing any duplications between separate systems. If the whole team is motivated to save time, the results will be much better than a solo effort by you. You might have to make it clear that your objective is only to save time, not to reduce headcount.

Resources and tools are other issues that you have to address. Your team members may need training to take on the projects, whether a formal course or coaching from someone more senior. An outside consultant may be necessary, but encourage your team to work independently. Have them create a project plan and come back to you with any additional resources they think they need. Finally, insist on regular updates and status reports. After all, as head of the department, you are still responsible for delivering the goods.

So, should you systematize or projectize the accounting department? The answer is: both.

Spring Cleaning

2008-04-19T15:00:00.003-04:00

Okay, I was not cut out to be a gardener. How do I know? I was raking last year's leaves from the garden when I realized that this year's crocuses had already sprouted, flowered and died. I never saw them because they couldn't get through all the dead leaves. Time for spring cleaning!

Is there any dead wood in your accounting system? When the year end is done and the audit over is a good time to look at the system and decide if anything needs to be tweaked.

Lessons Learned

A great tip from the world of project management is to have a Lessons Learned session with the team where you go over a recently completed project (e.g. the audit) and ask what everyone would do differently in a similar future situation. This is not a finger pointing or blaming exercise, in fact great care should be taken to emphasize that the session is about the future rather than the past. If people are open about their experiences, a lot of good can come from these sessions. To get more value from the meeting, arrive with a few open ended questions to get people talking. To continue with the audit example you might ask:

Did anyone have to create a manual spreadsheet that we could have the system produce if a change was made to the chart of accounts?
Could any of the auditors' requests be combined so that two requirements could be completed at once?
What could the auditors have done that would have achieved the same results more effectively or efficiently? (They need feedback as well.)
Could the timing of any of the audit be improved?
Was anything else dropped as a result of the extra work required for the audit?

Another candidate for spring cleaning is financial reporting. Governments, regulatory authorities and operations managers often require more detailed information. Ask if it would be possible to produce this information more quickly or effectively with a change to procedures or to the accounting system setup. You would be amazed at how often issues like this go unexamined until someone comes along and stirs things up a little.

Just like the leaves in my garden.

Going Bug Hunting

2008-04-13T14:05:00.005-04:00

Bugs are usually thought of as programming errors, but I would extend the concept to include all unexpected results, whether they are due to programming or due to the system being used for a purpose it wasn't designed for. Here are a few tips to help you in your hunt.

Document

The easier you make it for a developer to isolate and correct the problem, the faster the problem will get solved and the more reliable the result. The very first step is to make a copy of the screen showing the error message. This may take some training because the typical response is just to click on OK without even reading the error message. Paste the screen shot into a Word document and email it to the support person.

Follow Up

Keep track of your support requests via a support log to be sure they are followed up and addressed in a timely manner. If a description of all the support requests is kept, then it can be used to point to a solution should the same issue crop up again.

Re-create
Should a solution not be immediately available, see if you can make the error happen again. Microsoft Dynamics, like most accounting systems, comes with a sample company. Re-creating the error in the sample company has the advantage that the programmer has access to the same system. It also rules out your data being the culprit.

Frustration

Let's say that the support representative looks at your issue and says that they are unable to re-create the problem. Furthermore, you can't either. But then it happens again. This is when you need to be rigorous and scientific in your approach. The worst kind of bug to find is the intermittent error. You need to comb through ever instance of the error looking for a common thread or a pattern.

Like everyone in systems work, I have lots of stories of obscure errors or the amount of hair I lost trying to sort out a problem. It comes down to patience and luck. In general, I would say that half the time it was the system's users who figured out where the actual problem was.

Hardware

When the answer is elusive, I try to eliminate sources of error. The first thing to eliminate is hardware. One defective router dropping or corrupting messages from one user's computer to the server can cause serious issues in the whole system. At one client we had printout going to (apparently) random printers. It turned out that new users were being set up with a copy from an existing user. The copy included the computer identification number, so there were duplicate identification numbers in the system simultaneously. When routing printed reports to printers, the server would choose the first computer to login with that identification number, causing an intermittent error.

Security and Set Up

Another source of error to eliminate is the user set up. The more flexible a security system is, the more complex the user set up. Watch to see if the error happens to more than one user. Also check whether it is tied to a particular time of day. At one client, the system slowed to a crawl every day around 12:00 pm. It turned out that the warehouse staff were playing internet radio stations during their lunch break.

Within the accounting system try to determine which modules are involved. For example, a transaction that works well in the local currency may cause problem in a foreign one. Pore through all of the set up to see if anything attached to the transaction causing the error message was unusual (e.g. the vendor, inventory item, general ledger account, etc.) If everything looks good, then document everything you can and wait for the situation to recur.

Patience

Patience is your best ally in this quest. Bugs are often a source of finger pointing between people who are convinced that the answer lies with someone else. The message you need to keep repeating is that we are all on the same side. We are all working towards the same goal: bug elimination.

Do It Yourself Reporting

2008-04-06T21:45:00.006-04:00

The spreadsheet report on my computer was refusing to balance, when the IT Manager dropped by. (I later found the problem. Someone had overridden one of the formulas with a number, so that line was not updating properly.)

"You should get one of my staff to write the report for you," she said brightly. "We're creating them for everyone. In fact, you could learn to make them yourself." She was proud of her new SQL Reporting Services and couldn't resist showing off a little.

After she left, I wandered over to the Accounting Manager's office and asked her about this reporting tool. It turns out she's using it too. I asked her how much training she had needed and she answered none. It was so much like doing reports from Microsoft Access that she just played with it until she had the answer she wanted. I asked her how to use it and she showed me how you access the tables from Excel. After that it's like any spreadsheet. That actually set off alarm bells for me, as I pictured anybody with a little Excel knowledge accessing our payroll records.

"Relax," she said. "You have to get the IT department to grant you access to the tables first. Just let them know which ones you need."

One thing I admire about Microsoft is their drive to make the way their different products look the same. It isn't just the savings in training time, it's also the confidence that people feel when they see something they recognize.

Are You a Sensei (Teacher)?

2008-04-06T13:08:00.006-04:00

In Aikido, the teacher is referred to as "Sensei" meaning literally, one who has gone before.

When he was 10, my son used to be quite good at Judo. Now that he's 15, we have been encouraging him to go back to it for physical fitness. We weren't getting anywhere, until my wife suggested that we all do it together as a family. So we signed up for Aikido (the choice being between Aikido and Kendo and I didn't feel like getting hit with a stick) at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. That is how I met Sensei Jim.

There we were, dressed in sweats in a room full of people outfitted in martial arts uniforms, made to stand at the front of the class, feeling something like a new member in the accounting department (ah, you see where I am going with this!) Anyway, as I was busy feeling like I'm too old for this kind of thing, and mixing up my left and right (although I must say that there is a satisfaction in throwing and being thrown by your son), I got a chance to observe Sensei Jim.

First, Jim led the class through some basic warm ups and stretches. Then he told the class to do a standard exercise and took us newbies (my son's term) aside and started us on rolls. As soon as he saw that we were getting it, he asked one of the other students to work with us while he taught the main class. Every ten minutes or so, he checked back looking not just at our form, but also helping the student leader with his / her teaching. In that way, he was able to teach the whole class, despite the radically different abilities of the students. At the same time he was able to improve the teaching skills of his better students. Finally, everyone received Jim's personal attention at some time during the lesson.

At that first class, I learned more than how to fall without hurting myself. It reminded me that I tend to jump in and fix things when I should really use the opportunity to teach my staff. I also tend to intervene personally when I could have delegated the task to someone who could use the opportunity to learn how to be a teacher.

How do you welcome new members to your team? How do you ensure they learn the skills they need? How do you help your team members become team leaders?

Arigato gozimashita (said to the Sensei at the end of the lesson)