Budgeting for an economic downturn is a new experience for many small company managers. What last year might have been the worst-case scenario could be this year’s starting point. In the current economic environment, budgeting by most smaller firms for 2009 is about calmly resetting expectations, thoroughly playing out the implications, and confidently ignoring those who claim that the sky is falling.
“We can really use your financial expertise, Brad, but we can’t afford to pay you right now. What if we give you stock options instead?” There were times during the ’80s and especially in late ’90s when we heard that offer more than half the time with prospective clients. Of course, we were working frequently […]
Staying at the leading edge of management ideas and practices turns out to be a challenge even for those who are in the first ranks of management education. For the rest of us, it’s occasionally surprising to find out what we don’t know, even about subjects on which we profess expertise. A couple of experiences last week caused me to reflect on the teaching and learning process, reassuring me that old dog + new tricks = top dog.
Among a range of criteria for selecting a new employee in the accounting or financial area of your company, the first consideration should be integrity. No one wants to discover that they’ve hired a dishonest person, especially for a position involving money. But honesty is perhaps the most difficult of all qualifications and character traits to confirm. So, do you say to a prospective employee, “In God we trust; all others, we verify”?