Why boilerplate reporting makes me laugh
Another term surprised me in the FRC’s Review of Corporate Governance Reporting 2024: “Although some good reporting was identified, there […]
Why accountants make me laugh: increase / decrease
We all know the standard expression ‘revenues increased by x%’, ‘growth in revenues was x%’, ‘revenues improved by x%’. Some
Why overboarding makes me laugh
I came across overboarding the other day in the FRC’s Review of Corporate Governance Reporting 2024: “Many companies used phrases
Why accountants the definition of accounting makes me laugh
I think we can agree that accountants are the people who carry out accounting, yet they cannot agree on its
Why do accounting deadlines make me laugh
My favorite quote on deadlines comes from Douglas Adams, theEnglish author, best known for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Why so many different cash flows make me laugh
I have already written about free cash flow (FCF) and discounted cash flow (DCF), the two most prominent terms used
Why free cash flow makes me laugh
I have elected free cash flow (FCF) as the most ludicrous of all cash flows. Free cash flow sounds like
Why discounted cash flows make me laugh
I have selected discounted cash flows (DCF) as the most confusing cash flow because there are four of them. Two
Why planning makes me laugh
In my day, and I’ve been retired for a while, traditional planning consisted of a strategic plan sometimes called a
Why unwind makes me laugh
A few accountants have started to introduce ‘unwind’ as accounting jargon in annual reports. And they are being selective. It
Why does EBITDA + + + make me laugh
Ever since EBIT was invented accountants have been adding letters to it in a supposed effort to refine it. A
Why does ‘write it down’ makes me laugh
Have you noticed how accountants like the expression ‘write it’. They first took the word ‘down’ and tagged it on
Why does the Department of Education make me laugh
I would like to share this beautiful sentence I found in the Annual Report of the Department of Education (year
Why accountants make me laugh: increase/decrease
Accountants are getting bored with increase and their derivatives: higher, improved, growth and their opposites: decrease, lower, declined and negative
Why bookkeeping makes me laugh
To make fun of double-entry bookkeeping will bring on the fiercest ire [1] of many fellow accountants. Its concept is
Why CFO makes me laugh
CFO does not stand for Chief Financial Officer but Chief Fiddling Officer. The title has nothing to do with musical
Several ways profits make me laugh
Profit on its own does not exist in accounting. Accountants have so many different types of profit that they have
Three ways financial statements make me laugh
Balance Sheet Companies are required to prepare a certain number of compulsory documents called financial statements. One of these is
Seven sophisticated ways managers can avoid decision making
I have already written about the simple ways to avoid making decisions; now the sophisticated ways used by managers that
Five ways audit reports make me laugh
True and Fair In many counties in the world, auditors declare that financial statements give a true and fair view
Six simple ways to avoid making a decision
These are the tactics used by managers that never make decisions. I call them no-decision managers. They are the experts
Five amusing topics in annual reports
Hiding R&D Having announced research and development expenses are expensed as incurred, pharmaceutical companies show capitalised research and development costs
How subordinates react working for a no-decision manager
Subordinates go through two phases when they start working with a no-decision manager. The first encounter will be a pleasant
The first way to work in harmony with a no-decision boss
The first way to work in harmony and have some fun with a no-decision boss is to make decisions in
The second way to work in harmony with a no-decision boss
Making decisions for the no-decision boss is not the only way to work in harmony with them. There is another
How do no-decision managers survive in organisations
If one can accept that no-decision managers exist in organisations, never making decisions, the next hurdle to overcome is: “How
No-decision managers, a summary
Managers who never take decisions, I call ‘no-decision managers. They have not yet been written about in the current management
Five ways accountants make me laugh
CPA The first is CPA. Every accountant thinks they know what this stands for. Certified Public Accountant in the USA
Seven reasons organisations keep toxic managers
Besides harming subordinates, toxic managers harm the organisations they work in. They incur hidden and indirect costs, competent employees leave,
How do no-decision managers survive the planning process?
I my previous article here on FP&A Trends, How do incompetent managers survive planning process, I explained how incompetent managers