Deciding When to Change

The decision about when to change is as important as what to change and how much to change. There are several strategies:

- Change when things are going well. Organizations that make this choice are leaders who anticipate pressures on the horizon and make change as a matter of foresight and preparation. Companies that adopt this philosophy truly believe that if they are not routinely changing themselves they risk complacency and stagnation.

A Tale of Power & Vision

Change Management Explained Visually

Approaches to change: A Tale of Three Villages

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The New Business Constant: Change

Organizations should anticipate the need to update their information and business processes in this dynamic business environment. Change in a broad sense is a planned or unplanned response to pressures and forces. The need to change is now the norm. With change comes the challenge of change management.

The Nature of Business Solutions

Many approaches have been advanced to solve business problems with only limited success. Some solutions emphasize the positioning of products and services to capitalize on an organization's strengths and opportunities. Some approaches emphasize stewardship responsibilities by redesigning the organization around self-managing teams. Other approaches recommend new technology and/or systems such as executive information systems (EIS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Still other approaches try to solve business problems by changing an organization's culture. 

Effectiveness vs Efficiency

The leader must discover the "Doing things right is not as important as doing the right thngs." A comparison between the Effective leader and the Efficient one is helpful.

Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom (DIKW)

"Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it."

Albert Einstein

CIO's Top 5 Priorities 2010

1. Business Productivity and Cost Reduction
2. IT and Business alignment
3. Business Agility and Speed to Market
4. Business Process Reengineering
5. IT Cost Reduction

Finance & Accounting Facts : Types of Internal Controls

Internal controls in finance include control environment, risk assessment, control activities and control related to information and communication. Monitor internal controls for a business over a period of time with insight from a certified public accountant in this free video on finance.

Risk Control Techniques

Six broad categories of risk control techniques which include:
1. Avoidance
2. Loss Prevention
3. Loss Reduction
4. Separation

The Importance of Internal Controls

What are the dangers of not having effective internal controls?

Ken Blake

Certified Public Accountant (C.P.A.)

Transcript:

Okay, what do we mean by "internal controls"? Primarily what we are tying to establish is ways of making sure that the business assets are not squandered or otherwise lost through loose accounting procedures. There are a number of areas that internal controls are really important: primarily in the area of inventory and also in the area of sales and cash management. For instance, you want to make sure that you take a physical inventory on a not too infrequent basis. Monthly would be great, quarterly would be not so great but it's still better than just an annual one. This allows you to match up what you think you have in inventory verses what you really have and can identify any shortages.