In the past few weeks we have discussed how understanding and documenting your cash processes with cash policies and cash procedures can prevent internal fraud and abuse.  Externally, one the biggest threats to your cash are customers who fail to pay for what they purchase.  (more…)

Small and medium-sized businesses rely on a steady, consistent stream of incoming cash – customers paying for goods and services with cash, checks, and credit cards. Many retail and service businesses have multiple people conducting cash transactions throughout the day. Creating a cash policy and cash procedure for important cash handling processes like cash drawer management, end of day closing, or cash in deposits, can be vital to protecting the life blood of your business. (more…)

We have been told repeatedly that there are two things at the heart of the current financial crises. The sub-prime home lending fiasco (with the bad loans then bundled into investment securities) and the credit default swaps that had organizations falling like dominoes once bad mortgage loans started taking some institutions down. (more…)

Corporate scandals in recent years have lead to a flurry of changes in how we conduct business at many levels. The federal government has increased regulations for companies producing financial reports through the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), and internally many companies have increased the responsibility of the Board of Directors in overseeing the managing executives.

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Question of the month: Is using a process approach useful in improving the financial performance of a company?

The articles in February revolved around financial issues such as financial controls, working capital, return on investment and cash flows.

Discussions of improving processes are too commonly relegated to the production floor. Is it any less important for your office processes to function effectively and efficiently? (more…)

In the past few weeks we have been covering important elements of finance processes, including internal control systems as prescribed by Sarbanes-Oxley, and the importance of capital planning to ensure key high level financial facets such cost of capital and return on assets have established goals and are being measured. (more…)

Capital is one of the most critical components that fuels your organization. Without it, organizations can’t grow, but how do you know how much you really need? Having too much or too little can both be detrimental to your organization. You don’t have to be a finance expert to understand how cash works within your organization, but it might help. (more…)

Question of the month: How is the design flow in an organization different from the manufacturing flow?

This month, the focus of our articles was on core process flows, innovation and problem solving. A typical company has three core process flows – cash cycle, manufacturing (or fulfillment cycle) and design cycle. Your cash cycle reflects how (more…)

Inventive Problem Solving

Last week we discussed the how design flow differs and the principle of iteration versus replication. This week we are going to look at innovation. Where do all the good ideas come from? (more…)

Last week we discussed how cash flow and manufacturing flow work. This week we are going to look at how design flow differs.

In manufacturing and cash flows our goal is to work towards zero defects and doing it right the first time. Both are laudable goals for (more…)