Can Designers Manage?   Click to read how companies are sending designers to business class, but wa can’t get too focused on numbers or we would not be designers.  I continue to read more and more about the importance of design.  Check out my Sept 24 2006 post on the importance of design in business success.

Speaking of design, check out how Shimano researched a new bicycle market, hey Easy Riders!   THis is a great example of how marketing and managerial accounting complement one another. We will study more on this in managerial accounting .

Click here for a look at a $1.2 M 1921 1300 sf house!  No wonder real estate is in the dumps!

Click here for an update on the past week.    We mentioned Ford Troubles in class this morning, see how htye are doing. 

I jus did a post on TAJ hotels, now check out India  at this link.

Here is the voice of experience on how accounting consulting and auditing do not mix!   Audit Class, I suggest you read this one!

Budget we don’t need no stinking budget!   Can you name the movie I adapted that line from?  Anyway, this article shows how the Navy can get what it wants outside the budget, even a $52M plane, thanks taxpayers.

One of the signs of increased globalization as well as new money is the move into the lusury hotel business.

Click there for a link to the TAJ Hotel Site, while I found the print hard to read as it is faintly printed, the international scope of the organization is clear.  I recall that one of the Bourne action movies started in Goa India, I see that TAJ has a spa there, gee do you suppose we would bump into Matt Damon?

I wondered why Apple did not bring out  an iPod that would work offf the iPhone architecture but without the phone part, well they did, click for the iTouch.  Also the Nano s have been upgraded.   Okay, anyone want to buy my literally like new 2 GB Nano, it has 500 songs on it?

Please make a note on your  syllabi, assigment sheets, etc. My home e mail has changed to

dennis.elam@att.net

Nix the Tx.rr.com address

You do a lot more impromptu speaking   than you realize.  Every time you are called on in class is a chance to improve your abilty to project yourself to others.  Click on the hyperlink to get some great tips on how to do this well.

In the business world you will be judged by your response and clarity, no one will be asking what you made in ACCT 4____, they will expect to see the results instead. 

So use the classroom to practice your speaking ability, you never know who might be listening or what opportuity might present itself.

Last night in the tax class we discovered that no one seemed to know who Tom Sowell or Walter Williams were.  Well check out our post on June 27, 2007 for links on these original thinkers and others. 

College should widen your horizons about how and what you think.  No one does that better than Dr. Sowell.

And for those of you seeking to learn more about the Certified Managerial Acccounting and Certified Internal Audit exams, I have the Gleim reviews  on reserve in the library. In addition I have at least one of the books from their study series on reserve for you.  I firmly beleve you should consider becoming a CIA or CMA before taking the CPA exam.  Here is why

CIA CMA requires a Bachelors, not 150 hours.
The exam is less rigorous, but not easy….
The exam costs considerably less, like $150 instead of $750.
It will build your confidence and lessen time studying for CPA.
And you can never have too many certifications.

But I did NOT say it would be easy.

Thsi article suggests just being a controller  may not get you to the CFO job.  It seems corporations want folks that can explain the numbers to Wall Street and the banks rather than just crunch them. It is no accident that we emphasize public speaking in simple class exercises and in the Prof Development class.

Your ability to express yourself will ultimately determine your career path, or the lack therof, period.

Here are some suggestions   on impromptu speaking.

ACE Hardware  says a $145 M inventory error from 2002 will delay its intent to go public.  We study inventory practices in Intermed I and will re visit that in the audit class.  Gee how does such a discrepancy happen? The answer is that over time people tend to do the same thing over and over.  Analytical procedures afford a way to detect things that are out of kilter.  And that would include checking the perpetual inventory records to the actual ledger amount, whoops……

CFO is doing a three part series on SARBOX. click here for the first article.  This first article contains a great timeline of what has happened in the last five years. Checkout the survey at the end of the article, most CFOs say the costs outweigh the benefits.

And click here for the  SEC Rules.   In this second article I was surprised to find just how much the SEC can and does flex its new muscle to affect outcomes for all its umbrella agencies.

And updating this article, here is the third article.

Meanwhile, even Michael Oxley  that would be the OX in SARBOX is unhappy with the way PCAOB has interpreted SARBOX. 

CFO does a great job covering the corporate landscape on accounting and financial issues, you can subscribe for free, give it  a whirl at CFO.com.

The Mortgage Bankers’ Economist  sees a peak in foreclosures and defaults, ie the worst may be past.

We shall see, the US dollar is bouncing along long term support at 80, oil and gold just jumped higher, again.  I would argue this makes it much harder for Bernake to ease credit at the next FED meeting.  Will bonds rally as oil and gold spike, stay tuned.