A few years ago, my Silicon Valley advisory firm was stuck in the annual cycle of time-consuming, backward-looking and mostly ineffective process of performance reviews. Employees were split over whether the feedback was useful, and the information we got out of the reviews didn’t come close to offsetting the amount of work that went into gathering and distributing them. We wanted a better sense of how our people were doing on the job. That way, we can provide them with the kind of helpful … [Read more...]

To identify whether an organization is vulnerable or has been a victim of fraudulent behavior, it’s critical to spot common warning signs of internal fraud schemes. The first step is knowing where to look. The Company’s General Ledger (GL) is a good place to start. It’s a book that can tell stories of fraud, manipulation and betrayal. Unfortunately, few know how to read the signs. While investigators, attorneys and auditors tend to analyze the reports generated from the GL and track and monitor … [Read more...]

Most CEOs are great at hiring the key individuals they need to execute on the operational aspects of the business. However, oftentimes there is a struggle with the question of “when should I hire more senior financial support?” Generally it does not happen until there is a crisis, such as feeling pressure from the bank or other stakeholders to provide necessary financial information that the company needs in times of critical assessment. Time after time, AMS receives emergency phone calls from … [Read more...]

By RoseRyan CFOs’ résumés are getting longer and more complex. Naturally they are the stewards of the company’s finances and the operator of the treasury, financial planning and analysis, accounting and tax functions. Now, they are also embracing being strategists and catalysts. This is according to Kathy Ryan, CEO and CFO of RoseRyan, and Myles Suer, senior manager, CFO solutions, at data integration company Informatica. Ryan and Suer recently tag-teamed as speakers on a webinar about … [Read more...]

By Paul Konigstein, AMS Senior Consultant Not surprisingly, the sudden demise of FEGS has been dominating water cooler talk in nonprofit offices for weeks. The question on everyone’s mind, as New York Times columnist Rachel L. Swarns put it: “How does an 80 year old agency with an annual budget of over $200 million crumble with so little warning?” Unfortunately, the answers being discussed reveal some common myths about the work of auditors and accountants. Inspired by the Discovery … [Read more...]