KnowledgeLeader Blog

Communicating with shareholders is about capital – the ability to access either equity or debt at the lowest possible cost. By understanding investor motivation and maintaining relationships within the investment community, companies are strategically positioned to address operational funding issues proactively and thus can exercise greater control over the capital formation process. By identifying sources of capital, world-class companies can maintain capital structures through a mix of long-term debt and equity funding options at the lowest possible cost.

Topics: Investments & Foreign Exchange, Audit Committee & Board, Accounting/Finance, Financial Reporting, Performance Management/Measurement, Mergers and Acquisitions, Communications Industry

The audit committee of the board of directors helps the board fulfill its responsibilities to the company and its current and potential shareholders, the investment community, and other stakeholders, with respect to its oversight of the following: 

• The quality and integrity of the company’s accounting and reporting practices and controls.
• The financial statements and reports of the company.
• The company’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
• The independent auditor’s qualifications and independence.
• The performance of the company’s internal audit function and independent auditors.

Topics: Accounting/Finance, Self-Assessment, Performance Management/Measurement

In a previous blog on Managing Mergers and Acquisitions KPIs we discussed what exactly Key Performance Indicators are:

“KPIs are generally defined as quantifiable measures used to evaluate the success of an organization, employee or process in meeting the objectives for performance. In other words, you can only really know if you did well if you know how success is measured.”

Topics: Accounting/Finance, Cash & Treasury, Performance Management/Measurement, Budgeting

An effective business process is built on a set of well-defined and clearly stated business objectives. These key objectives articulate the ideal performance results that the company expects from that process. To monitor a business process so that it stays focused on reaching the key objectives, the company chooses appropriate performance measures. Careful selection of the performance measures takes a company a long way toward improving a business process. Thus, to build and continually improve an effective business process, a company establishes:

Topics: Internal Audit, Risk Assessment, Quality Assessment Review, Performance Management/Measurement

What is Money?

People may say that “money is the root of all evil,” but is it? It may be best to point out that the original quote is better expressed as, “for the love of money is the root of all evil,” which more properly conveys the idea that money is just a thing and not evil itself, but greed and excessive desire for money can be judged morally.

Enough philosophy – let’s get down to brass tacks. Money is useful.

Topics: Enterprise Risk Management, Risk Assessment, Investments & Foreign Exchange, Accounting/Finance, Cash & Treasury, Performance Management/Measurement

One of our leading practices to consider for your accounts payable process is to develop strategic business alliances with suppliers and involve them in developing better ways to process accounts payable.

Topics: Supply Chain, Vendor Management, Accounting/Finance, Financial Reporting, Cash & Treasury, Performance Management/Measurement, Accounts Payable & Purchasing

There are two main goals that companies with leading practices strive to achieve in the warehousing process: to provide value-added services such as product customization and to move those products through the warehouse into the hands of the consumers as quickly as possible. Companies that achieve these goals follow the leading practices discussed below.

Topics: Supply Chain, Change Management, Performance Management/Measurement, Inventory & Materials Management, Sales Process & Marketing

Is The Treasury Function Ensuring Superior Financial Services for Your Company?

The treasury function at a company bears responsibility for managing financial transactions, safeguarding deposits, earning a return on reserves and obtaining credit. At a minimum, the staff of the treasury function selects and supervises providers of financial services, such as bankers and lenders, who will produce superior results at a fair price. In companies that apply leading practices, the treasury function staff develops relationships with bankers and lenders who provide more than simple banker-to-customer services: the relationships progress into collaborative business partnerships where the bankers help the company manage financial risk and develop the resources worldwide to meet its strategic financial objectives.

Topics: Accounting/Finance, Cash & Treasury, Performance Management/Measurement, Credit & Collections

Total quality management requires commitment and persistence. Quality will always have a cost, but many companies are demonstrating that investments in quality always provide returns. Cost-of-quality reporting essentially views costs of quality as "good" costs and "poor" costs. The "good" costs are those incurred by the company in delivering customer satisfaction. The "poor" costs arise from:

Topics: Supply Chain, Vendor Management, Performance Management/Measurement, Inventory & Materials Management

Are you using strong strategic communication processes that build great relationships between your organization and the public?

Public relations has gained importance and visibility in the recent years as our marketplaces become more competitive and the exponential growth in proliferation of media. The importance of a well-crafted public relations campaign has never been greater. This includes not just generating coverage and visibility, but also fostering meaningful relationship with customers, clients, business partners, employees and the public.

Topics: Human Resources, Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity Management, Performance Management/Measurement