FredWilliams, Accounting Staff
Finance Department We collect and report financial performance. We’re small … small in size and in our ability to influence. But lately with the company’s poor financials, we’ve had a seat at the table and a chance to demonstrate our value. Financial Situation Cheryl and I are on the same page on this one. Given our current expense and income trends, we’ve got 24 months, at most. That’s right, 24 months. Military vs. Commercial Either we make a complete transition to developing and manufacturing world-class commercial products or we turn out the lights. Influential Personnel The head of R&D has always exerted a great deal of influence here. Scott Bell is no exception. Brian Johnson, the CEO, has a lot of formal power and Jennifer Smith’s influence is because of her position, expertise, and her ability to connect. Budget Cuts Last year, we made some pretty major budget cuts. Without doing that, we’d be in deeper trouble than we are now. The budget cuts are a positive thing because they have made departments identify and eliminate waste.
Your Role I manage receivables and accounts payable. And ever since our cash flow tightened, I’ve been aggressive, really aggressive, with receivables and I’ve stretched out payables. You’re right, I’m not making too many friends. The Problem We have weak information systems. In this place information is like gold; we hoard it and build power bases out of it. I don’t even know if people in Manufacturing, R&D, or Marketing even know the spot we’re in. The Solution My boss, Cheryl, likes to sit tight. But I prefer a more aggressive approach. I think if we made even a modest investment in an MIS system to track something as simple as real-time costs, we’d see a significant payback in two years.
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