Management Accountant Blog

World's 10 best companies to work for. This list was published in Fortune magazine in Feb 2009 as Top Employers. I have picked up the first 5 to know why they are at the top.


Company: NetApp : Rank: 1

Why: The essence of what fuels the quality of the workplace at NetApp is the high trust culture. Leaders reach out to employees, sharing information, support and time in a variety of ways. This generosity of spirit is reciprocated many times over, creating within NetApp its own version of a fail-safe networked organisation.

Company: Edward Jones Rank: 2

Why: 'Employees receive a whopping 149 hours of training on average a year, more than three times the 100 best average of 45. But Edward Jones doesn't just train people for the job they're doing. The management's philosophy is that employees who are passionate about their jobs will make the company a better place, so managers encourage people to develop skills even when they know the new skills will lead to a different…

According to Linkshare on consumer research, adverts placed on the more mainstream social networking sites are unlikely to be effective as direct marketing tools.

The research, which surveyed 2,000 consumers, found just 5% of respondents considered adverts on professional social networks, such as LinkedIn and just 9% of adverts on personal social networking sites, such Facebook helpful in assisting their purchasing decisions on the web.

Vouchers, promotions and special offers were shown to be most effective way to encourage consumers to click on content displayed in banner ads and were also considered the least invasive form of online marketing at 11%. A resounding 59% said they thought that the promotions and offers available online were useful and only 19% of people had never responded to a voucher advert online.

So there has been a race by supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsburys or chains like Argos and Homebase to build their presence online. The marketing is more focussed on providi…

Unbundling: The process of taking over a large company with several different lines of business, and then, while retaining the core business, selling off the subsidiaries to help fund the takeover.

Product bundling is a marketing strategy that involves offering several products for sale as one combined product. This strategy is very common in the software business (for example: bundle a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a database into a single office suite), in the cable television industry (for example, basic cable in the United States generally offers many channels at one price), and in the fast food industry in which multiple items are combined into a complete meal. A bundle of products is sometimes referred to as a package deal or a compilation or an anthology.

Recent Example:

NITEL faces unbundling -  Oct 22, 2009 If proposals to unbundle Nigeria Telecommunications (Nitel) yield results, at least five new telecommunications companies will come into being in this densely populated …

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published a draft change to narrow the scope of its fair value or mark-to-market standard in July. It seeks to classify assets for valuation either at cost or at the going rate.

The measure was in response to calls from the Group of 20 group of leading economies to simplify fair value accounting rules in time for 2009 annual statements.

Policy makers blamed the rule for unnecessarily forcing banks to value some assets at depressed going rates amid extreme market turmoil, triggering huge writedowns and the need to recapitalise in a frozen credit market.

A key change will be much greater emphasis on the bank's business model so that many big banks in Europe with portfolios of low risk corporate or government bonds can value them at cost, rather than at fair value as they must do at present.

A ban on reclassifying of financial instruments has also been removed from the draft so that when business models change and become more focused on…

Did you google yourself ? This is question which a professional person ask. The first thing the head hunters  do when they hear your name or someone recommends your name, they search it on google. I was quite surprised when one of my colleague with whom I was working10 years ago called me up and told me you are everywhere on google.
Google places a high level of importance for people search to those who are registered on Linkedin and Facebook.  You can search your name on google and you should see your Linkedin account on the search results.
A couple of days ago, I had written a step by step approach on how to book your domain name yourself. I feel every accounting or IT professional should have a domain name. Then they can redirect the domain name to their Linkedin or Facebook profiles.
Three simple steps:

Book your domain as your name. I prefer www.GoDaddy.com . You are free to choose your domain service provider.
Domain Forward: Domain forwarding lets you automatically direct your do…

New ACCA report reveals best practice planning for finance professionals

'The report looks at how accountants add value to business in what remains a very dynamic and challenging environment,' said Tony Osude, ACCA acting director of professional development and one of the report's authors.

'We see finance professionals adding value in five areas that we call the five domains of finance - strategy, analysis, operations, custodial and regulation. We have used the finance function as a case study to demonstrate the role that professional accountants play and to identify the differences between the good and the great.

'The skills of finance professionals are examined, revealing that organisations and accountants have an opportunity to enhance the value they provide by understanding more clearly how and where value can be added in the business, and developing an operating model for finance that clearly aligns skill capabilities to this value provision. The report provide…

In my last post, I had given the procedure how to book the domain name on www.GoDaddy.com . The next step is to build a website and configure email ids for your company. You have two choices
First Option
You can have a look at hosting plans at GoDaddy.com. I would suggest the Economy plans would be a good option for a small business, since it provides 1GB of space and 100 email. If you have more email accounts, then you need configure Outlook to download the emails on your local computer. GoDaddy also offers WordPress plans for blogging. So you have decide on your budget and then select the hosting plans that is suited to your needs.
Just to let you know I have hosted my blog http://howtomakelifebetter.com on WordPress Hosting on Godaddy.

Second Option
This is the free option on Google Apps.
Why Google Apps ? Google Apps Standard Edition makes it easy for your business or group to communicate and collaborate online - and it's free. Tools include: Gmail : Get custom email like hikingf…

Starting your own business, it requires determination to go ahead with what you think you do the best. Then position your niche to make money. To position and advertise yourself in the market you need a website.  There is a general impression that creating a website is expensive and maintaining email ids would require expertise. Here are simple steps to how you can do it yourself.
Simple steps to create your own website. - Part 1
1. Book your domain on www.godaddy.com. There are other domain registrars like 123-reg or Network Solutions , Yahoo but I prefer www.godaddy.com

2. After you visit GoDaddy, change the country and region of your choice (top right hand corner). It is very easy. See screenshots below



3. Start Domain Search. Enter the website name you want to register. You should enter the name with a www. or .com. www.GoDaddy.com will suggest you various domain names available. In this instance, I am searching for availability of domain cmamanmohan either .com or .net
So I ent…