Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Part Deaux

The second post in this series is to deal with people not keeping track of information in the right way. The main reason this exists is because no one wants to do the grunt work for proper reporting. As we hinted .. the more someone makes the less they do.


So why does someone who does less get paid more? It's really simple. The more capable someone is to starting/helping a competitor the more money that person is going to get paid to stay at their current job. I deal with most levels within a Company. So a common starting position is an AP Clerk or Cash Clerk etc. If I go talk to this person they can tell me inside out what their specific job is. How the information is gathered by the Company. They can't tell me how the information is used by the Company or even if it's right as far as accounting goes. This is in fact how a lot of fraud is found. Said clerk doesn't know right from wrong in an accounting sense and merely just spouts what they do. So we have zero discernment. As you move up the ladder you find people doing less work but having more discernment.



A manager is going to know what all his people do and then where he sends the information (another manager or vp), but really just crunches the numbers. Once you get in the VP roles then the people skills start shining. These guys are good at making people do things on time (hard as hell to do), package information in a neat bow for investors, clients, etc. and most importantly have a lot of connections in the industry. In fact, their true value comes from knowing other people. It's like the good ol boys club. I have friends that are rich and make decisions so you want me to do the same so I can network with these guys and get us more business. This is why auditors are valued because we often like bees have stopped off at various clients within an industry collecting the good and the bad way of doing things and meeting a hell of a lot of people along the way.



Anyone for help climbing the corporate ladder I recommend the book Never Eat Alone. It's a great reference for someone trying to network and become the it guy.

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