Before global positioning systems (GPS) made navigation foolproof, hikers or sailors wanting to identify their exact location would take two or more compass bearings on prominent landmarks and plotted their intersection. They would never have dreamed of using a single bearing to plot their location because this left an unacceptable degree of error—and perhaps risked… read more →
In the first piece in this two-part series, we looked at how companies that report to U.S. GAAP and IFRS standards need to address the requirements of Accounting Standards Codification 606 (ASC 606) about reporting sales commissions paid on subscription services and goods. Many, but not all, of these commissions and incentives need to be… read more →
When Accounting Standard Codification 606 (ASC 606) was first announced in 2014, public companies that sell goods or services on a subscription basis and report to U.S. GAAP and IFRS standards had more than 40 months to switch over their revenue recognition processes. That window is closing as the new standards come into force at… read more →
In the first article in this series I looked at the reasons why the new, more flexible form of zero-based budgeting (ZBB 2.0) is enjoying a renaissance; in the second piece, I explored what makes it different. In this, the final blog of the series, I’ll summarize the more important best practices that today’s practitioners… read more →
Pruning doesn’t just cut a plant down to size. Removing old wood/stems/leaves stimulates new growth and encourages fruiting and flowering, keeping the plant young and healthy. The same is true of the new approach to zero-based budgeting (ZBB 2.0), which is no longer just about cutting back costs, but about right-sizing today’s businesses to free… read more →
Kellogg Co., Heinz, the Campbell Soup Company, Mondelez International, Alcoa Inc., The Boston Scientific Corp., Jarden Corporation, Quiksilver, Inc., and a host of other large multinationals from a broad spectrum of industries have all gone on record as having adopted a 40-year-old methodology—zero-based budgeting (ZBB). And many of them are pushing ZBB even further, using… read more →
PwC’s recently published Annual CEO Survey shows that to gain a competitive advantage, the majority of business leaders plan to use technology to provide a better customer experience. They also plan to improve operational processes so their businesses are more agile and responsive. In this second part of the series, we look at how U.S…. read more →
Over 80 percent of finance leaders still rely on 10 or more spreadsheets to support their mission critical planning processes. That’s the astonishing feedback Anaplan received when this question was posed to an audience of over 100 finance leaders at the Chief Financial Leadership Office Forum in Los Angeles, CA, a few weeks ago—see the… read more →
Forecasting demand and revenues for new variants of existing products is difficult enough. But forecasting for radically innovative products in emerging new categories is an entirely different ball game. There are no past trends to reassuringly extrapolate into the future, just a ton of uncertainty about whether the latent demand that the marketing folk suggested… read more →
This blog is part one of a two-part discussion of the findings in PwC’s 2016 Annual CEO survey. “More of the same” sums up what U.S. businesses expect for the next few years, according to PwC’s recently published U.S. CEO Survey. Though the U.S. economic recovery so far has outpaced those of other developed countries,… read more →
