Archive for Cost Accounting
November 19, 2008 at 5:47 am · Filed under Cost Accounting
New Customers in the Consulting Industry Validate Growing Demand for SaaS Professional Services Automation Software to Better Manage Resources and Projects
BOSTON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ — OpenAir, Inc., a NetSuite Inc. company and a leading provider of on-demand professional services automation (PSA) software, today announced the latest customers from the consulting industry to choose OpenAir’s on-demand professional services software to automate project management and resource management. The growing list of new customers is a testament to the value OpenAir has brought to these businesses by allowing them to do more with less. By using OpenAir, these companies have reduced IT costs and kept their workforces lean and nimble, thus improving their bottom lines.
For example, EpikOne chose OpenAir to manage consultants’ time across multiple projects and forecast their future availability. Solusoft integrated OpenAir with its NetSuite system to ensure that consultants aren’t over-booked or under-utilized. BioPharm selected OpenAir to have better visibility into key financial metrics. Finally, OpenAir helps APTEC manage growth while reducing costs. For more information about OpenAir customers, please visit .
New Customer Wins
The new customers from the consulting industry referenced above are the latest in a growing list of consulting firms that have adopted OpenAir in recent months-a list that includes firms like Novations Group, PRTM and Marketbridge. In addition, EpikOne and Solusoft are also NetSuite customers who chose OpenAir to take advantage of the full NetSuite Services Resource Planning (SRP) solution, the industry’s first and only on-demand business management software suite for the overall management of a professional services business. For more information about NetSuite SRP, visit: .
EpikOne (), based in Burlington, Vt., is a global analytics consultancy specializing in web analytics consulting, website optimization, and online marketing services. A NetSuite user since 2005, EpikOne recently chose OpenAir for project management, resources management, forecasting and human resources (HR). It plans to integrate OpenAir solutions with NetSuite to automate back-office operations such as billing and expense reimbursement and reporting.
“Because of the number of clients our consultants work with at any given time, managing their time and forecasting future availability was very challenging across the various disparate applications we use,” said Rebecca Becker, Managing Director, EpikOne. “We found a solution in OpenAir that provided project management processes, resource management and financial forecasting, as well as basic HR functionality all in one customizable easy- to-use interface. We looked to OpenAir to solve one of our biggest challenges and found that OpenAir solved four.”
Solusoft (), based in Panama with additional offices in Puerto Rico and Florida, is a business-consulting and technology services company servicing the northern Latin America and Caribbean region with IT- enabled solutions that optimize operations and increase revenue and profitability. Solusoft has been a NetSuite customer since 2003 and recently integrated OpenAir with NetSuite via the SuiteFlex platform to increase the performance of the company’s projects, resources and revenue forecasting. The integrated NetSuite-OpenAir solution gives Solusoft access to a real-time dashboard that provides metrics across its entire business portfolio and creates a comprehensive cradle-to-grave view of all client relationships.
“What our new OpenAir environment delivers is full visibility into every customer project and all the time commitments of every one of our 45 consultants,” said Glenn Tjon, Managing Director, Solusoft. “As a result of OpenAir, which we have now integrated with our NetSuite system of record for accounting and CRM, we can ensure that consultants are not over-booked or under-utilized, that project managers always have access to the resources they need to be successful, and that our revenue streams are always recognized, realized, and recorded.”
BioPharm Systems (), founded in 1995, is an information technology company that provides implementation, consulting and application hosting services to the clinical trials industry. BioPharm Systems recently chose OpenAir to have better visibility into the key financial metrics needed to manage its 40 consultants.
“Our company has been looking for a web-based time and expense entry system to replace the use of spreadsheets,” said Alex Sefanov, Founder and CEO, BioPharm Systems. “We decided to take our company to the next level and implement a PSA solution to assist us with resource management, more accurate billing, and integration with Salesforce.com and QuickBooks, and to provide better visibility into our operations by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs). We issued an RFP, and compared several PSA systems. OpenAir was a clear winner with robust functionality, intuitive user interface, and excellent support. We will be going live in about two weeks, and are very excited about new opportunities that OpenAir will open for us.”
APTEC LLC (), based in New York, N.Y., is a technical consulting firm that provides services to improve insight into business operations, mitigate risk, and enable organizations to increase their growth capacity. APTEC selected OpenAir recently to automate its service delivery operations as the company prepares for significant growth and expansion in 2009 and beyond.
“OpenAir provides a comprehensive, user friendly and affordable platform for the management of professional services in the areas of project management, time and expense reporting, and invoicing,” said Aaron Perry, President, APTEC. “We are excited about the move to OpenAir, which is a critical component of the ‘high-speed/low drag’ infrastructure necessary to support our company.”
About OpenAir
OpenAir, Inc., a NetSuite Inc. company, is a leading provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) services automation software. Offering both professional services automation (PSA) and project portfolio management (PPM) solutions, OpenAir provides project-based organizations and firms the tools they need to grow their businesses quickly and profitably. Providing enterprise-level functionality for businesses of all sizes, OpenAir has more than 42,000 active users at over 300 world-class firms using the software to better capture billable time, manage projects and resources and bill customers. Coupled with a team of highly experienced consultants from some of the world’s leading services firms, OpenAir’s services automation solutions drive higher profits through improved utilization, visibility and data collection. To learn more, please visit .
http://www.itnewsonline.com/showprnstory.php?storyid=22472
November 17, 2008 at 7:02 am · Filed under Cost Accounting
The methods for combating the financial crisis differ between Russia and most other countries.
Most of the government allocations in other countries are spent on state guarantees for banks, people and companies. The Russian government prefers to inject funds directly into the economy. Why?
As much as $9.4 trillion, or 15% of global GDP, has been allocated in the world to combat the financial crisis, with a spread of between 1% of GDP in Denmark and 225% in Ireland.
In September 2008, Russia launched a large-scale program of financial assistance to companies and banks, estimated at 6 trillion rubles (nearly $217 billion) or 13.9% of GDP. This assessment does not include allocations from regional budgets.
These huge investments in fighting the crisis belie the government’s assurances that there is no fundamental crisis in Russia. Like in the rest of the world, the fundamental reason behind the financial crisis in Russia was the overcapitalization (overheating) of the stock market.
The government’s financial stabilization program is based on four types of investment. An analysis of investment structures in the 23 richest countries, including Western Europe, shows that 49% of funds are invested in state guarantees for bank debt, 15% in refinancing financial institutions, 10% in the acquisition of ailing assets, and 21% in other measures mostly connected with stimulating economic demand, such as tax cuts, infrastructure development, and enhancement of social programs.
But Russia has invested nothing in state guarantees for bank debt and 84% in capitalization.
Why is Russia’s approach different from other countries?
The current financial crisis is called “the liquidity crisis” in Russia, which is a traditional and, in our opinion, a convincing explanation.
However, an analysis of changes in the balance on the lending organizations’ correspondent accounts with the Central Bank makes one wonder if there is a liquidity problem.
Until August 2008, the asset balance was growing smoothly, which means that the banking system had adequate liquidity through September when huge sums were injected into it, raising the balance to 732.4 billion rubles ($26.5 billion) due to a reduction in the obligatory reserve norms and some other methods.
In October the balance fell to 580-590 billion rubles, an amount equal to the May 2008 balance.
Doubts regarding the liquidity problem are also raised by an analysis of lending organizations’ assets and owner equity. The assets of Russia’s largest lending organizations, the 30 largest banks listed by the size of assets, increased by an average of 30%-50% in January-August 2008. Their owner equity grew by 20%-25%.
In other words, there was no liquidity problem in the banking system as a whole, which by itself is not necessarily an indicator of a healthy banking system. However, the Russian government decided that liquidity was the key problem and started injecting huge funds into banks.
Banks willingly accepted the money, which subsequently surfaced on currency exchanges and eventually landed in the foreign banks’ accounts. Apparently, this is not what the government had in mind.
Unlike Russia, the international community quickly pinpointed the key reason behind the crisis, describing it as a crisis of confidence. IMF analysts say there is a global lack of confidence between counterparties plus an unrestrained accumulation of cash.
A crisis in confidence should be resolved with such measures as insurance, security and guarantees. Other countries are allocating huge funds to deal with the confidence crisis: $1,739 billion in the United States, $539 billion in Germany, and $393 billion in Britain. Australia, Canada and Italy have pledged to guarantee 100% of bank deposits. The German government said no one would lose a single euro of their savings deposited with the country’s banks.
Russia’s strategy of fighting the crisis is dramatically different. The Russian government does not guarantee deposits, but injects money into banks.
Foreign anti-crisis programs stipulate a mechanism of responsibility for one’s actions. Such programs in the U.S., Australia and Western Europe imply managers’ personal responsibility for mistakes. Accordingly, shareholders must not be held responsible for the mistakes of financial corporations, and mechanisms for distributing state assistance must be maximally transparent.
Other countries are setting up special control institutions to monitor the use of anti-crisis funds, while Russia thinks it has enough control mechanisms as it is.
As a result, Russia’s confidence problem is being compounded by the government’s strategy of combating the crisis. This means that it will take Russia more time and effort to overcome the crisis.
It must draw conclusions from the current crisis in order to avoid old mistakes in the future. It must also create a system to warn authorities about market overheating.
Businesses cannot be expected to see the dangers of such overcapitalization in time to stop the trend. The responsibility must rest with national and global regulators. And lastly, the country needs mechanisms to prevent market overheating.
Tatyana Marchenko and Marina Titova are strategic analysts at FBK, the leading accounting and business advisory services company in Russia.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20081117/118353896.html
November 10, 2008 at 7:54 am · Filed under Cost Accounting
In the current economy business owners are taking a look at their financial operations and wondering what they can do to boost their bottom line. Very few small companies realize that doing cost accounting is a key contributor to being profitable - they just see it as a painful exercise. I have invited accounting expert, Dayna Holland, to provide us with expert advice that small business owners can put into action immediately. Look for her articles here over the next 4 Thursdays.
Recently, I’ve been working with a retail company to help them get their financial records “in order”. To me, “in order” means that once I’m done, my client will be able to understand from a dollar and cents point of view how their business is doing. One of the key tools that I provide them with is how to figure out which products are the money-makers and which ones should be dropped from their product line.
In order to do that, I’ll need to gather the following information: 1) Cost per unit; and 2) Shipping charges – incoming and outgoing. These would be the direct, variable costs for their products. I’ll also need to gather information such as 1) storage/warehouse charges; and 2) packaging costs. These would be their direct fixed costs.
Once all of this information is gathered and measured against the sales by product line, my client can see which products are the money makers and which products they could be losing money on. It’s a simple process, but at the same time, when you are in the thick of it as a business owner, it’s hard to find the time to actually do this. And if the cash is coming through the door, and the products are moving, you basically feel like your business is doing well. Not always.
If you’re basing the success of your business solely on volume, you may find at the end of a year that you’ve actually lost money because you’re selling your main product at a loss. No wonder your products are moving fast!
And if you’re basing your success on the number of dollars you bring in, you may find that you may be profitable, but your warehouse is full of items that have been sitting there since the day you opened your doors. Now what? Those old products aren’t moving and you need more storage space for your new orders.
By understanding and monitoring your costs and your revenues by product line, you can run a better business. Not only will you be able see which products are giving you a higher margin, but you can also start to see which products move the fastest, which products you may want to raise your prices on, and which ones need to be marketed better in order to get the inventory moving. So make sure you find the time or the expertise to do this kind of analysis - it will make a huge difference to your profits!
http://www.fmwalsh.com/2008/10/30/cost-accounting-why-should-you-care/
November 8, 2008 at 1:46 am · Filed under Cost Accounting
Cost Management” was written in response to changes in the global business environment. Unbridled access to information and intense competition has meant that cost accounting has become an increasingly important tool for managers and accountants alike. Most textbooks focus on content knowledge and then expect students to ‘magically’ demonstrate skills such as decision-making and critical thinking. “Cost Management” better prepares students for professional success by bridging the gaps between Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. Many students fail to recognize the assumptions, limitations, behavioral implications and qualitative factors that influence managerial decision-making. The dynamic, new author team focuses on cost accounting methods, techniques and the quality of cost accounting information used for decision-making to deliver a thoroughly modern treatment of cost accounting topics.
http://www.leadershipcoachingblog.com/1275/cost-management-measuring-monitoring-and-motivating
