Category Archives: Accounting/Finance

MEC Debt Matters

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This weekend, September 26-27, 2020, is important for the Canadian retailer, MEC (formerly the Mountain Equipment Cooperative). A British Columbian court will decide if MEC should be sold to a private equity firm [1]. A grassroots group, SaveMEC, has raised funds and support to oppose the sale. It hopes to send 10,000 letters to the creditors to convince them to delay the sale for a fortnight while alternatives are sought. This blog is 1/10,000 of this support – and some thoughts on alternatives.

Author standing in front of a wooden door in the Baden monastery, April 2018.
The Author with his trusty MEC Yellow Cycling Jersey in Baden Austria, April 2018.
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Don’t Confuse the Container with Its Contents

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You would never confuse ketchup with the ketchup bottle.  Ketchup is that blood substitute on your new white shirt while the bottle is the thing that slipped resulting in the white-shirt-blotch. If we can keep ketchup straight, why is it so hard with information?

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Thinking Positive About a Negative Score

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Organizations need to pick winners and losers.  For example, a government must decide to whether to fund project X, Y or Z; a corporation only has the capital to build asset A, B or C. 

Most organizations have developed a portfolio selection and management methodology.  There are typically 2 parts to such a process: a set of criterion and a scoring scheme to rank the criteria.  In this blog, I want to focus on the second challenge, the scoring. 

Balancing scoring Model is composed of two right-angled triangles sloping a center vanishing point which represents the value of zero. At the left, the triangle dips below a black line 2 units into the negative. At the right the triangle rises out of the line 3 units. -1, 0, 1 and 2 value points are between these two extremes.
The +/- Scoring Metric
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A Valid Validation Map

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How does a ‘requester’ know that a ‘submitter’ has provide a correct, complete, accurate and relevant ‘submission’? A framework to evaluate the planning, receipt, and evaluation of submissions.

A blue triangle, with its apex on
Submission Validation/Decision model of the NOW-Event.
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A SMART Thirty-Something

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Most people have heard of the mnemonic SMART.  What you may not know is that this heuristic will turn 40 next year.  Written by George T. Doran, it was first published in 1981 [1].

A woman sporting a large back pack, gazes down a valley in the Albertan Eastern slopes, summer 1985.
Not everything that can be counted counts.
Not everything that counts can be counted. (Attributed to Albert Einstein but likely coined by William Bruce Cameron, American professor of Sociology, circa 1957).
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RBM – A 4-Letter Word: 1 of 4?

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This is a blog continues the series, ‘The RBM Plan!‘ looking at the challenges and criticisms for RBM.  This topic allows an organization to design a RBM program tailored to their circumstances while hopefully escaping the mistakes and errors of other organizations.

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Using the Now-Event Map

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In my last blog, I introduced the ‘NOW-Event-Map‘.  This model combines both a forward looking strategic planning model with a retrospective performance reporting model.  At the center of the map is the enduring concept of ‘NOW’.  At the end of the prior blog I promised some thoughts on how the map might be used – besides as an academic thought exercise. 

Three arrows are over-layed on the NOW-Event Map. The inner most arrow is clockwise and links real time events to operational plans. The second area is also clockwise and links monthly or quarterly information to tactical planning. The final arrow is counter-clockwise and links all results to the strategic and visioning planning activities.
The interaction between results and planning.
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Now-Event Map

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The ‘Cone of (Un) Certainty’ has been a fixture in strategic planning for a few decades [1].  In reviewing these models I was struck by the assumption that planning ends…. and well that is it. To correct this, I would like to propose a planning model entitled: ‘The NOW-Event Map’. which considers both planning and delivery.  

Graphic showing the differences between planning, execution and results. Left, blue cone of opportunity. Centre, a white circle with a black dot in the middle indicating the concept of 'now'. Right, successively smaller stakes of triangles indicating the reduced relevance of results over time.
The NOW-Event Map
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CPA Achievement Award – 2020 Version

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This is the second year that I have been able to review the accomplishments of fellow Alberta Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) through the society’s achievement awards.  Last year, I documented my CPA evaluation criteria, and other than some minor tweaks, am largely using the same scoring method.  

Life is a journey (eastern Austria taken August 2018).
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