Great Performance !

The two other profitability measures are ones already identified as cash drivers: gross margin as a percentage of sales, and operating expense (SG&A) as a percentage of sales. Whatever money remains from each sales dollar after paying cost of goods sold and SG&A is called cushion. Cushion is what’s left from the business to pay your three most important constituencies: your banker, your government and your stockholders. If margins should Read the rest of this entry »

• Preferred stock. Preferred stock allows a company to benefit from the intercorporate dividend deduction. Provided a stock is purchased before the ex-dividend date and is held, unhedged, for a minimum of 45 days, the corporate investor can exclude up to 70 percent of dividends received from income. Read the rest of this entry »

Wringing hands is a stepped-up version of clenched hands (Figure 37). This is observed when someone is on the hot seat, such as when being required to answer serious charges against him. After a recent local election in California the sophisticated polling equipment broke down and the registrar of voters was photographed while attempting to answer charges concerning the breakdown. As he explained his conduct, he went through the hands-wringing gesture. Read the rest of this entry »

In this section I cover some of the fundamentals of using Excel, such as entering data, moving around, and basic formatting.

Getting Around

At any given time Excel has an active, or current, cell. It is indicated by the cell pointer, a dark border around the cell. Actions you take in Excel affect this cell—for example, if you type in something, it is placed in this cell (replacing anything that was there originally). The formula bar displays information related to the active cell:

• The left section of the formula bar displays the address of the active cell.

• The right section of the formula bar displays the contents of the active cell.

You can make any cell active by clicking it with the mouse. You can also move the active cell using the arrow, page up, and page down keys. If you try to move off the screen, the worksheet scrolls to keep the active cell in view. Excel also defines a few special keystrokes for moving the active cell:

• Press Ctrl+Home to move to cell A1.

• Press Home to move to column A in the current row.

• Press Ctrl plus an arrow key to move to the edge of the worksheet in that direction.

You can scroll different parts of the worksheet into view by using Excel’s vertical and horizontal scrollbars. Be aware, however, that scrolling does not move the active cell. Be sure that the Scroll Lock on your keyboard is off; otherwise, scrolling will not work as expected.

What are the implications of risk aversion for security prices and rates of return? The answer is that, other things held constant, the higher a security’s risk, the lower its price and the higher its required return. To see how risk aversion affects security prices, look back at Figure 3-2 and consider again U.S. Water and Martin Products stocks. Suppose each stock sold for $100 per share and each had an expected rate of return of 15 percent. Investors are averse to risk, so under these conditions there would be a general preference for U.S. Water. Read the rest of this entry »

For people who have experienced the positive results of mediation, yoga, deep breathing, stretching, chanting, or physical exercise as a way to clear their mind and relax, don’t be afraid to utilize these activities when you experience brainstormer’s block as a result of spending too much continuous time focusing on one thing. Read the rest of this entry »

Align Resources with the Ebb and Flow of the Work. The resource demands on any organization are not static. They fluctuate with the seasonal sales cycle. External events can bring certain strategic issues to prominence while others ebb in importance. Being responsive to this ebb and flow demonstrates that you are in synch with the strategic needs of the organization at different times. Recognizing where a project is in the business cycle, for example, can make it easier to secure resources when they are needed. Read the rest of this entry »

When changes in the value of foreign currency cause the assets of a company to increase in value, the result will be an increase in the stockholders’ equity (picture the accounting equation increasing on the left side as well as on the right side). Because the change in value of the foreign currency is not related to the company’s operations, the increase in stockholders’ equity cannot be reported as net income. However, the increase in stockholders’ equity is reported as comprehensive income. Read the rest of this entry »

We add to the asset account any amounts that we pay to defend our interests, such as paying a lawyer to sue a company that uses a name that is too similar to ours. If we were to purchase
the name from another company, we can record as the asset any amounts we paid to acquire the name. So if we can convince Coca-Cola to sell us the name for $1 billion, that is the amount we would record as an intangible asset (even though Coke’s accounting records say that the carrying value of the asset is $1,000). Read the rest of this entry »

3. Turn to the appropriate phase in part 3, “The Elemental Play- book”:

• Practice recognizing the attributes of each phase. Each phase feels different, and as you integrate this information it becomes easier to identify a current stage.

• Employ the corresponding elemental principle. Read the rest of this entry »