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Thursday, July 11, 2002 |
GREAT ADVICE FOR BUSINESS OWNERS
The next time you're grumbling with a fellow Entrepreneur about ungrateful employees, chiseling customers and high tax rates, take a moment to share a happier bit of news: how you recently made your business more efficient, because efficient Entrepreneurs survive in tough times. # [John Henry on Business]
9:51:45 PM 
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THEY WANT IT ALL
Microsoft to Enter Wi-Fi Hardware Business This Fall: Details are scanty, but remember that Apple has sold its AirPort equipment, Wi-Fi certified, since 1999. Microsoft and Intel joined Wi-Fi certification trade group WECA (Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance) several months ago and both received board seats. Several readers pointed me to many articles, including ones at InfoWorld, and this laughable pretense at an interview that's really a press release. [80211b News]
7:28:44 PM
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INDEED IT IS
Isn't it a riot watching these politicians banter on about ethics? [snellspace]
7:22:26 PM
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THE SUMMER OF '02
Telecom changes colors
[May require a subscription] - Last Friday I spoke of the telecom industry as one with no conscience. Today the Wall Street Journal runs this. Is it any wonder that this industry trades at roughly 90% off its market highs? Is it any wonder there are countless scandals, fines and bankruptcies?
Today, Worldcom's Sidgmore said avoiding a bankruptcy filing "is looking much more difficult."
With demand for bandwidth continuing to grow, many companies attempting to sell assets or parts of their operating businesses, could Level 3 be at precisely the right place at the right time to take advantage of a "perfect storm?" Someone must think so as the stock has traded up from an opening of $2.89 on Monday to a close of $5.59 today; and this in the face of a general market decline this week. We might be witnessing the start of telecom industry transformation of historic proportions!
3:54:57 PM
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FIGHTING SPAM
Lately we've heard about SpamNet from Cloudmark. Today, Walter Mossberg reviews ChoiceMail. SpamNet is free. ChoiceMail seems to start at $29.95.
3:27:48 PM
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BOOKKEEPING SCANDALS
There are debates about options and their "accounting treatment" in today's public corporations. There are investigations. There are restatements of past financial statements. Why? (Because there have always been!)
The real cause is tightly tied to the fact that accounting is an opinion. Each year around tax time someone passes the financial information for an individual or small business to six or eight accountants. They are asked to prepare a tax return. In the best of these articles the tax returns are then submitted to one (or more) IRS agents. In no year that I've read these articles has there been a precise agreement between any of the 6 or 8 accountants. Further, the IRS agents usually disagree.
Take an example: is the purchase of a personal computer an expense or a capital investment? At Sally's Crafts Store where 4 new kilns, 2 dishwashers and a new loom were purchased, it may be a capital expenditure. At Federal Express it may be an expense. If it's part of 5000 PC's being purchased at Citigroup, it may be capitalized.
Most often the rules have more to do with past practices, consistency and a formal declaration of changes in practices than they have to do with law or accounting regulations.
Certainly there are attempts at fraud in some companies. Sometimes those attempts are elegant and difficult to catch. Other times the fraud stems from a change in practice that isn't disclosed in hopes of buying the company some time until things improve.
We are entering a period in which every public company and, quite possibly, some large private companies will be scrutinized. Stock analysts have caused 30% to 40% drops in market caps when companies have missed their "whisper numbers" by a penny. The SEC can now cause similar fluctuations by beginning a sentence with, "We are looking into the accounting practices at..."
The solution is not a team of federal auditors. The solution lies in several key reforms:
- Stop the ridiculous and excessive executive compensation programs.
- Disconnect executive compensation from stock performance and focus it on business performance.
- Expense stock options as if they were any other form of expense.
- Send convicted offenders to jail.
- Hold the boards, the audit committees and the outside accounting firms accountable along with the CEO and CFO of the business.
Warren Buffett has often said, "I'd rather be roughly right than precisely wrong." Intent is a difficult thing to evaluate until you see the extremes of an ulterior motive. Let's get roughly right about these accounting opinions, make the needed changes in laws and enforcement and get back to running businesses - not stocks!
3:16:47 PM
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WE'LL KNOW WE'RE AT BOTTOM WHEN THERE ARE NONE!
It's funny, a couple of years ago, driving up to San Jose, you'd see all these "Adopt-A-Highway" signs sponsored by all kinds of different .coms. Yesterday, the only .com I saw on an "Adopt-A-Highway" sign was "Careers.com". [snellspace]
2:37:38 PM
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A SERIES OF DANTE'S PEAKS
Our Town. A village that dies overnight, a town where the ground is on fire, real-life Atlantises… Margaret Berry collects stories about normal towns where strange things happen. [The Morning News - Features]
10:20:11 AM
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DAN'S WEBLOG HAS NOTES FROM THE INTERNET LAW PROGRAM
Control freaks tightening their grip on the Internet by Dan Gillmor. Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford law professor and author of several important books on our technology-influenced future, was the program's pessimist. He's been jetting around the world for several years, warning of what's coming. And what's coming, he keeps saying, is a victory of the control freaks. [Tomalak's Realm]
9:38:45 AM
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CLEVER
The World's Smallest Postings. Steve Himmer (or should that be Opt Himmer? 5 Himmer?) subtly started something yesterday* that was intriguing to say the least: Is brevity really the soul of wit? Or, more precisely, am I capable of saying anything without rattling and... [Burningbird]
9:21:11 AM
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JUST BE CAREFUL WITH THE DEBT LOAD!
Home businesses and other tiny companies are getting financing, thanks to micro-enterprise-lending programs that have sprung up around the nation, this is a concept that came to the U.S. in the early 1960s and is going strong today. Many banks won't make commercial loans for less than $50,000, but the small entrepreneur does have financing options. # [John Henry on Business]
9:03:53 AM
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SALES PERSON ASKS
"Is there any way to retrieve a fax I sent by mistake?"
Dan Lyke: "I think the use of fax machines by marketing people is their way of lording the failures of technology over geeks." [jenett.radio]
8:49:26 AM
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THE RAT RACE AS VIEWED BY WOMEN?
Overheard Today.
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Do I look like a people person?
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This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.
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I started out with nothing & still have most of it left.
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Sarcasm is just one more service we offer.
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If I throw a stick, will you leave?
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You...! Off my planet!
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Does your train of thought have a caboose?
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Did the aliens forget to remove your anal probe?
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Errors have been made. Others will be blamed.
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A PBS mind in an MTV world.
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Allow me to introduce my selves.
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Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.
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Well, this day was a total waste of makeup.
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See no evil, hear no evil, date no evil!
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Are those your eyeballs? I found them in my cleavage.
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Not all men are annoying. Some are dead.
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I'm trying to imagine you with a personality.
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A cubicle is just a padded cell without a door.
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Stress is when you wake up screaming & realize you haven't fallen asleep yet.
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Can I trade this job for what's behind door #1?
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Too many freaks, not enough circuses.
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Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?
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Chaos, panic, & disorder--my work here is done.
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How do I set a laser printer to "stun"?
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I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks. [ C:PIRILLO.EXE]
8:33:10 AM
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© Copyright 2002 Steve Pilgrim.
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