Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for October 01, 2009

Then he should have said, “Take me to your Controller.”

I think Wiley’s on to something. Just about every “leader” in the company I work for was originally an accountant… and we’re not an accounting firm.

Only the Shadow knows that and mum is the word .

Hey, he knows who’s the boss …

Well that explains where we got double entry bookkeeping from.

They must also have double doors to the conference room.

Maybe they own shares in some failed bank stocks.

How did that space ship get in there anyway?

I thought the CEO was supposed to be the leader. I guess he’s just the puppet (dummy?), and the Head Accountant is the real leader behind the scenes.

“OUR” leader is not being held accountable!

(Sorry if this is a little long. There is a point.)

I worked for 40 years for a big company.

The first two thirds of that, the CEO was always a guy who had come up through the operations side of the business. While we occasionally did some stupid things, we did most things right and grew steadily over this period.

Then they started picking the CEO from guys who came up through the financial side (e.g.- accounting). Growth stopped and shrinking started. I’m retired now, but they’re still shrinking. (In fact, they were recently acquired.)

My theory: accountants know only two ways to increase profits: cut costs or acquire profitable businesses. They never innovate new business as original developments, because that isn’t what they understand. And cost cutting tends to be a temporary fix unless the business can somehow be grown.

dtut—Your theory is dead on and accounts for much of today’s business problems.

……………………….

That UFO looks like it was designed by the Jiffy Pop Corporation. Probably someone in Accounting, haha.

dtut: I was told years ago that accountants have no imagination. Being one myself, I have to agree. We are generally inclined to fiscal responsibility rather than risk. That means loss of creativity and growth. I do agree completely that an accountant is not the proper personality for a CEO. That person needs to be innovative and willing to lead forward, not just pull back behind the barricades. We bean counters have our place, and it’s not in front of the troops (so to speak). All of that being said, I LOVE numbers, patterns and puzzles. Analysis work can be very rewarding and, to me, lots of fun. If that makes me an unimaginative bean-counter, so be it. It’s a title I wear proudly and have for more than 35 years.

I agree, Jan.

Bean counters such as we are are too conservative to lead well. that’s not saying we can’t, but for the most part, it’s not in our nature. But I have worked for a few people who were great innovators, and would back them to the hilt.

The truth is out there.

because that’s where the money is!

And to think, when I went to school a career in accounting was a joke.

On the other hand, if I had a trust fund to administer, an accountant would probably have the right personality to be a trustee.

I was told in college that this is why they required marketing majors to take accounting courses.

And the alien said: “Accountant, you spoke well and I appreciate your right to say it, but I don’t understand a dam (misspelling intentional} thing you said!”

JanCinVV said: “dtut: I was told years ago that accountants have no imagination. Being one myself, I have to agree. We are generally inclined to fiscal responsibility rather than risk.”

“Fiscal responsibility”? Really??? Then please explain to me the origins of all those “derivatives”, “swap options” and other “profit enhancements” that bankers (who, IIRC, are usually accountants – when they aren’t MBAs*) were creating – usually out of thin air – that lead to the near-collapse of our economy last year.

*More Bad Advice

Lead me to your taker!!

I say we mess with the little dude and see what he has as back up! It looks like he’s talking to upper management. Man, those guys are ruthless.. slap ‘im around a bit and see what happens…

The spaceship looks like a football.

I agree with JanCinVV and others’ response.

The CEO’s job is to provide vision and leadership toward that vision. The CFO’s job (and chief legal officer’s as well) is to assure that chasing the vision does not get the company in trouble. BOTH ARE ESSENTIAL.

Before I cited the problem with appointing a CFO-type to the CEO assignment. But I have also seen the consequences when a leader-type ignores the accountants and lawyers. Perhaps it might create a breakthrough in a few rare instances, but usually it ain’t pretty.