If you read the accountancy books, assets and liabilities are very carefully defined, but when is an asset not an asset? I particularly like the definition of an asset in Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. In this book he clearly defines an asset as as “something that puts…
Things change and what was good can become bad, overheads are one of those things, let’s see why overheads are bad. Many years ago I was working with some small retailers who wanted to be based in Stratford-Upon-Avon. In those days Stratford was a major tourist and retail centre and…
Inventory (or stock as we used to call it) is a controversial subject so let’s see why inventory valuations are wrong. This is not going to be a technical discussion around accounting standards. For statutory purposes you must stick to the rules even though they can cause you to make…
Most businesses and many individuals set budgets, but how to set an effective budget? Setting an effective budget does not begin with any numbers. It begins with the objective. If you don’t know the objective of your business or for that matter yourself then setting an effective budget is impossible.…
You know the feeling. You get this great idea or just a thought or spot this great piece of information and then a couple of hours later you can’t remember what it was or where to find it. So, how to remember things. It is important to be able to…
One question I am often asked is “given that you are always going on about effectiveness, what’s the difference between efficiency, productivity and effectiveness?” The easiest way to answer the question is with an example. Let’s take the health service. A productive health service sees as many patients as possible…
The problem with trying all the techniques we have discussed in these blogs is how to be effective when others are not. How many times have you had everything organised, you have employed the Ivy Lee Method, your day or week or month is organised and someone comes along with…
Having goals is important to ensure we are moving in the right direction but how to make goals effective? That’s the question. Goals can only be effective if there is an overall objective. Once we know the objective we can begin goal setting but how many people, businesses and organisations…
Education is typically based around a syllabus and exams to test learning against the syllabus but how effective is top down learning? Throughout the history of mankind it has been important to train large numbers of people to be able to work to predetermined instructions. First in the fields, then…
Note taking is a vital part of personal and business life but why are handwritten notes more effective than typed? In an article written in Science News For Students https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/handwriting-better-for-notes-memory-typing as well as many other studies it has been found that handwritten notes are better than typed for learning and memory…