The Frustrated CFO

SOPA, PIPA and "CFO Techniques"

2012-01-24T22:01:55-05:00

The inner conflict many intelligent people experience over Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), is an old problem for me. For many years before the pharmaceutical and media lobbies brought the issue of proprietary rights infringement in the Internet age to Washington DC, I've been torn between two firm believes of mine: (1) that content creators (writers, musicians, artists, designers, etc.) are entitled to get paid whenever their creative products are used for commercial purposes (i.e. to make money), and (2) that the information available on the Internet cannot be restricted by any means. That's why...

Quote of the Week

2012-01-23T12:57:00-05:00

"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you're still a rat." Lily Tomlin

CFO Folklore: Joke of the Day

2012-01-20T22:27:01-05:00

From an actual email exchange: CEO: "I wonder when my crack accounting team planned to tell me about this previously unknown accrual!" CFO: "First of all, it's not crack, it's dope! Secondly, the accrual is only 5 minutes old and you are already informed. We are not in an AT&T commercial, you know."

CNN Breaking News: President Obama Is Elevating SBA to a Cabinet-Level Agency

2012-01-19T14:06:36-05:00

In my book "CFO Techniques" I praised the U.S. Small Business Administration agency (SBA) for its role in supporting small businesses, particularly with their loan-backing program, and the amazing informational gold mine that is SBA.gov site - literally, the best resource out there. It's no surprise that when CNN's news flash quoted in the title of this post has arrived into my mailbox last week, it immediately caught my eye. You've got to admire the skills of the public relation specialists in Washington (I wish my publisher's PR department was as masterful, or at least as industrious)! Look at the...

Quote of the Week

2012-01-16T15:10:00-05:00

"If you have a job without aggravations, you don't have a job." Malcolm Forbes

Unimaginable Abyss of Accounting Ignorance

2012-01-12T15:15:39-05:00

We constantly read and hear about American students' low level of academic performance. They rank 23rd out of 57 nations participating in international testing. Researchers and public-policy makers have been trying to figure out the reasons for this abysmal show of intellectual power. The "education system" is usually blamed: different teaching methodologies, testing devices, and so on, and so forth. In my opinion the problem has nothing to do with educational technicalities. It's has to do with obvious gradual degeneration of general public's intellectual abilities (blame it on the mobile devices' radiation, if you have to). Whatever the reason, fact...