Making the Numbers Count


Book Description

The first edition of Brian Maskell‘s now classic work proved that when given the chance, accountants would prefer not to serve out their working days as number crunching automatons. With its energetic tone and common sense approach, the book inspired numbers people at all levels to become true allies in their companies lean revolutions. It enco




Lean Accounting


Book Description










The Lean Startup


Book Description

Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business. The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute. Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age when companies need to innovate more than ever.




Xero For Dummies


Book Description

Get up and running with Xero in a flash Xero is fast emerging as the leader of online accounting software around the world, representing a serious challenge to MYOB, Sage and Quickbooks. Xero For Dummies provides you with all the information you need to set up your own Xero account from scratch, convert to Xero from another accounting software provider or start using Xero to its full potential. Easy to use and deceptively powerful, Xero is so much more than a spreadsheet – it can help you streamline reporting; manage inventory; simplify accounts; and organise suppliers, customers and more. Automatic imports, intuitive coding and seamless synching across multiple business platforms gets the paperwork done quickly so you can get back to running your business. This new fourth edition includes updates to the interface and coverage of the newest features, including updates on generating reports, working with fixed assets and managing contacts, sales and payables so you can optimise your system to help your business thrive. Fine-tune your set-up, or convert from another accounting program Manage daily activities with contacts, accounts, sales and payables Master weekly and monthly reporting routines Track inventory, monitor your business and get the most out of Xero You didn't start your business in order to become an accountant, but bookkeeping is critically important to the short- and long-term health of your company. Xero simplifies the process and saves you time, and Xero For Dummies helps you leverage every feature Xero has to offer.




Lean Accounting


Book Description

Praise for Lean Accounting Best Practices for Sustainable Integration "Anyone involved in a lean transformation inevitably bumps up against the vagaries of the accounting systems that reward overproduction and waste and seem to punish true improvement. We wonder what would happen if the accountants actually came to the production floor and witnessed firsthand the havoc created by their systems. This volume gathers together some of the best thinkers to take a critical look at traditional cost accounting and defines a path forward to 'lean accounting.'" —Jeff Liker, Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan "Joe Stenzel has put together a timely compendium of writings from thought leaders in lean accounting. The viewpoints in this fine book are diverse and yet proclaim a consistent message: that conventional management accounting is broken--and here is how to fix it." —Richard J. Schonberger, President, Schonberger & Associates "If you are serious about understanding and implementing Lean Accounting in conjunction with your Lean Enterprise journey, this book will illuminate the specific techniques, but more importantly, will explain the cultural changes that are a prerequisite for success." —Jerry Solomon, Vice President of Operations, Hunt Valley, for MarquipWardUnited, a division of Barry-Wehmiller Companies, Inc. Insights and strategies from the most experienced lean accounting and performance measurement?practitioners in America Learn how to integrate the proven lean methodologies embedded in the Toyota Production System with Lean Accounting: Best Practices for Sustainable Integration. In this comprehensive guide, leading accounting and performance measurement practitioners analyze the current business climate and provide CFOs and accounting/finance personnel with step-by-step guidelines to seamlessly and successfully integrate sustainable, lean accounting principles within their enterprise. Be a lean success story with Lean Accounting.




Implementing Lean


Book Description

Everyone has heard the phrase about doing twice the work in half the time, but instead of focusing only on time, this book focuses on driving increased output with consistently less input. Implementing Lean: Twice the Output with Half the Input! teaches readers not only about Lean and its major concepts, but it drives the leader toward implementing a true Lean system. The authors have used the methodologies in this book everywhere from hospitals to service industries to manufacturing plants in order to impact businesses by providing proven principles, techniques, and approaches that yield substantial improvement to any business, small or large, in any sector. Learn about the benefits of implementing Lean in your company as the authors walk you through the major components as well as show you how to implement them. This guide is already being used by Lean Practitioners every day on shop floors to educate and refresh how tools are used in real-world applications.




Lean IT


Book Description

Winner of a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award Information Technology is supposed to enable business performance and innovation, improve service levels, manage change, and maintain quality and stability, all while steadily reducing operating costs. Yet when an enterprise begins a Lean transformation, too often the IT department is either left out or viewed as an obstacle. What is to be done? Winner of a 2011 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award, this book shares practical tips, examples, and case studies to help you establish a culture of continuous improvement to deliver IT operational excellence and business value to your organization. Praise for: ...will have a permanent place in my bookshelf. —Gene Kim, Chief Technology Officer, Tripwire, Inc. ... provides an unprecedented look at the role that Lean IT will play in making this revolutionary shift and the critical steps for sustained success. —Steve Castellanos, Lean Enterprise Director, Nike, Inc. Twenty years from now the firms which dominate their industries will have fully embraced Lean strategies throughout their IT organizations. —Scott W. Ambler, Chief Methodologist for Agile and Lean, IBM Rational ... a great survival manual for those needing nimble and adaptive systems. —Dr. David Labby, MD, PhD, Medical Director and Director of Clinical Support and Innovation, CareOregon ... makes a major contribution in an often-ignored but much-needed area. —John Bicheno, Program Director MS in Lean Operations, Cardiff University ... a comprehensive view into the world of Lean IT, a must read! —Dave Wilson, Quality Management, Oregon Health & Science University




Lean for the Cash-Strapped Leader


Book Description

Created by Lean practitioners with real-world, results-proven track records, this book is designed to help struggling managers and leaders, interested in the benefits of Lean but bereft of budgets to hire full-time consultants, start substantial change in their enterprises and begin to reap the benefits of Lean. At once a how-to manual and a strategic management guide, the book lays out, in simple English, all the steps for implementing Lean, from formulating a strategy and managing organizational change, to establishing a kanban-driven, level-loaded production system. Presenting strategies that will fit in most existing budgets, Lean for the Cash-Strapped Leader: The Path to Growth and Profitability uses easy-to-read language with flashes of humor to reveal proven methods that will help your organization initiate change and begin reaping the rewards of a Lean operations system in any industry. The book avoids acronyms, complex Lean terminology, and academic froth to convey the essential instructions, detail, and information you need. Identifying powerful methods for initiating a Lean value stream that require minimal investment, the book is designed to help owners of small businesses and senior managers of larger ones make their enterprises more efficient, more productive, and ultimately more profitable. Along the way, the book gives detailed attention to the need for the "soft message" that underwrites and supports the actions required for a business to achieve the transformation that Lean can bring. Lean for the Cash-Strapped Leader emphasizes the messaging and the degree of management involvement required to achieve a successful Lean result. Learn more about the book at: http://www.leanforthecashstrappedleader.com/