From Greg's Head

This past Tuesday, Russ Capper, whom you’ll know from listing to the BusinessMakers Radio Show, and I switched things up a bit, and I got the chance to interview him for a change.

Russ was the featured speaker at the January TECH (Technology Executive Club of Houston) luncheon and we recorded my interview with him, which will air during tomorrow’s BusinessMakers Radio Show (8:00am on 950AM).

We talked about some of his favorite guests, including Rod Canion, founder of Compaq and Gordon Bethune, former CEO of Continental Airlines.

Also, we discussed how and why he started the BusinessMakers Radio Show.  Russ observed that that there was no group that more positively affected our lives than innovators and entrepreneurs and yet their stories rarely made it to the mainstream media.  He sought to change that, and the BusinessMakers Radio Show was born.

The guests of the luncheon were eager to pick Russ’ brain and provide feedback, which you’ll be able to hear during the show.

Don’t hesitate to let us know your thoughts on the interview.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

I was reading Matthew David’s list of tech predictions for 2009 and was very impressed with some of his observations for 2009.  I have selected a few of the list for discussion:

2009 is the year of Cloud Computing. The biggest event to happen this year is in effect a series of events. The common thread will be Cloud Computing based services. Whether architected on Microsoft's, Amazon's or Google's cloud services, expect a lot of big name desktop solutions to come to the Web. The basics include email, calendar, but complex solutions such as word processing, spreadsheets and presentation tools will be part of your daily toolset by the end of the year. This time next year you will start to wonder why did you ever install software on your computer.

New OS's from everyone. Both Apple and Microsoft will release new Operating Systems. Apple will look to beat Microsoft to the punch with OS X Snow Leopard coming months before Windows 7. Did you hate those Microsoft "Mojave Experiment" commercials? Then expect no peace when the Microsoft marketing machine gets cranked up to full throttle with the launch of Microsoft Windows 7 and Office 2009 in time for the holiday season.

Netbooks arrive. Recession driven cheaper computers are sprouting up like mushrooms after a storm. The new devices are slim in features (many do not even have a DVD drive) and they have little or no hard drive but they do come with Windows XP or Linux, they do have WiFi and they come in under $450. These new devices are coming to be known as Netbooks. It is a catchy name. Target is even running a Linux Netbook for $299. If all you do is check email and surf the Web, then this may be the device for you.

You can see Matthew’s entire list at  itbusinessnet.com

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I read a great blog article yesterday, “2010 Too Late for Windows 7 to Save Microsoft,” from Paul McDougall over at InformationWeek.

In the PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook™ airing this week, I discuss tech predictions for 2009, one of which is the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 and Apple’s OS X Snow Leopard.

McDougall is right on in his assessment that, “Microsoft needs to ship Windows 7 as soon as possible.”

With the misfire of Windows Vista and the ensuing backlash both verbal and financial, it just goes to show that the world’s best doesn’t always get it right.  There’s hope for Microsoft this time to get it right.  They can’t afford to continue losing market share to Apple on the “home front” or Google with their net-based apps. 

What do you think Microsoft needs to do to right itself in the eyes of the consumer?

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I mentioned this back in October, and now PKF Texas has our official ranking from the Best Accounting Firms to Work For survey.  We are ranked #16 out of 40 mid-sized firms. 

We also received our ranking for the Best Companies to Work For in Texas.  This year we are ranked #11 out of 25 companies in the mid-sized category.  We moved up from #16 last year.

The Best Accounting Firms to Work For program was created by the Accountants Media Group, which publishes Accounting Today, Accounting Technology, CPA Wealth Provider, Practical Accountant and is the host of WebCPA.com.

The Best Companies to Work For in Texas program was created by Texas Monthly, the Texas Association of Business and the Texas State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management.  Both surveys were administered by Best Companies Group.

PKF Texas takes this type of recognition very seriously as the survey results provide us valuable feedback about our people and areas in which we are doing well and the areas where we can improve. 

Congratulations to all on both lists.  It is an outstanding accomplishment

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

What began as seemingly isolated showers in business markets has evolved to an economic storm that some experts predict will bring on a lengthy recession. In response, businesses worldwide are tightening budgets, cutting costs, and changing direction to weather the storm.

But where should you cut, and where should you invest to safely pilot your company through these turbulent economic waters?

The crisis is creating new challenges for corporate officers and other business decision makers. The kneejerk reaction to cut spending across the board, however, can be counter-productive when it comes to reducing risks during economic slumps. Instead, strategic investments in specific areas can actually cut costs as they improve operational efficiencies, personal performance, and customer service.

In fact, according to a recent McGraw-Hill study, companies that continue strategic spending not only outperformed non-spenders during a recession, but also experienced revenue growth of 275% during the first full year of recovery.
 

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Yesterday, we witnessed history.  Barack Obama became the first African American to be inaugurated as President of our country.

Whether you agree with his politics or not, it was an important day for our country.

There were couple key things that I picked up on from his speech:

• These are serious times and we are facing serious challenges.  We need to work together to move forward
• We (both the general populous and the government) need to be held accountable for our actions.  We are ushering in an “era of responsibility.”

Overall the crowd both in Washington, and here in the office (where I watched the speech) seemed excited and willing to listen to what our new president had to say.  Now it’s time to get down to business and tomorrow the work of the Obama administration begins.

CNNMoney.com had an interesting article about the issues Obama needs to focus on in his first 100 days in office.  They are:

• Get recovery package passed and implemented
• Implement foreclosure prevention program
• Improve bank bailout efforts
• Turn in a budget request
• Decide automakers' fate
• Meet with world leaders to rethink regulation

These are all interesting and vital pieces of legislation. 

What are your thoughts on Obama’s speech?  Which of the issues from the CNNMoney article would you like to see the new administration tackle first?

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I was sorry to hear last week that Steve Jobs was taking a medical leave of absence from Apple.  While no one knows quite what he’s dealing with, given his history with pancreatic cancer, the news of a leave of absence doesn’t bode well.

I’ll be curious to see what the next steps are going to be for the company.  Jobs is a visionary who upon his return to the company in 1997 led Apple to where it is today. 

One would like to hope that there has been a team approach behind the scenes and that Jobs has been the face of the company.  With Apple pulling out of future Macworld Expos and Philip Schiller, VP Marketing, delivering the keynote at Apple’s final Macworld earlier this month, the marketplace is poised to become a lot more competitive.

Many in the tech community are closely watching this transition period for Apple.  I know I’m interested to see the outcome. Hopefully, Apple be able to successfully separate their image from Jobs. I wish Jobs a speedy recovery.

What do you think will happen to Apple during Jobs’ medical leave of absence? 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

With the recent economic upheaval, one of the most significant announcements from the Securities and Exchange Commission seems to have been put on the back burner, or at least may no longer be in the forefront of most CEO’s and CFO’s minds.

The SEC recently announced its proposed roadmap for the eventual conversion of U.S publicly traded companies from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

There are several factors that suggest IFRS will be made mandatory in the near future, including the SEC’s expressions of continued support for a unified set of accounting standards.

The initial plan calls for allowing the largest of the multinational companies to adopt and report financial results in IFRS starting in 2010.  Mandatory reporting for large, mid-sized and small companies would begin in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. Right now this will impact public companies, but private companies should be aware of how it could potentially filter down to their companies.

PKF Texas has written a white paper detailing the impact of the impending conversion which can be found on our website at pkftexas.com/IFRS.

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Last Friday’s Houston Business Journal featured a Q&A section by my friend Phil Morabito, CEO of Pierpont Communications.  He answers several questions about advertising and marketing during a down economy. 

Many companies want to cut their advertising and marketing budgets when times are tight.  Phil makes the point that often, your dollars can go further in this type of economic climate and that by keeping a consistent message in the marketplace, your audience (clients, friends of your firm and others) will remember you were there in good times and bad.

Phil has several other pieces of good advice in the article, which you can access by clicking here.

How are your marketing efforts changing?  What ways have you been able to make an impact while being conscious of your bottom line?  Are you going to curtail your marketing and PR efforts, or simply shift focus?
 

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I have good news!  PKF Texas has promoted our firm administrator, Annabella Green, SPHR, to Director, Human Capital and Firm Administration. 

As a fellow director, I see this as important move for our firm.  By having someone at the director level, overseeing our human capital efforts as well as firm administration, we are demonstrating our commitment to our people. 

Annabella joined our firm in 2004 and has been a great addition.  As director of human capital and firm administration she will oversee the Human Capital Support and Administrative teams, work closely with firm practice leaders to set firm wide policies, as well as planning, organizing, directing and controlling the operations of the firm.  She also handles employee benefits, regulatory compliance and all related functions of human resources including employee relations, and risk management.

Annabella has the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification, which requires reaching a certain level in your career as well as passing a written exam.  The exam for the last few years has had an average pass rate of 57%.  There are only 40,000 SPHR professionals across the globe, and we're lucky to have one in our office!   Annabell is also involved with HR Houston.  

Congratulations Annabella!

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Among the many attributes of successful entrepreneurs, business executives and advisors is the ability to foresee change, and even more importantly, the ability to adapt and execute a plan of action consistent with that change.

When President-Elect Barack Obama began his campaign of “change” in spring 2007, one of his consistent campaign messages was his desire to see fundamental changes in U.S. policy.

Here are some particular proposals that bear watching.

• Healthcare
• Energy and Environmental Policy
• U.S. Job Growth and Protection
• Overall Tax Policy

This new environment adds even further complexities to our ability as business owners and advisors to make planning decisions. Changes to the tax code will be a combination of stimulus and investment incentives, revenue raisers, deterrents, and attempts at social reformation.

As significant changes occur, using your team of business advisors to stay abreast of the most current information available to monitor Congressional proposals will rise to an unprecedented level of importance.

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PKF Texas has been nominated for Marketer of the Year by the American Marketing Association for the second year in a row.

PKF Texas is again in the Financial Services, Non-Banking category.  The winners for each category will be announced on March 2 during a ceremony at the Alley Theatre.  There are a number of recognizable companies who are nominees this year, including The Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, Rice University – Jones School, Kirksey, and Porter & Hedges.

We are proud to be associated with all of the nominees.  They represent the best that Houston has to offer.    

Good luck to the nominees!

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My colleague, Dan Ramey, passed along an interesting blurb he read in Financial Week over the holidays about how much the 2008 bailout will cost compared to other events in U.S. history, adjusted for inflation. Those events include the S&L crisis, the Louisiana Purchase, the New Deal, the Vietnam War, and the all time budget of NASA.

All of those combined are less than the total projected bailout. I don’t like to get too political in this blog, but the numbers are staggering. Financial Week is projecting the total bailout (which includes the $700 billion that Congress approved in October along with extra relief from the Treasury and the Fed) to be over $4.6 trillion. You can see all the figures for yourself here.

I think it’s a good jumping off point to engage in conversation about how and why we ended up in this situation. This is a multifaceted issue, with many factors combining to bring us to where we are today. There’s no one person to blame, and there’s no easy fix. I’m curious to see how we can right the ship we’re currently on, and how this affects our children and their children as they begin to take the reins from the Boomer generation.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

We read about it every day, we hear about it on the news.  We are in the middle of a worldwide economic downtown.  For many folks in the business world, this is their first time to weather the storm and they are scared about what the future may hold.  So what conventional wisdom can we offer to those who don’t know what to do?

First, it’s important to understand the nature of your business and what its daily cash requirements are.  Make sure you have developed an effective cash flow budget that can be used for forecasting your future needs.  If you don’t know what you daily cash requirements are, you won’t be able to effective weather the storm.

Second, develop operational and financial budget scenarios that are realistic and provide a wide range of spectrums for you to react to.  This includes worst case, moderate case, or best case in projecting your business’ operations.

And thirdly, while you may have excellent or outstanding relationships with your banker, it’s always a good idea to meet other bankers, because you don’t want to go looking for a banker in a crisis.  You want to have already established a relationship with someone who knows your company in advance.

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