December 15, 2009

A Christmas Carol (The Accountant’s Version)

“Humbug”, said Ebenezer Scrooge, Fellow of the Institute of Avaricious Accountants, as he counted out the coins on his desk. The candle barely gave enough light and the fire glowed down to its last embers. Shadows gathered round his hunched form. “I’m not making enough”, he grumbled. “It costs me £12,000 per annum to

November 29, 2009

Eliminating wasteful accounting transactions

Eliminating wasteful accounting transactions is the most difficult part of lean accounting for us accountants. After all transactions are our comfort blanket, and some of the first things we do when learning accounting are “T” accounts – transactions. Indeed transactions are part of the alchemy of accountancy. When something looks not quite right with

November 17, 2009

Lean Thought for the Week

I’ve been rereading “The Toyota Way Fieldbook” and am struck by the way the authors close the book. For me, their words truly sum up the difficulties that lean faces in Western businesses. Their words speak for themselves: “When we first start to work with companies, they often ask “Is there a company like

November 12, 2009

Creating Level Pull in Lean Services

Despite the title of this blog, I actually think that it is only rarely possible to create a truly balanced level schedule of customer demand in service situations. The nature of service is such that being available when your consumers want or need your service is something which adds considerable value. Nevertheless, service managers

November 12, 2009

Russian Lean Forum

I attended the Russian Lean Forum in Moscow this week organised by Orgprom. Brian Maskell and I delivered a session on lean accounting to 70 interested Russians from a wider range of businesses, and we participated in several of other sessions. Over 200 people attended the forum from 100 companies – there were only three

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A Christmas Carol (The Accountant’s Version)

Eliminating wasteful accounting transactions

Lean Thought for the Week

Creating Level Pull in Lean Services

Russian Lean Forum