Category: Work related

Have you ever quit a job and walked out without giving any notice? What caused you to leave so urgently?

Have you ever quit a job and walked out without giving any notice? What caused you to leave so urgently?

Well I did one time, because the boss who was also a close friend (which can be complicated) got many months behind on paying me. This was “constructive dismissal” in the jurisdiction concerned so I could leave the moment I liked. I didn’t want any discussion so I just came in at a weekend, fished the fish out of my office fishtank and took them home, and took all my other personal belongings home. I took the computer and car from the company that I had been using as lien against the debt, and later we agreed on a payment plan which involved me taking ownership of those assets as part of paying off the debt to me and me forgiving part, and an instalment plan with interest for a third part, but already I had to work elsewhere. Obviously I had got the new role sorted prior to walking out the door.

I did not steal his clients or run on his business although some who wanted to come to me did come over and I declared these in every case.

Ten years down the line I am trying again with the same boss, as he seems to have learned his lesson and we both missed the good times we had working together. But he knows how I will react if he ever does that again, and so he will make every effort not to.

Continue reading “Have you ever quit a job and walked out without giving any notice? What caused you to leave so urgently?” →

Fragment from my Lecture “Importance of Properly Prepared Assumptions in Business Modelling”

Fragment from my Lecture “Importance of Properly Prepared Assumptions in Business Modelling”

Original YT playout date: 21 August 2010
Duration: 1:01:41

What this lecture is for

This is the first hour of my lecturing this year (fourth year running) for the Cambridge Python project. It is an incubator scheme, which we do under the aegis of Cambridge University and the British Embassy in Poland. Students from all the Polish Universities can apply with a business idea. If they work hard they can take their idea through all the steps, and produce a business model using the method I teach them.  These are the finalists who’ve already whittled themselves down to a lecture-room-full, and these teams get to present their idea to a panel of real business angels. If they can convince them to invest, then their dreams of owning their own business will become a reality.

First they need to go through very intensive training from me and also from people from the global Management Consultancy firm McKinsey & Company and do homework to ensure that their projects are really state-of-the-art. Now I would be the first to admit that these days this modelling is nothing so impressive, but it was very good at the time. These young people, those who paid proper attention, learned some serious investing skills and what I tell about assumptions is a good mental model which is reasonably timeless.

Why Cambridge pythons?

Here the lecture is hosted by the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Mathematics. The hall seats about 120 and was packed with finalists some of whom had come from distant parts of the country, and the session lasted three hours with one break.

Cambridge Python is so called because the Pythons of comedy came from Cambridge, but so does the idea of “pythoning”. Pythons are the only snakes that look after their young rather than leave them to fate. Therefore, business pythons are people who break the mould of the uncaring business dog-eat-dog approach and are ready to nurture young entrepreneurs on a pro-bono basis.
Continue reading “Fragment from my Lecture “Importance of Properly Prepared Assumptions in Business Modelling”” →

How do I respond/acknowledge my boss for the task assignment in email? Is it fine to say “Thank you so much for sending the task. I will get back to you once I get questions?”

I don’t understand what “get questions” means. It’s not clear whether you meant that you would receive questions from someone else. I would also be unsure if you are actually doing the task yourself or subbing it out to some cheaper person.

The unthanked boss may become grumpy…

Initially I would respond to receiving a new project with something like, “looks like an interesting project, many thanks. I will now do some initial research and if need be I’ll follow up with some questions to make sure we’re on the same page with regard to scope, time frame and deliverables. Thanks again for assigning me to this task”.

People always want to hear thanks from their bosses for their work but not that many people are thankful to their bosses for giving them opportunities to do interesting projects. If you are, then that’s very good. We all want to receive some expressions of gratitude now and again. But if someone makes a business they hear very little thanks. I have yet to see the tax office send a thank-you note for the taxes this business owner pays into the economy, even though that’s the take home pay of all the tax office officials.

Continue reading “How do I respond/acknowledge my boss for the task assignment in email? Is it fine to say “Thank you so much for sending the task. I will get back to you once I get questions?”” →

CPA = CIA ???

Original YT playout date: 6 March 2010
Duration: 9:42

In these days where corporate governance is taken more seriously and more responsibility devolves on the external auditor in matters of fraud, which used to be considered more the province of the internal auditor, what new powers are auditors being given to cope with the pressure on them to uncover frauds in corporations? No new powers at all, in most countries. Only the downward pressure on fees (down over the last fifteen years by about 50% on PPP) which means that we have less time to do the additional work.

There are, however, techniques available which are similar to those used by the CIA in non-confrontational interrogation, and these techniques are available taught by ex CIA trainers and operatives. The way in which the profession is going is not the way most CPAs want it to go, but as people of integrity who cannot just pay lip service and sign a statement that we have properly investigated fraud risk and sign underneath that, there seems to be no other option that for us to start to avail ourselves of advanced techniques that really have more to do with psychology and criminology than the traditional practice of accountancy.
Continue reading “CPA = CIA ???” →