Finance and Accounting | The Manager's Resource Handbook

13 Essential Ingredients to a Business Operating System and Why You Need One

August 12, 2020 Business Strategy, Employee Performance and Coaching, Finance and Accounting

What to Include in a Business Operating System A business operating system is a comprehensive, cross-functional framework that helps managers standardize and execute their organization’s mission. Further, a business operating system, or BOS, creates a unified way of doing things, from product development, to marketing activities, to how the organization interacts with its customers. An effective BOS will also define

9 Things An MBA Won’t Teach You

February 10, 2019 Business Strategy, Finance and Accounting, Marketing

I’m Glad I Got an MBA, But it Couldn’t Have Taught Me This For years I wanted to go back to school to pursue my MBA. It seemed like the next logical step in my career, but I put it off for one thing or another. Travel. Family. Cost. Time. Eventually, though, I did get my MBA and I’m very grateful for it.

The 10 Rules of Management Economics You Must Know

February 5, 2018 Business Process, Customers, Finance and Accounting, Marketing, Technology, The Manager's Resource Handbook

10 Management Decisions That Drive Business Success Making financial decisions is not limited to just those managers who work in the Accounting department. For both small business and large corporations, whether we realize it or not, every manager and business leader makes decisions on a daily basis that affect their organization’s costs, finances and performance. We at MRH like to refer

3 Ways To Plan Resource Levels

January 2, 2017 Business Process, Business Strategy, Change Management, Finance and Accounting, How To, Teams and Organizations, The Manager's Resource Handbook

3 Resource Planning Methods to Help Predict Staffing Needs Most businesses and organizations go through an annual headcount planning process for the upcoming year. We all know that such activities are important to running a productive organization. And yet, while resource management is critical, doing it well and doing it right is easier said than done. There are a number of methods

7 Ways to Reduce Cost in Your Business

March 29, 2016 Business Strategy, Finance and Accounting, Technology

How to Save Your Small Company’s Hard Earned Cash As all business leaders know, when a company becomes strained and pressed for cash, we need to look for ways to reduce our costs and expenses. While cost control is always important, we naturally spend more during periods of growth to support the increasing size and momentum of the organization. The

5 Inexpensive Ways to Pay for Training Employees

February 15, 2016 Finance and Accounting, Product Development, Teams and Organizations

How I Cut the Cost of Training My Employees in Half Many managers are familiar with the old 70, 20, 10 Rule for employee development. The Rule suggests that 70% of an employee’s development should be learning-by-doing while 20% should be through mentoring. According to this principle, the last 10% of an employee’s growth and development should be the result of

How to Design an Office – 8 Tips for Managers

July 12, 2015 Employee Performance and Coaching, Finance and Accounting, Interviews, Hiring, and Layoffs

8 Workplace Remodel Tips for Managers Doing it Themselves A workplace is more than just the four walls that surround people. Rather, a modern workplace is an environment in which ideas are born, where breakthroughs are made, and where profit is generated. Impressive campuses likes those of Apple or the trendy refurbished factory that now houses a Brooklyn start up

5 Business Cases for Justifying an Increase in Headcount

March 13, 2015 Finance and Accounting, Interviews, Hiring, and Layoffs, Project Management, Technology

Estimating the Cost of a New Hire Fighting for resources is a frustrating problem we’ve all dealt with as managers and business leaders. Every one of us has said it at one point or another: ‘Too much to do, not enough people to do it.’ Justifying more staff is certainly difficult, but it is possible when you create a

How to Justify A Need for Training

March 6, 2015 Employee Performance and Coaching, Finance and Accounting

Is Your Training Plan Being Cut Year After Year? Read On… It’s a battle out there, folks. Between a fragile economy, steep competition, and the rising costs of business, it seems like we as managers spend as much time cutting costs as we do planning our budgets in the first place. The first step in trimming a budget, of course, is to limit what

Six Key Strategies for a Business Renewal

February 20, 2015 Business Strategy, Finance and Accounting

Finding Your Way in Business When The Odds are Against You Nothing is going your way. Cash is drying up. You’re not sure what to do next. No one else seems to have answers, either. All you get are more questions. A business turnaround is one of the most complex and challenging experiences a manager or business leader will ever go through

The Top 5 Challenges Facing The Modern Manager

November 30, 2014 Featured Posts, Finance and Accounting, Interviews, Hiring, and Layoffs, Technology

Management Challenges and Solutions For Today’s Organization Over the past few weeks, I’ve been participating in a significant hiring binge by my firm. Having interviewed candidate after candidate, the process of filling more than 20 new positions is extremely fast-paced, if not frantic, considering how important hiring decisions are. How do I properly assess a candidate’s skills when I am meeting

Building a Budget: Getting the Funding Your Team Needs

November 9, 2014 Finance and Accounting, How To, Project Management

How to Build a Department Budget If you’ve ever had to build a budget for work, you know the stress, headache and aggravation it often entails. If you have not, well, consider yourself lucky. Either way, every leader knows that fiscal management is important and that our stakeholders depend on us to manage within a budget – our team, our shareholders, and in some

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budget, planning, small business

What Dial Up Internet Can Teach Us About Managing Change

May 8, 2014 Business Strategy, Change Management, Finance and Accounting, Management & Leadership, Product Development, Technology, The Manager's Resource Handbook

How to Manage Change in Business Everyday, our industry and market changes. Our staff will change. And leaders of our organizations move on, and new ones take their place. All of this forces us as business leaders to constantly keep tabs on our organization to make sure things run smoothly. Unfortunately, with such dynamics many businesses

Demystify Project Estimating with 3 Simple Steps

April 4, 2014 Business Strategy, Customers, Finance and Accounting, How To, Marketing, Product Development, Project Management, The Manager's Resource Handbook

How to Estimate Hours for a New Project How many times have you been asked the question “It’s going to take you how long?” when you present an estimate of hours required for a new project? Regardless of whether it is your customer or a fellow manager, the conversation is often the same. As the expert, you anticipate the project will

How Establishing Specific Metrics Strengthens Your Business

March 5, 2014 Business Process, Finance and Accounting, Management & Leadership, Productivity, The Manager's Resource Handbook

How to Create Business Metrics Our world revolves metrics. Businesses track financial investments to see how they grow. Professional and weekend runners alike continually push themselves to shave seconds of the time it takes them to run a mile. And some people monitor their vehicle’s gas mileage to help determine when they need an oil change. Metrics, after all, are used to measure

Is Your Research and Development Under House Arrest?

February 4, 2014 Business Strategy, Finance and Accounting, How To, Project Management, Technology, The Manager's Resource Handbook

Research and Development Spending: Where Did the Money Go? I recently read Borderless World by Kenichi Ohmae in which he discusses the approaches companies take in terms of their technology growth and research investment. In his book, Ohmae highlights the differences between companies that truly flood the pipeline with investment, and those that play the betting game with a handful of specific projects. Having