Although you will never find them on a balance sheet, your organization's most valuable resources are human beings.

Which is why Learning and Development (L&D) is so important to every corporation, non-profit or governmental agency looking to thrive in the 21st Century.

And that’s the magic of the upcoming ATD 2017 show - The Association for Talent Development's annual event coming to Atlanta, Georgia, May 21-24. 

Show someone a way to develop the career skills they need to be a magnetic force in their industry, and their ears prick up a bit. 

Tell business owners or HR managers how they can level-up employee talent by getting personal access to hundreds of innovators from all over the world, and they’ll likely ask where to register.

Color Accounting is excited to be exhibiting again this year (Booth #1118), and I’m honored to tell you we’ve been asked to present on Sunday the 21st.

If you're looking to develop a talented team, I encourage you to join us.

Hope to see you in Atlanta next month. I'll bring the peaches.

Peter

Not-For-Profit (NFP) is a term commonly used to describe corporations, usually charities, which have a declared social benefit as their purpose, rather than benefiting a specific individual or entity. 

For-Profit organizations, on the other hand, are created to generate a profit for their owners.

But charities are quite free to make a profit. In fact, they need to in order to remain sustainable.

Usually when a charity makes a profit it’s called a “surplus.” But it’s the same thing, rest assured. As long as the surpluses are funneled to the same social benefit stated in the Articles of Incorporation, then all is well and good. 

I think it would be more accurate to call them No-Shareholder Corporations.

Although an NFP can’t distribute surpluses as dividends to shareholders (because it has none), there are many other ways to share the largess - not always fairly, as some recent headlines have shown.

So, before you pull out your credit card to donate, do a little research to find out, for example, how much is being distributed as salaries. Some organizations do better than others in directing resources to the intended beneficiaries.

Peter

According to the CEO of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Corruption is among the most harmful and urgent issues facing the world’s citizens today.

The supervillain called Corruption hinders economic growth and victimizes the most powerless.

But mild-mannered accountants across the globe are the superheroes who are snuffing out Corruption in governments and corporations—armed with truth, justice…and high standards of transparent financial reporting.

The results of a recent study by the IFAC show that, in the words of association head Fayez Choudhury, “the accountancy profession is a crucial part of strong national governance architectures that confront corruption.”

In other words, more accountants equals less corruption. More accountability, if you will. Which means more prosperity for all.

Excuse me while I don my cape…

Peter

How does one account for a unicorn? It depends upon where you find her.

In the California region known as Silicon Valley, unicorns are quite numerous - and widely recognized as real. But their magical balance sheets present unique accounting challenges to their executives, investors and advisers.

On a recent trip to Silicon Valley I had the opportunity to run a workshop for lawyers whose clients wish to become Unicorns.

Unicorn companies are tech startups which have yet to go public but have already been valued at over $1 billion by the private equity market. Uber and Airbnb are two well known examples.

What do those fast-growth companies need most? Capital. The lawyers at my workshop needed to fully grasp the funding side of the balance sheet.

Using Color Accounting, they were able to clearly view the full spectrum of business financing options available to their clients in a new light — and then impart that knowledge with confidence.

Whether they make it to Unicorn status or not, these startups will benefit from the clarity of the simpler, integrated view of their businesses that their advisors now convey.

Sweet dreams, Peter