Few people would dispute that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, founder of SpaceX and co-founder of PayPal, is a brilliant man.

But many do wonder how he can become so well-versed in so many wide ranging topics so quickly as to simultaneously run companies that build cars and launch rockets.

It turns out that Elon (a fellow South African) has a system for rapidly absorbing, comprehending and retaining new information, which he shared in a recent Reddit Ask Me Anything session.

• "It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to."
  

We agree wholeheartedly with this approach.

When teaching Accounting Literacy, we start with a tree called the BaSIS Framework. It explains the meaning and purpose of the Balance Sheet and the Income Statement.

By first communicating these fundamental concepts, we ensure that our workshop participants will have a strong structure to hang further knowledge upon.

And, I'm happy to report, it seems to be working!

Best regards, Peter

Many firms see little point investing time, energy and resources into teaching business acumen to non-financial people, such as sales professionals or human resource managers.

Quoting Robert A. Heinlien, they will say, "Never attempt to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." 

We beg to differ! We think all animals should sing - and as importantly - can sing. Whether they are sales animals, or people who think they are "not a numbers person."

We sometimes observe a sort of sour grapes logic at work: people think "learning to work with financial information is really hard," which then leads to "it's not important to everyone anyway."

"No, no, no," we say. "Wrong on both counts. It's important for everyone - and it's easy."

Case in point: We recently held a tailored Color Accounting workshop with the sales team of a huge international insurance company, to rave reviews.

The salespeople loved seeing the impact of their efforts in top line revenues - and understanding their clients' businesses better. This new perspective led them to see how they could change certain sales practices to improve bottom-line profitability for both parties.

They were not the least bit annoyed and, in fact, were in much better harmony with their firm and their clients going forward.

What about your organization? Which department would you like to offer singing lessons to first?

Best regards, Peter

To see how strong a currency is, buy a basket of goods at a local store. Repeat with a similar basket from another country. Convert the prices paid to a common currency, say the US dollar.

Compare the dollar prices and proceed to marvel at how life is more or less expensive in each country.

For a more digestible comparison, make that basket a Big Mac hamburger. Sesame bun, patties, lettuce, etc.

This is what The Economist magazine started doing 31 years ago. 

For example, a Big Mac in Switzerland will cost you US$6.74, while in South Africa the sandwich will cost you US$2.26. Factor that into your travel plans!

Works well for yen, peso, pounds and many destinations. 

Even though the Big Mac is most expensive in Switzerland, it takes only 10 minutes to earn it. Whereas in Egypt it is the cheapest (US$1.75), but it takes the average worker 62 minutes of labor to afford one.

The chart displayed in this recent article in The Economist will show you where to visit for bargain dining. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe it's time to spend some Euros on lunch.

Best regards, Peter

I am writing to introduce you to the Accounting Literacy Foundation and to ask for your input on how we can best fulfill our mission.

• To advocate for the public awareness of accounting literacy as a distinct form of literacy, and as an essential social skill
• To support challenged communities to access accounting literacy education
  

In all communities, accounting literacy is the first step towards financial harmony and a life that supports health, wellbeing and prosperity.

• People manage their personal finances better,
• More effective businesses create more jobs
• Public resources are used more accountably

Definition 1.1 of Democratize in the Oxford English Dictionary is "Make (something) accessible to everyone." We intend to democratize accounting.

For many years we and our global network of partners have provided pro-bono training to underserved communities in Africa, Australia and North America.

Now we are creating this separate non-profit entity as a supportive center-of-gravity for those efforts, and to bring together the best minds in the world to determine how we can do the most good for the most people, as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I hope you will join us.

Best regards, Peter

If accountants can’t reliably measure an asset, we ignore it altogether. We don’t guess, we just leave it out.

Investors, brokers and analysts have no such constraints. They are free to value a company based upon all manner of chickens - both hatched and unhatched.

An excellent example of this disconnect is the recent 10% rise in the value of shares of Netflix (an $8 billion increase) due to their report of larger than anticipated growth in subscribers during the second quarter of 2017.

Although Netflix added 5 million new customers during the period - causing investors to swoon - their accountants did nothing. 

While there is surely value in all those new customers, accountants can't show that value on the balance sheet. The money those customers will pay hasn’t come in yet. Unhatched chickens.

This dichotomy was made clear in an article in the Wall Street Journal:

"Netflix has indicated to Wall Street it would like to be judged primarily based on its revenue and global operating-profit margins, as opposed to metrics such as its subscriber additions. But many investors have remained focused on subscriber growth as a proxy for long-term financial health."

Best regards, Peter