Christian Leadership Alliance will have a webcast on 5/23/13 on board member orientation in a nonprofit organization – Effective and Efficient Governing Board Orientation.
The presentation is from Mr. Michael Batts, CPA, managing partner of Batts Morrison Wales & Lee, P.A. His firm focuses on serving the nonprofit community.
If I’m reading the description correctly, the webcast will cover the material in Mr. Batts’ book, Board Member Orientation.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
Tragedy of Fraud – The Ripple Effects from Fraud and the Wages Earned will be released soon in Kindle format. This is a compilation of blog posts about the damage caused by fraud. It will also discuss the fraud triangle.
The sections of the book are: Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Auditing, Books you might enjoy, Fraud, Other stuff | Tagged: fraud | Permalink
Posted by Jim Ulvog
Reuters reports “Exclusive: HSBC might pay $1.8 billion money laundering fine – sources”. That’s up from the $1.5B they previously announced as a reserve.
The article reports of leaks that a settlement could include a deferred prosecution agreement with the huge fine. It then discusses the difficulty prosecutors are having in deciding whether to pursue the fine, which may or may not change behavior, or to actually prosecute a few individual bankers.
Update: WSJ reports 12-10-12 an imminent settlement could be for $1.95B, including a deferred prosecution agreement and admission of violating the bank secrecy act.
The pattern in recent years has been to negotiate a fine and impose a deferred prosecution agreement. Yet there seems to be repeat behavior.
As an aside, DealBook has sources that say Standard Chartered to Pay $330 Million to Settle Iran Money Transfer Claims. That would be to the feds and is in addition to the $340M they already agreed to pay New York State. If correct, that would be $670M for laundering $250B of Iranian money.
Is there an option other than indicting the bank, which would likely be a death sentence?
Is it time for individual prosecutions?
After the explosions of big financial scandals at the turn-of-the-century, I very clearly noticed the change in how such cases are prosecuted.
Previously, the low-level people in a criminal scheme or financial scandal could trade testimony against their bosses in return for walking away without prosecution. Those have been the rules for decades.
Not anymore.
2 Comments | Books you might enjoy, Pondering | Tagged: bank fiascos, ethics, money laundering | Permalink
Posted by Jim Ulvog
A: No way.
This is the conclusion of Saundra Schimmelpfennig in her e-book, Lies, White Lies, and Accounting Practices; Why nonprofit overhead doesn’t mean what you think it means
Many people believe that the ratio of supporting services to total expenses is the ideal way to measure the efficiency of a nonprofit organization.
Even at a conceptual level, that is a flawed idea.
At a practical level, Ms. Schimmelpfennig explains it is so easy to play games with the functional allocation that the overhead ratios should be viewed skeptically.
4 Comments | Auditing, Books you might enjoy, Non-profit accounting | Tagged: functional allocation, nonprofit accounting, overhead ratios | Permalink
Posted by Jim Ulvog
In Toxic Charity – How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (and How to Reverse It), Robert Lupton describes the harmful unintended consequences of the way we usually do charity.
In 1981, he moved into the neighborhood where he was serving. On Christmas Eve, he was visiting the home of some new friends.
Mom, dad, and the kids were anxiously awaiting visitors. There was one strand of lights on the small artificial tree in the corner. The nicely dressed people from the suburbs arrived with armfuls of nice presents wrapped so pretty.
In the midst of the unwrapping, the father slipped out of the house. Later one of the kids asked where he was. Mom said he had to go to the store.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
My tale on internal control done well and poor at two churches is now available in Kindle format at Amazon.
Price is $0.99.
You can read the book on your Kindle device, on any smart phone with a Kindle app, or on your computer using the Kindle-for-PC application.
At Amazon, search for my name, Ulvog, or the book title, Once Upon Internal Control.
Or click here to go directly to the book.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
Barna Group has released new research about young people who drop out of church. Their book is called, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church…and Rethinking Faith.
They have posted an executive summary of the research on their blog: Five Myths about Young Adult Church Dropouts.
The myths: Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
A few weeks ago I attended the Dave Ramsey Live! event in Long Beach. Here is just one of the many great comments he had:
If you are in business, you should be reading these three authors:
- Jim Collins
- Seth Godin
- Malcolm Gladwell
I wholeheartedly agree.
At my other blog, Attestation Update, I’ve posted a list of some great books from these authors that can help you stretch your brain.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
The radical changes in the work world, which are very real today, are going to require constant upgrades to our skills.
The 9-10-11 edition of The Economist had a series of articles on the changing work environment. One article in particular, My big fat career, discusses the changes already underway.
One particular author, Lynda Gratton from the London Business School, suggests you will need to acquire a new skill or expertise every few years. Continuous learning in other words.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
(cross-post from my other blog, Attestation Update)
Subtitle of the book is A business fable… about shedding the three fears that sabotage client loyalty. It’s a book by Patrick Lencioni which you can find here. As with his other books, it is an entertaining fictional story that illustrates the points instead of making them directly.
Primary focus of the book is business consultants. It applies to directly to anyone in business working with external clients. It can also apply to many people in the ministry world.
He suggests there are three fears that get in the way of loyalty from your clients. These fears tear down transparency and openness. Getting past those fears in order to improve transparency is the way this book can help anyone in business or ministry.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
How to combine the idea of opportunity cost, cul-de-sac, and government overruns in one post?
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal editorial (behind paywall) says:
When it was first conceived, the shuttle was supposed to be a kind of space truck, going into orbit 50 to 75 times a year and carrying large payloads at a cost of $54 million a launch in 2011 dollars. It didn’t work out that way. The shuttle went aloft an average of five times a year. The cost-per-launch averaged some $1.5 billion. Its heaviest payloads barely exceeded what an unmanned Delta IV rocket can carry.
Let’s do some math, shall we?
Leave a Comment » | Books you might enjoy, Economics, Pondering | Permalink
Posted by Jim Ulvog
In the back of the mind, most ministry and business leaders want to be “the best in the world”. With the way we think of that phrase, it is extremely difficult to achieve that level.
Seth Godin, in his book The Dip, offers a different perspective on what that phrase means when he explains the definition of best and world. A change in focus means it is possible to be best in the world.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
Previous post introduced the ideas of Cliffs, Cul-de-sacs, and Dips explained by Seth Godin in his book, The Dip.
What do we do with that idea?
Seth Godin says:
It’s okay to quit, sometimes.
In fact, it’s okay to quit often.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
When is it time to push through the obstacles and keep trying to achieve?
That is the topic of Seth Godin’s book, The Dip. Since the book was written in 2007, I am late to the party. Still want to write about it because most people I talk to are not familiar with his work.
We need to distinguish between cliffs, cul-de-sacs, and dips.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
We all need to gain balance in our lives. Get some ideas on how in Dr. Richard Swenson’s book In Search of Balance. (full disclosure – I am not compensated for the Amazon link.)
From my Amazon review:
More and more of everything faster and faster is the phrase Dr. Swenson uses to describe life today.
Eight words that describe all aspects of our world. More and more - a rapidly increasing volume and quality and intensity. Of everything – all aspects of our life, such as technology, money, every area of knowledge, experiences, entertainment, great books we should read, quality of consumer goods. Faster and faster – the rate of change is accelerating.
Nobody reading this review needs to be told your life is out of balance. With a moment of reflection we all realize that. That we don’t have a spare moment to reflect is the crux of the problem.
Instead of us just trying harder, or working smarter, or just ‘getting it together’, he provides a series of prescriptions on how to gain equilibrium in life.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
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