The economic crisis shows the failure to manage capital investments and utilization

The economic crisis shows the importance of managing capital properly. But, businesses today use 20^th century management and cannot manage capital in the set of solutions utilized by the business in performance to produce output results. Capital is lumped together as a fixed asset, developed but never identified as capital, or is labeled as intangible assets. The business does not know the amount invested in solutions, costs of utilization of capital, the worth of capital available, the specific utilization of capital by the business, and the actual return on the capital investment.

Managed capital shows investments and return, performance costs, and worth by solution

All tangible and intangible capital must be identified and organized as the specific solutions available to the business to produce specific results and to record all investments in the solution. Capital solutions are implemented when deployed to a result to set up a performance domain to record business transactions. Capital solution utilization generates business data on solution performance costs, performance effectiveness, result value-added, and other data not captured today. Result value-added by solution provides return on investment and establishes the worth of the solution.

Capital must be managed as part of the managed business

The economic crisis is caused by failure to manage the business. Financial institution cannot manage asset-value, which is actually capital solution worth. Corporations cannot manage costs or margins, because capital solutions are not identified and result value-added is unknown. Corporate financial statements record partial capital in balance sheets and report erroneous business net worth. The only solution is Result-performance Management (R-pM) to organize the business, and capital as part of the business, for 21^st Century Management, and leave 20^th century management problems behind. [more...]

The financial crisis shows the confusion in business, finance, and economic management

The financial crisis causes serious concerns about the methods for business, financial, and economic management. All of a sudden, banks, financial institutions, and other enterprises realize that they do not manage their actual business and finances. We see the impact in the worldwide economic downturn. The financial crisis has shown one thing conclusively. We do not understand fundamental business, financial, and economic management problems. Efforts to date are guesswork at ways to ease the situation.

We need new solutions to business, financial, and economic management

Continual business, financial, and corporate governance problems are caused by deficient 20^th century management used today to manage the enterprise rather than the business. Economic crises occur because businesses are not managed in concert with markets, demand, supply, and coherent government policy. But, no one knows real business management. Corrective actions address conventional enterprise management, and impose more government regulation and compliance reporting on enterprises.

Now is the time to wake up to the unsolvable problems inherent in 20^th century management that lays easily-distorted contrived structures over the business, preventing actual business management.

Result-performance Management (R-pM) is the fundamental solution to business, financial, and economic management problems

Result-performance Management (R-pM) is the only way to manage the actual business as the foundation for 21^st century financial and economic management. R-pM replaces overlaid 20^th century structures with one business structure. R-pM focuses information technology on detailed business data on capital invested, economic output results produced, performance utilizing capital solutions to produce results, business descriptors, enterprises, and time periods for strategic planning for one accurate set of management information. R-pM manages finances as part of capital invested in the business. R-pM manages the actual business as part of the economy, in concert with markets, demand, supply, and government policy.

R-pM often is rejected out of hand, as not the way things are done. But, we cannot continue to manage the enterprises as has always been done. We must open our minds to understand the unsolvable problems of 20^th century management and the actual business hidden under overlaid structures. The coming recession is the ideal time to address the problem, while business is slow and the problems are fresh. [more...]

Capital investments must be organized as solutions to be implemented and utilized as part of the business

Recently we discussed how business results and capital solutions must be organized together in a business structure, to organize the business as “investments in capital as solutions of worth utilized for costs and effectiveness of performance to produce value and quality in results”. Capital solutions are organized into a capital structure by category in the human capability needed to develop and support specific solutions and by class in the business utilization of solutions to be ready to produce results, to produce actual results, and to have the information to produce and document results.

Capital management manages capital solution acquisition, development, and support

Capital management is fundamental to acquire, develop, and support capital utilized to produce results, and performance management is fundamental to implementing and maintaining cost-effective solutions to produce value-quality results. Organized and managed capital is required to eliminate intangible assets, unknown costs, underutilized capital, business complexity, unknown capital worth, and other unsolvable problems. Organized and managed capital is required to establish value chains, develop capital for precise business needs, respond quickly to add or delete business results, optimize operations, have skills and responsibilities for capital development, measure the precise return on capital investments, and gain other benefits prevented by the unorganized and unmanaged capital used today. [more...]

Many managers are interested in R-pM, but are concerned about the authenticity of R-pM

People ask how R-pM originated. Some people are concerned about the authenticity and viability of R-pM.

20^th century management problems were encountered and the need for R-pM was conceived piece by piece over 30 years, on business organization, management improvement, and system development projects with such firms as Booz Allen and Hamilton, Multinational Management, Price Waterhouse, A.T. Kearney, and Arthur D. Little.

R-pM was originally developed as aids to capital solution development and management improvement projects

R-pM first evolved as an aid to business and information systems design and later to manage business change projects, both the project and the changes to the business as the results of the project. It became clear that the only solution to business organization and management problems was to organize and manage the business. Contrived organization and management structures laid over the business had to be eliminated.

Formal development of Result-performance Management began in 2002

After retiring from active consulting, work began in 2002, to develop and document Result-performance Management (R-pM) as the one structure to organize and manage the business. The R-pM Toolkit is now available, and continues to be developed as R-pM evolves. R-pM is now launched for use in business change applications and for use in forward-looking enterprises that want to learn their actual business, and then organize and manage the business for breakthrough cost reductions and competitive advantages. [more...]

Financial management used today has never solved financial management problems

Why do we have unsolvable financial management problems like intangible assets, unknown costs and value, distorted capital worth, un-managed investments and returns, and ill-informed corporate governance? The problems exist because we do not organize and manage the business and we do not organize and manage the capital utilized in the business. Financial management of cash and accruals does not provide accurate business financial management, and is separated from other tangible capital creating capital management problems.

R-pM manages financial and other capital as part of the business

The solution is Result-performance Management (R-pM) to organize the business and the capital utilized for 21^st Century Management. Financial facilities are part of facility capital that manages traditional tangible assets. Financial management is part of facility capital management to integrate and manage all facility financial and equipment assets, facility supply, and financial and non-financial facility records. R-pM eliminates unsolvable financial management problems and manages and reports all financial and other capital as part of actual business operation and development.

R-pM develops specific capital solutions, utilizes all solutions to produce value in results, and manages all investment returns

R-pM provides comprehensive facility capital management to manage all financial and non-financial reusable facility equipment, consumable facility supply, and facility record capital to produce value in results. R-pM manages all capital as part of the business to be developed and supported, and to be utilized in performance to produce output results of value. R-pm uses information technology to manage all capital solutions to know capital worth, development costs, un-amortized balance, performance costs, attributable result value-added, and return of the solution investment. [more...]

20^th century accounting does not keep complete or accurate financial records on the business

Rule No. 4 of the 10 rules of 21^st century management with R-pM: Keep accurate financial and non-financial records on full business operations and development.

Today's enterprise faces many obstacles to professional record capital management because of several 20^th century problems. Financial accounting is often seen as enterprise records management, but maintains a professional view of what it will record, and acts as an administrative function rather than professional records management. Financial accounting records some financial data against a chart of accounts laid over the business. Financial accounting does not keep complete and accurate financial and non-financial records of the actual business. Most other enterprise records are not maintained as enterprise capital to be available to provide needed performance solutions. Records management is a growing problem in today's enterprise requiring a comprehensive professional records management solution.

R-pM enables complete and accurate financial and non-financial records against the actual business

R-pM maintains all business management information against one business structure to integrate organization, planning, directing, control, and reporting. Structures laid over the business are removed. Management information includes result value, capital worth, performance costs, and result investment returns that are "unknown" today. Tangible information capital is maintained as facility records to record all financial and non-financial business transactions and activity in computer records, documents, images, archives, etc. Accounting is one sub-set of professional records management.

R-pm provides an opportunity for accounting to broaden to professional records management

R-pM provides a unique opportunity for the accounting profession to expand to professional records management. R-pm eliminates unsolvable accounting and financial management problems. Professional facility records management maintains financial and non-financial facility records of the actual business, and provides information capital solutions from records, where needed to produce results at all levels of business management [more...]

20^th century management does not maintain accurate financial and non-financial records on the actual business

20^th century management used today does not keep records on the capital items utilized as performance solutions by the business as a set, and does not keep records on the output results produced by the business as a set. Thus, the business cannot be organized or managed and there is no set of complete and accurate records on the business to provide actual business management information. Instead, information is maintained against contrived structures laid over the business, such as organization, planning, budget and account, and reporting structures.

Accounting maintains a sub-set of enterprise records in financial and statistical accounts against a contrived chart of accounts. Financial records on the full cycle of performance costs and result value creation are not maintained. Many non-financial records that should be maintained are not considered as accounting responsibility and are never recorded and managed as information capital.

The records management problem is getting serious with the explosion in email, file transfers, and other records created, entering, and leaving the enterprise. The enterprise has no way to reference records to the actual business, to prevent records being lost due to information complexity, and to properly manage records as information capital.

Rule No. 4 for 21^st Century Management: Keep financial and non-financial records on full business operations and development

Management needs complete and accurate information on the actual business for good corporate governance and business management. This is not possible with 20^th century management, which does not organize or manage the actual business. 21^st Century Management requires accurate financial and non-financial records for the full cycle of business operations, along the chain of results produced by the business, and across the operation-development continuum.

R-pM maintains accurate financial and non-financial records on the actual business to provide accurate and complete management information

Result-performance Management (R-pM) organizes the actual business so that one set of accurate and complete facility records can be maintained on the business and accurate reports on the full business cycle of cost-effective performance producing value-quality results, the results from supplier-provided input results and through enterprise business results to final customer results, and the investment costs in new performance solutions and the return in new result value can be provided. R-pM broadens traditional accounting to professional records management [more...]

Administration is one of the top ten 20^th century management problems

Administration is one of the top ten management problems with 20^th century management. Enterprises have large sums invested in the capital that is utilized in performance, but most have not organized capital, so that it can be managed.. Capital is assigned to a center, labeled as “intangible assets”, or administered by an administration function. Since capital is not identified and organized to be part of the business, capital cannot be managed for operation, development, and utilization.

Rule No. 3 of the ten rules of 21^st Century Management: Organize and Manage Capital for High Utilization and Return

The administration problem is eliminated by Result-performance Management (R-pM). R-pM follows Rule No. 3 of the 10 rules of 21^st century management: Organize and Manage Capital for High Utilization and Return. Capital management is essential to manage the business, the utilization of capital as performance solutions to produce value in results. R-pM manages information capital to eliminate the emerging information complexity and management problems

R-pM organizes performance solutions for professional support and to be integrated to produce results

Capital is organized by the professional capabilities needed to properly manage and support the capital as business, human, facility, or management capital. Capital is organized further by the way it is utilized to produce results as readiness, production, or information capital

Capital is managed to be of high-worth, by being utilized for a managed performance cost to create greater value in the results produced for a known value-added. New capital is developed as specific performance solutions of a known cost to add known value to specific results to manage the return on investments. All enterprises can improve profit margins by using R-pM to organize and manage capital for high utilization and return.

But, enterprises can never manage capital while it lies in centers hidden from view, while it is classified as “intangible assets”, and while those who should be managing it are performing administrative functions [more...]

Accounting, today, does not maintain accurate business records

20^th century management does not organize or manage the business. This makes it impossible to keep records on output results of value produced by the business and the consumption of capital in costs to produce each result. Instead of recording the actual business, a chart of accounts is laid over the business to record income and expenses and the worth of certain known assets. 20^th century accounting records the cash generated and spent by the business, rather than recording the complete development and utilization of capital and the complete economic output results produced by the business.

Accounting, today, contains many unsolvable 20^th century problems

Accounting is one of the main unsolvable problems of 20^th century management. Accounting is separate from the actual business, records only a small sub-set of needed financial and non-financial business records, sees it role as control rather than capital management and business support, allows financial management problems such as intangible assets and unknown costs to persist, does not provide accurate business information needed for corporate management and governance, and on and on.

R-pM accurately records and accounts for the actual business for 21^st Century Management

21^st century management uses Result-performance Management (R-pM) to organize the actual business as one integrated business structure. The business structure replaces all organization, accounting, planning, performance, costing, reporting, and administration structures laid over the business. R-pM employs professional records management to manage facility records as capital, to maintain complete and accurate financial and non-financial records on the actual business, and to provide information performance solutions from records for good corporate management and governance. Records management is integrated within the business to be utilized to make decisions at all levels and to record accurately actual business decisions made [more...]

20^th century management does not manage capital. Certain capital is administered and other capital is neglected. Facility capital includes all reusable and consumable assets and business records. But, the stress is on administering financial capital at the expense of other capital of increasing importance and worth. Financial management and accounting have developed their own principles and practices that isolate financial management from the business and often conflict with the needs of general business management.

R-pM manages all financial and non-financial facility capital as one category containing three classes in facility equipment reused to produce a set of results, facility supply consumed in producing specific results, and facility records for complete documentation of the business in solutions utilized and results produced. This enables integrated planning of the solutions needed to produce results, integrated utilization of solutions that produce the specific result, and integrated record-keeping and record extracts as performance solutions to produce new results. [more...]