ERM-BC-COOP: ERM links worth visiting (as of March 9, 2009)

Stepped Up ERM, Teresa McKay, Director, Defense Finance & Accounting Service. DFAS is the accounting firm of the Department of Defense (DoD)
http://www.washington-asmc.org/Luncheonpages/Presentations/2008-09%20McKay%20ERM.ppt#290,1,Stepped Up ERM Teresa McKay Director, Defense Finance and Accounting Service

2009 Poised To Be Pivotal Year For ERM, B.G. Yovovich, Entrepreneur.com
http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/193343740.html

ERM in Higher Education, University Risk Management and Insurance Association
http://www.urmia.org/library/docs/reports/URMIA_ERM_White_Paper.pdf

Enterprise Risk Management in Higher Education, Vincent E. Morris, Texas A&M University
http://homelandsecurity.tamu.edu/campus-emergency-template-folder/business-continuity/enterprise-risk-management-in-higher-education.html

Meeting the Challenges of Enterprise Risk Management in Higher Education Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) & the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
http://www.nacubo.org/documents/business_topics/NACUBOriskmgmtWeb.pdf

Risk management compliance holdouts get wake-up call, Elisabeth Horwitt
http://searchcompliance.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid195_gci1340607,00.html

Enterprise risk management: Unearthing the potential paybacks, Elisabeth Horwitt
http://searchcio.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid182_gci1326319,00.html

John Glenn, MBCI, SRP
Enterprise Risk Management/Business Continuity
http://johnglennmbci.com/
Planner @ JohnGlennMBCI.com

ERM-BC-COOP: Invoicing Mistakes Threaten Cash Flow

WebCPA published an e-article titled Invoicing Mistakes Threaten Cash Flow (http://www.webcpa.com/article.cfm?articleid=30910&pg=ros) that points up yet another reason that organizations need an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program.

An organization's financial well being is critical for everyone - employees, stock/share holders, lenders, customers, vendors.

Sending out statements and assuring that payments are made promptly is a large part of assuring that financial well being.

The WebCPA article also points out that collecting debts also can provide an insight into the organization's relations with its clients. If a client that normally pays on time starts extending the payment due date, is the client unhappy with the organization's product or service ... or is the client feeling its own financial pinch?

The article promotes use of a software program to make billing more efficient, but for the ERM practitioner, the primary issue is assuring the bills are conveyed to the customer in a timely manner and that the customer pays on schedule.

The ERM practitioner IS concerned with the "corporate image."

The EMR practitioner IS concerned with the client's financial health.

The ERM practitioner IS concerned with that the organization's vendors are paid on time (to maintain or improve the organization's credit/D&B rating), that the vendors have a business continuity plan to assure continued wares "no matter what," and that the vendor's product meets the organization's quality standards.

The WebCPA article notes that the economy makes it important to make certain bills, and "nags" if necessary, are sent at the appropriate time. As an ERM practitioner who has his own bills to pay, I want to assure in so far as possible, that bills - and nags - always are sent at the appropriate time, regardless of economic conditions.

One thing to bear in mind, a lesson I learned many years ago.

You are in business making widgets.

Who is your competition?

Everyone.

Not just other widget makers, but everyone.

Your customer has, say, $1 to spend.

That dollar can be spent on your widget, be put into a savings account, be used to pay for groceries, but it only can be used once.

The same holds true in the commercial world - get the statements out on time so if your client has to make a choice as to who to pay, your organization is first in line.

John Glenn MBCI, SRP
Enterprise Risk Management/Business Continuity practitioner
JohnGlennMBCI @ gmail dot com
http://JohnGlennMBCI.com

ERM-BC-COOP: Flaunting it

Recently Bank of America's president flew, tin cup in hand, to Washington D.C. in one of the bank's corporate jets to beg Congress for a handout for his bank. According to the media, he rode from the airport to Capitol Hill in a luxury SUV.

Is this an Enterprise Risk Management issue?

I think so - the threat is to both the bank's financial well being and to its image.

The BofA president, who must have known about the automakers' cold reception from Congress when they flew to DC in their private jets, was blatantly thumbing his nose at Congress and, indeed, the American people who, apparently unlike the bank executive, are suffering from the economic "turn down."

At the same time that "image" is very much an ERM issue, it is equally obvious to me that the BofA president, had he been advised of this PR faux pas, would have "shot the messenger."

The word that comes to mind is "Chutzpan," a person full of "chutzpah" or "gall."

If I had an account with the current BofA I'd move it to another bank that made me feel that the customer was important and that my bank's management was fiscally conservative, particularly in these times.

As an American taxpayer I am unhappy with Congress for bailing out over-paid executives with loans lacking any controlling "stings" or security. For the bankers who got the first handouts, it was business as usual, except that the business was "as usual" with my money (and that of other US taxpayers).

I don't have a problem with government owning stock in the organizations it bails out - although my government has proven itself as inept as private industry when it comes to good management. Governments are part of most European and Japanese corporate boards.

In a world so concerned with PR and "image," it is hard to comprehend why the automakers formerly known as "The Big Three" could have been so image-ignorant as to travel in luxury jets to beg for money. But as difficult as that is to accept, it is impossible to accept the BofA president's - there's no other word for it - PR stupidity.

Is he totally isolated from the media? Is his head so far in the sand?

To be fair, the BofA executive is in "good" company. AIG, the insurance giant that forgot about its core business, repeatedly comes with its corporate hand out while financing extravagant events . . . events for which the taxpayer is footing the bill.

I constantly am amazed at the arrogance of management that apparently thinks the consumer-taxpayer is too stupid to react to their extravagance - at our expense.

As a taxpayer I resent the executives' actions.

As a consumer, I intend to take my business elsewhere.

As an enterprise risk management practitioner I only can shake my head and wonder: Doesn't anyone listen to us, to professional risk managers?

John Glenn, MBCI, SRP
Enterprise Risk Management/Business Continuity
http://johnglennmbci.com/
Planner @ JohnGlennMBCI.com