The First 1000 Point Swing

Friday saw on Wall Street a "first". It was the first time ever that the Dow Jones Industrial Average swung over 1000 points in a single trading session. What can this tell us? Well it shows us how irrational investors can be. In a single day sentiment on the market swung so wildly that a fortune could have been made on the spread.

How Much For an MBA?

How much will earning an MBA earn you? That's hard to say (impossible, actually) since each case is different with many variables:

• Which school you graduated from?
• Which industry you work in?
• What is your undergraduate degree in?
• How well you did in Grad School?
• What is the strength of the local and national job market?

But on average, according to the Princeton Review, recent MBA graduates could make up to 35 percent more than those without the degree.

[Photo Source: USAF Public Domain]

3 Courses You Can't Miss

When you are deciding on a schedule, you'll have a pick of required and optional courses. Of course the required courses will need to be taken, but your concentration or elective classes are free to choose. Here are some great ones to look for in your catalog:

1. Organizational Behavior - You'd think it would all be common sense, but in fact OB is a real scientific discipline with a lot of research and analysis behind it. What motivates people and how they form teams or hierarchies is very valuable to know in the business world.
2. Financial Management - Don't be fooled, I'm not talking about Financial Accounting -- that's boring stuff (and probably a graduation requirement). Financial Management is what the financial analysts do. It involves funding business operations, maximum cash flow, and making strategic decisions on how to use Free Cash Flow to improve the business.
3. Business Economics - This is a really interesting course if you can find it. It's all about macro economics in the business (and government) world. Ever wanted to know how the Federal Reserve Bank works, or how companies raise capital, then this is the course for you!

3 Ways to Success in Business School

As a recent business school graduate, I have a few tips on how to succeed. Let me share them with you:

1. Attend Every Class! Seems like a no-brainer, but as we can all remember from college (undergrad) the temptation to skip a class or two is there. In business school this is even more of a bad idea. So much of the experience and learning is discussion driven, you can't afford to miss a course. Performing the readings will not be enough!
2. Do the Readings! OK, as I just mentioned, you can't get through business school just by doing the readings, but this does not mean they are not vital. A lot of b-school will be about reading case studies and analyzing them. If you are not prepared to discuss them, then you are not going to get the most out of the course!
3. Participate! The more you participate, whether it be in class discussions or out of class activities (study groups, office hours, etc), the more the information you are learning will sink it. It's not about memorizing formula or dates -- b-school is all about learning concepts and how to apply them to real world (i.e. complex) situations.

Management Information Systems

Management Information Systems (MIS) are one part of the Information Technology discipline. MIS is used for management to make decisions such as:

• Productivity levels
• Inputs / Outputs
• Operational decisions
  
• Market trends
• Inventory levels
  

These needs of these specific systems vary. They can be off the shelf systems, semi-customized platforms (like SAP), or custom made information systems.

Business Law

There are many issues in business law (also known as commercial law) including:

• Contracts
• Product Liabilities
• Warrantees and Guarantees
• International business law
• Human resource and employment law

As you can see there are specific issues at hand for business law and as such there are specialize law firms dedicated to the subject. In larger companies, there are entire units of legal specialists to handle the specific issues.

Buy In

"Buy In" is a crucial term when it comes to many areas of business, project management, and team building. Buy In is when a group of stakeholder all believe in a common goal or outcome. When this happens, a natural tendency to focus on the goal and improve teamwork. When a common goal exists which all stakeholders believe in, then the differences between them become less important. Obtaining Buy In should therefore be a top priority of managers, business leaders, and project managers throughout all stages of execution.

Cash vs. Accrual Accounting

You'll hear these terms a lot when starting up a business. Which one to use and what do they mean? Well basically Cash accounting means you only focus on cash inflows and outflows in your record keeping. When money comes in your hands (or your bank), you record it as income. When it leaves your hands (of your bank), it is an expense. Accrual accounting, on the other hand, means you book the incomes or expenses when the underlying transactions are made. If a customer sends you a purchase order for $500, you would record that $500 as revenue (income) with the order, and not wait until you actually get the money. Most startups use cash accounting since they live or die based on cash flow, but more established businesses usually go with the "more proper" accrual accounting. For more on this, read about it in this nice article.

Goal Alignment

What is Goal Alignment? Well it is a term which is used in multi-organization project management. Goal Alignment is when multiple project partners create inter-unit mechanisms where the success or failure of one party affects the other. It's sort of like "If you win, I win" and "If I lose, you lose". This can be helpful to remove barriers when multiple business units within an organization are working together on a project.

What is a Matching Gift Program?

Matching Gift Programs is where an individual or company (usually a company), matches a person's donation to a charity, trust, or educational institution with a donation of their own. Many large corporations have such programs and often match dollar-for-dollar up to $2000 a year. Check with your company's Human Resources to see if your company participates and make your donations go farther.

Financial Reporting

Financial Reporting is crucial for every business to operate. It tells you as the business owner or manager the exact financial condition the business is in. There are three main parts of the Financial Reporting:



Cash Flows

Managing cash is probably the most important thing for a business, especially a new one. The statement of cash flows will allow you to track your cash levels throughout the year, using lines of credit when needed.



Income Statement

The incomes statement is your final profit and loss calculation. It takes into account your sales, subtracts your costs, and figures your after-tax profit (or loss) on continued operations. The cash flow statement will tell you how the business performed.



Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is setup as an equation: Assets = Liabilities + Shareholder Equity. The amounts on either side add up to the other, hence the name "balance" sheet. This report is crucial is informing you about the health of your business. Too many assets, and you could have too much inventory. Too many liabilities, and you could be greatly in debt.

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 31 December 2007.This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content. The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.