How do accounting standards impact privately held businesses? Join Bill as he recalls the milestones that shaped his 13-year tenure as CFO of Angus Industries and the growing accounting challenges that led him to champion little GAAP, a separate set of accounting standards for privately held businesses.
Made Possible By
Advancing Little GAAP
“In accounting, we take economic information and turn it into financial information to help communicate the economics to readers of financial statements. … When I made the transition to a private company from a public one, I realized that the time required to keep up on the new accounting standards was time I was not putting into running the business.”
Competitive Landscape
“We needed to provide our customer with a product that allowed our customer to remain competitive in the marketplace. If our customer didn’t get the business, then we didn’t get the business either. So cost control and cost reduction were the key strategies for us.”
Mentoring Round
“The word ‘team’ is often stated in a business setting, but you really don’t have a team unless you have individuals who care about the success of other people on their teams. So what I liked to do is peruse the department and take the temperature of the team. I’d do this by asking questions, and this helped me get a better understanding of what might need to be addressed.”
Book Pick
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
