Because bean counters run our corporations, our economy has collapsed.

Our businesses, and our country, used to be driven by ideas and innovation.

Now they are driven by bean counters.

The accountants look at the books and decide that the simplest way to increase the bottom line is to cut wages.

As they cut wages, fewer and fewer people are able to afford the products they sell.

The economy implodes.

We need to get the bean counters out of the boardrooms and fill them with creative engineers and designers who invent new products and services that increase the bottom line.

In the end, we need to re-populate our boardrooms with the productive people who actually do the work of the business that they are in, who understand the value of a days work and are willing to pay for it, in order to dig us out of this depression.

IMHO.

Just like all those eggheads staffing NASA.

"We need to save money - slash the R&D department! Waste of money, coming up with NEW stuff! We have lots of old stuff that's selling just fine!"

And then shovel a shitload of money into the marketing department and put them in charge of product design.




Most of our greatest companies were started by and run by a person - usually kinda crazy - who had a dream and a vision of something, and made it happen; and while they were in charge, and their engineers came in charge later, the companies continued to innovate and explore and experiment and invent.

As soon as the MBAs and the accountants showed up, it all went to hell.

so many corps are stuck in a swirling vortex of inevitable doom
created by their own stinginess and short-sightedness.

I even heard one of these bottom liners object to a great growth plan with this gem...
"why would we want more customers?" ... and he meant it.

I don't think the problem is the beancounters; I think it's the senior management.

I agree, lack of creativity etc. can be a problem.

But AIG's, GM's, Lehman's failures aren't just or even mainly about a lack of new ideas; they're about looting.

Right now, the only check on management is Boards of Directors. But management selects the Directors, who -- surprise -- are usually their buddies. Supposedly subject to approval by shareholders, but how often have you as a shareholder scrutinized the proclivities of proposed directors of cos. whose stock you own? Let alone effectively nominated an alternative.

We need Noam Chomskys on these boards. Not likely under the system as it stands.

Corporate government is a pseudo-democracy that does NOT in fact protect the shareholders, let alone rank-and-file employees or anyone else, but rather is controlled by senior execs for their own benefit. The fundamentals of the system need to change, but frankly, I haven't figured out a solution.

If senior management were motivated to work for the shareholders, they would listen to beancounters -- who, after all, do provide some useful info about financial status, etc. -- but not use them as an excuse to eviscerate the company's long-term profitability in order to pay themselves excessive compensation in the short run.

is made up of bean counters. When engineers or sales or people who know about the business are in charge, there seems to be less of the looting.

In GM's case, the cars worked and sold when the people who ran things were engineers. The company even worked when it was run by salesmen. But when the accountants took over, the company began tanking.

(OT: I recommended this post and it still recorded no recs. Did someone unrec it at the same time? There is a problem with this new system. And who would unrec this post? Accountants?)

Touchy, Touchy.

40+ years, and although the bean counters keep the records and tell mgmt. how much $$ they made, believe me, the bean counter, at best, hears FIND SOME MORE INCOME! Make that bottom line at least X over last quarter!

The culture of GREED has overtaken all our corps, including those on WS. It doesn't much matter what the execs background is, they all want MORE MONEY! You can't imagine how many times I've heard one exec say "Hey, XX at XX Corp. just got $XX,XXX,XXX in his new contract, and I'm worth more than him!"

The banks were so greedy that they were willing to participate in this pyramid scheme. GM was more interested in moving it's production out of the U.S. than in grabbing a larger market share.

Just look around and see how many different kinds of cars are on the road. Toyota Tundras, Volvos, Audi, Mazda Ravs, Subaru's to name a few. The variety is stunning. The market was there, but GM was not able to capitalize on it. In that sense, GM hired too many MBAs and not enough engineers. They really lost out.

to be able to convice oeioke they really want something. However, direct TV ads, QVC, HSN, Budweiser beer...all do it every day!

Ed Schultz talked a few weeks ago about Lee Iococca when he convinced Concgess to lend Chrysler the $$ they needed to survive. Ed said "Do you remember those ads? Lee went out on TV hinself and said we've created a great product. If you can find a better one buy it!" That ad campaign saved Chrysler! Ed asked Where the hell are those kind of ads now?

I still believe if any company has the right advertising they can convince people they not only want but need their product. With the amount or $$ spent by these car co's, they sure could afford the best!

Tide does it. Shamwow does it. I happen to think Korean Air does a great job...although I have no desire to go to Korea. The beer cimmercials IMO are the best! I loved the "You better be drinking YOUR water!" ad.

Ford is doing a good job with their Lincoln ad using using the Major Tom music.

But bean counters do run corporations. Maybe you didn't, but the corporations that hit the wall of greed and short sightedness were run by former numbers guys. They didn't know how the toy business, or the energy business, or the car business really worked. All they knew was how to make the numbers come up for them.

I'm not coming down on been counters in general. I'm not one and I certainly couldn't run an automobile company either, or a bank. The numbers people got to the position because they made the stocks look good even though the company and the products were sucking. Greed isn't limited to bean counters. All fields are infested with that. It's just that their bean skills made it possible for greed to be hidden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Smith_(executive)

The Author of the decline of General Motors.

Bean counter.

Not a 'car guy'.

Lots of corps have been absolutely hammered flat by short-sighted, only seeing next quarter profits bean counters.

Hopefully, it is coming to an end.

from the ground up.

During the heyday of the Japanese corporation, they used to take liberal arts grads, try them out in different departments for a few years, and then give them their permanent assignment based on where they performed best.

Then, beginning in the 1980s, companies started hiring only business majors, preferably MBAs.

The whole MBA cult taught that managing a company was managing a company. You didn't have to understand the product.

That's why John Sculley, who came from Pepsi Cola, nearly drove Apple Computer into the ground. Managing a soft drink company is real different from managing a computer company.

Many of these knuckle-heads know diddly squat about the industry they are involved in.

bottom line by any means....

Accounting only tallies the receipts and expenses.

because bean counters and their ilk think that profits are free.