Treading the fine line of reporting

 February 24 – I warned that having two jobs might reduce my time for writing. I was right.

Last week’s reshuffle (or was it coup?) needed some inevitable follow on work. AM needed briefing on what I expected of her, but candidly our minds were pretty much as one anyway. And she has wasted no time getting to grips with things, including her staff, now reinstated having withdrawn their notice to quit.

AM and I agreed I need to know about her plans for changes in internal controls and I need to know about all perceived risks to them. I also need data, and timely warnings of risk. Thereafter she manages things.

In furtherance of that AM has already issued clear new guidelines on lines of delegation and responsibility within the department, team members own duty to report, and their own duty to issue risk warnings.

The emphasis on communication is fundamentally different from #1’s old approach. She kept issues within the department for as long as possible – which is I might say so is typical accountant behaviour.  I want people to know when action might be needed as soon as possible, but I also expect those in the accounts department to develop their own fine tuned ability to appraise when this is the case. Data overload on others is inappropriate. Under-reporting can lead to loss. The line is fine: AM knows and understands that and wants to build an interactive department on the basis of others knowing it too.

I think I did do that. If she succeeds in rebuilding that ethos I’ll be happy.