History of Accounting

Simran Samtani - Marketing Director

About 500 yrs ago, Luca Pacioli—the "Father of Accounting" , a mathematician and merchant wrote the first surviving accounting textbook  on double-entry accounting - "The Summa"

His system included most of the accounting cycle as we know it today.

He described the use journals and ledgers, and he warned that a person should not go to sleep at night until the debits equalled the credits!

His ledger included assets (including receivables and inventories), liabilities, capital, income, and expense accounts.

He demonstrated year-end closing entries and proposed that a trial balance be used to prove a balanced ledger.

Also, his treatise alludes to a wide range of topics from accounting ethics to cost accounting. 

Perhaps most surprising is how little bookkeeping methods have changed since then &  describe procedures that would be recognized by modern accountants.

The principal differences between modern bookkeeping practices are refinements made necessary to accommodate the greater size of contemporary business enterprises than existed in Pacioli's time.

Debit - Comes from the Italian "debito" which comes from the Latin "debita" and "debeo"
which means: OWED TO the proprietor or an asset of the proprietor

Credit - Comes from the Italian "credito" which comes from the Latin"credo"
which means: Trust or belief (in theproprietor) or OWED BY the proprietor

Guest Blog: Two sides of the same coin

John McGrann - CEO Drive Social Media

Is social media networking in conflict with, or complementary to, traditional networking?

The reason I ask is because I have recently joined a formal networking group here in Dubai. I am noting many similarities and some differences with the basics of social media networking. I also sense that generally there is a belief that you engage in one or the other. It’s the ‘old’ versus the ‘new’. But maybe in the future the best way is to engage neither social media networking nor traditional networking alone - but in ‘total networking’.

Social media networking and marketing is the process of promoting your website or business through social media channels such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and many more. It is a powerful strategy that will bring you connections, attention and increased amounts of website traffic and ultimately leads for your products or services. It is powerful in building business partnerships locally and globally. Social media networkers need to have a systematic approach to building a large network and targeting their niche audience within it. It includes selecting the best media sites, establishing a presence, growing your virtual network and nurturing relationships. If all that works then keep those plates spinning!

Traditional networking involves formally structured groups meeting on a regular basis with well proven successful processes in place. Most activities take place within the group or chapter. However, connections can be made to other chapters within a reasonable distance. Other members of the group will act as your salesperson generating referrals and new business. Membership is paid annually but should be recouped early.

Both forms of networking generate new connections and new business. They are both based on the premise that we wish to do business with people we know, we like and we trust. They each have a softly, softly approach to engaging connections in our sales process. Strategies are long term and hard sellers and spammers are not welcome.

There are differences of course. Social media sites are free and accessed from the comfort of your home or office. Building networks and targeting audiences is much easier via social media sites. This applies to customers and business partnerships alike. Joining relevant customer conversations, sharing knowledge and getting help is also much easier online. But traditional face-to-face networking is so powerful and nurturing relationships online is THE serious weakness of social networking. The proven structures and processes in traditional networking yield great results too. Social media prospecting without a system can be time wasteful and frustrating.

The way ahead is to engage in both forms as total networking. Using the strengths of each to address the weaknesses of the other seems the way to go. Add some enablers such as Instant Messaging and Online Meeting software to the mix too. So which form of networking is the best? I don’t know - nor do I care.

They are two sides of the same coin

Guest Blog: Don’t make your blog a slog!

John McGrann - CEO Drive Social Media

Everybody’s doing it or threatening to do it. Some are personal blogs and some are written about interests or hobbies. These are relatively straight forward and it’s easier to write about things we like so much. Business blogging tends to be dreaded a little more. It shouldn’t be. It’s time to take a more relaxed view. Don’t make you’re bog a slog.

There are five areas to address to overcome any anxiety:
• Fundamentals of business blogging
• Getting Started
• Using a blogging platform
• Attracting followers
• Business benefits of blogging

It’s useful to understand some of the fundamentals around business blogging. These are best highlighted in answering a number of questions:

• Can it be used as a marketing tool?
• Are there any personal benefits?
• Who is my audience?
• Is it cost effective?
• What’s the difference between a website and a blog?
• What is a blog?
• Does the Google search engine like blogs?
• What are the common mistakes of business blogging?
• Any good tips?

We’ll try to find answers to these questions in my next blog post.

The first step is always the hardest. So how do we get started? Is there any help available? What are those first few steps? For many people the biggest issue is what to blog about. We’ll go into more details later. But for now writing about your expertise or those subjects you are passionate about will inspire you more. Tell great stories – we all love story tellers. Also try to answer those issues that commonly arise from customers and employees for example. More later...

Do you need to be a geek to set up your blog? I’ve set up a few blogs at Blogger.com – a popular blogging platform. The answer is no. You can set up a nice design with images, embedded videos and social media links without any technical skills. More later...

Once we have a blog set up and we are posting content how do we get people to follow our regular posts? It’s all about creating good content, interaction with other bloggers, leveraging your connections on social media sites and utilising specialist blog search engines. More later...

Is it all worth the time and effort? As a social media marketing tool business blogging can add value is several ways. The benefits come from the interaction with stakeholders, building trust with prospective buyers, search engine optimisation and sharing with your network. More later...

We’ll have a look in more detail at all five areas to address to overcome any anxiety business blogging in the next few posts.

Would you like to be known as a thought leader in your industry?

A simple yes or no please.

Guest Blog: People Drive ERP Systems Performance

John McGrann - CEO Dr

Why do people who ostensibly have the same start in the career race perform at different levels?

Despite the same standards of academic achievement, similar backgrounds, the same training, shared social skills and work experience, some individuals perform much better than others. Recent studies have shown that our natural and learned skills through training and experience - the basics - only represent at best a 20% contribution to our performance. The remaining 80% which affects our performance comes from our personal skills - those crucial other elements such as our thinking and our behavioral aspects. Including but not limited to:

• Decision making ability and judgement
• Leadership
• Assertiveness
• Coping with stress
• Enthusiasm and energy (Passion)
• Motivation
• Team building
• Self-confidence
• Initiative

These are the drivers for successful personal performance. It explains why some professionals with less academic achievement outstrip their better qualified peers. Perhaps acquiring the basics will ensure satisfactory performance - but it’s the drivers that deliver superior performance.
In a recent poll on the value of ERP systems as seen by business professionals on the social networking website LinkedIN.com the results were as follows:

32% - Real Cash Benefit / Can’t Live Without It
68% - Too Complex / Little Value / In Learning Mode

So why are so many organizations failing to perform to a high level in automating processes, informing stakeholders (reporting), educating users and managers, and transforming they way business is done? Surely these are the key objectives for all ERP systems. I believe we can learn a few things from people performance when we analyse the shortcomings of ERP systems performance.

Many of these organisations share the same basics including: the technical infrastructure; qualified IT and Applications staff; competent users; the project methodology; implementation integrator and the same ERP application itself which is in use in many global organizations.

Organisations which fail to maximise the potential of ERP systems display similar problems such as heavy customizations, a lack of planning and management, disgruntled users, ad hoc ancillary systems in MS Excel and MS Access, an array of reporting tools; problematic interfaces and are often IT driven. There is a big gap between the users and the applications team in IT.

Could it be that just like people, ERP systems need behaviors and attributes to drive them to success? Does the ‘Go live’ signal the end of the process or merely a point in the journey. I believe even in successful ERP implementations the ‘Go Live’ is the half way mark at best.

erSo what are the drivers for ERP performance success? In my experience I would suggest the following:

• Actually Managing Oracle Applications – as an investment
• Successful Change Management - people are key
• Leading a Support Team – proactive not reactive
• Measuring Success and Value for Money – monitoring performance
• Data and Information – planning and managing
• Customers and Collaboration – working together for the benefit of all
• Reporting and Business Intelligence – the right tools for the job
• Empowerment and Super Users – unleash skills and passion
• Change Control and Value for Money – cost benefit analysis
• Project Management Kept Simple – the short and long term view
• Process Improvement – continuous and alignment with applications
• Management Information Systems – efficient and effective systems

These are all people centred activities required for better ERP systems performance. Fundamentally, ERP systems are investments. They need plans, actions, energy, rules, policies, analysis, management, customer focus, leadership and lots of passion to drive performance. The drivers of people and ERP systems performance have striking similarities.

I wonder if there is a link between highly performing ERP management and highly performing ERP systems…..