Consider these two scenarios:

Scenario A: A seller and buyer are really excited to move a sale along. Some information is shared, a letter of intent is signed, and then the buyer along with their lenders, lawyers and other advisors start asking for more detailed information – this is the confirmatory “due diligence” process.

As the seller starts pulling data together, they discover that a lot is actually outdated or even missing. Maybe some customer or supplier contracts have expired, quarterly tax filings have been missed, no one knows when the software was last upgraded, the employee handbook is outdated and so on.

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There are a number of holding ponds behind our home that channel the water from our neighborhood to a small creek that eventually flows into the Columbia River. The system made me think about how we build “holding ponds” in our businesses to regulate the flow of work and prevent the damage “flooding” can do to our business. AFT activities are full of deluges; preparing the forecast, refinancing our bank loan, preparing the annual plan, closing the books followed by preparing the Board Pack, tax reporting, issuing payroll, managing the annual audit and the list goes on.

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A Little Data Can Go A Long Way:

Sometimes we need data to recognize the obvious. That is why we discourage taking short cuts when analyzing your business. In terms of Roger Martin’s Design of Business, moving from the mysterious to the heuristic to the algorithmic is hard and valuable work.

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Nonprofit, online Western Governors University put together a great list of study habits that can make a huge difference in what you get out of your coursework. They have allowed CFO.University to share the list with our Member and Guest Scholars.

Your study environment can be a big factor in how successfully you’ll learn and retain information and be able to apply it in your assessments and on the job.

Here are 10 ways your surroundings impact your studying and how you can make your study settings more conducive to learning.

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This was a tie between Jeff VandenHoek, Self-Awareness I & II; Brad Eisenhuth, Career Management Courses; and Manoj Garg, Information Technology: A Case Study on Key Information Technology Themes and More.

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