PACE Moments

Revenue management is often not as easy to define in a company as fixed and variable costs. In this podcast, Daniel Burnside hosts revenue management expert Karl Aschwanden for a discussion about what expected revenues should be and how they can be facilitated through revenue modeling for new businesses. For more info on this topic, please visit www.profitability-analytics.org

In this podcast, we interviewed Paulo Jorge Ribeiro, CFO, OLI - SISTEMAS SANITÁRIOS, S.A. about using, profitability analytics, business intelligence, AI and other technology to improve financial management and strategic planning. Paulo has had a great deal of success implementing these technologies at OLI, and making a positive impact for management and OLI's profitability. Learn more about p...

In this episode, Larry White explores why the word “allocation” should be eliminated from internal decision support vocabulary. He argues that true managerial costing must reflect causality—clear cause-and-effect relationships—rather than vague or manipulable “rational bases.” Larry calls for a shift from traditional cost accounting to ethical, decision-relevant “causal assignments” that support s...

Many organizations treat plans, budgets, and forecasts as political tools rather than effective management instruments, often manipulating numbers to align with executive expectations rather than reality. In this podcast, Doug Hicks tells us about his experience as a controller and consultant and how it revealed that these processes frequently prioritize job security over decision-making, a trend...

In this podcast we interviewed Benjamin Kofi Quansah about "Beyond the numbers: Leadership Values of High Impact Management Accountants."We asked him:1. What does it mean to go “beyond the numbers” as a management accountant, and why is it crucial in today’s business environment?2. In your experience, what leadership values are essential for management accountants to be truly impactful?3...

In this episode, Doug Hicks discusses how in profitability analytics, valid models that accurately reflect underlying economic realities are more critical than the accuracy of the data populating them, as flawed models lead to misleading results even with precise data. While both models and data are important, a valid model can provide reasonably accurate insights with estimated data, whereas an i...

In this podcast, Doug Hicks discusses how management accounting offers numerous methodologies, each addressing specific cost-related challenges, but no single approach provides a comprehensive solution. Instead of selecting one method from a menu of options, businesses should integrate the core principles of these methodologies into a tailored, causality-based cost model that accurately reflects t...

In this podcast, Larry White argues that management accounting should prioritize playing an "offensive" role within organizations, focusing on driving growth and profitability by developing new markets, customers, and revenue opportunities, rather than solely acting as a "defensive" function of oversight and control. By emphasizing better revenue management, more accurate managerial costing, and a...

In this podcast, Doug Hicks emphasizes the importance of using accurate and effective models in corporate finance to make better business decisions. It highlights that while people create models to understand complex phenomena, the quality of these models directly impacts decision-making. The discussion contrasts outdated models with modern economic cost models, arguing that businesses should use...

Doug Hicks shares his observations from over five decades of working with small and mid-sized businesses on pricing strategies. Pricing remains a top 10 business topic, but many organizations still treat it simplistically, merely adding a markup to estimated costs. This often leads to unrealistic expectations and financial disappointments, as market conditions, not costs, determine the price. Many...

In this podcast, Doug Hicks, a director at PACE, discusses a significant gap in accounting education: the lack of historical context for the ideas being taught. Hicks argues that without understanding the history and reasoning behind accounting practices, students may end up just memorizing rules without grasping their true purpose. Hicks concludes that management accounting, unlike financial acco...

Larry White discusses the importance of operational versus financial metrics. Initially, it may seem that both are equally important, but he explores this further. In manufacturing, traditional methods of inventory valuation and product costing have led to distorted information, which operations personnel have often disregarded. Despite this, manufacturing efficiency, quality, and performance have...

When you are already manufacturing 5 million pounds of candy, what does it REALLY cost to produce the next pound, 1,000 pounds, or even one million pounds? In this edition of our PACE Leaders in Business podcast, we chatted with Jay David of Do Business Better about this very topic. Jay has had a very interesting career path that gives him a unique perspective on business. In this 20 minute podcas...

In this podcast, we interviewed Dawn Ringrose, Principal at Organizational Excellence Specialists. Dawn filled us in on some of the basics of Organizational Excellence. Since 2015, Organizational Excellence Specialists has spearheaded an extensive global research initiative, delving into the state of organizational excellence across various sectors, sizes, and regions. In this podcast we covered t...

What does that term actually mean?? Terms that are not well understood can lead to ill-considered actions. In  Larry White 's podcast on "Problem Terminology in Accounting and Business", he rightly points out that customers or users who are often confused or bewildered about what they may need, may retreat back to the world of regulatory reporting because it feels more concrete. But...

Are you using the laws of man or the laws of nature in Finance and Accounting? In this podcast, Doug Hicks, CPA , tells us how causality-based revenue, operating, and investment models must be populated with data that reflect the laws of nature, not the laws of man, to aid decision makers in developing the kind of comprehensive and relevant decision support information they need to optimize their...

In this NEW podcast, Doug Hicks, CPA uses an excerpt from his book “Profitable Expectations: An Accountant Rising to the Challenge” to demonstrate an important point about using weights in modeling to better understand costs and get insights on your company. He does this through an excerpt from his book describing a discussion between an accountant and her mentor on using weights in modeling in a...

In this new podcast, Doug Hicks talks about his experience with decision makers that are employed by business owners to manage their organizations falling into two major categories: those who view their organization as if it were a living entity and those who view it as if it were a game. Those viewing their organization as a living entity act as if they were given stewardship of the organization...

"The story goes that every day, Shahryar the king would marry a new virgin and every day he would send yesterday's wife to be beheaded. This was done in anger, having found out that his very first wife had been unfaithful to him. He had killed one thousand such women by the time he was introduced to Scheherazade, the Vizier’s daughter. But she was able to captivate the King each night by...

Do you understand the entire spectrum of economic radiation or only a small part of it? In this new podcast, Doug Hicks compared advances in how we see things with only our naked eyes and then interpret the universe, and how we are now able to see much more with tools to enhance our vision. Visible light is electromagnetic radiation that we, as humans, can detect with our naked eyes. Aided by tool...

In this podcast, we interviewed Varun Jain, Co-Founder and CEO of Miles Education. Varun founded Miles Education to help create opportunities for others, like he had for himself, and create a talent pool for many big public accounting firms that hire many people in India focusing on building the talent supply chain of CPAs, CMAs. There is a huge shortage of accountants in the workforce, especially...

In this podcast we interviewed Edward Roske who is the CPO (Chief Performance Officer) for Argano worldwide. We talked about how much Argano has grown by acquisition as well as organically all over the world, trends that he sees for 2023, how Argano is using the Profitability Analytics Framework at Argano, the 7 step method they are using to implement it, and how revenue management is very importa...

Aliyyah holds a management role in the Recycling Council of B.C. in Canada and is a freelance writer. In addition to her finance responsibilities, she specializes in helping companies with the psychology of change management. She helps each person understand that they play an important role in change, celebrates small wins, and gains the trust of others. Aliyyah is a big believer in everyone under...

The capital preservation allowance thought experiment? What's that? We all know that the depreciation expense on an income statement measures the decline in the value of a firm’s fixed assets during the period, and the amount which needs to be replaced over time to maintain the firm’s productive capacity, right? WRONG! While depreciation expense may be a useful concept for external financial repor...

In this podcast we interviewed Asif Masani who is a Financial Planning and Analysis Manager for Coursera in India. We talked about how the Profitability Analytics Framework supports work in FP&A, trends that Asif sees for FP&A going forward, his new book "All About FP&A", and how he is working toward his goal of helping 1 million people learn about and master FP&A.  To learn m...