Marketing and finance aren’t known for being best buddies. In fact, the two departments are often pitted against each other. Finance thinks their department is more important because they control the money. Marketing thinks they are more important because they are behind the company’s brand and image, so they actually help the company generate revenue. […]

Companies are spending more than ever on continuing education and training for their employees. In the US alone, companies spent upwards of $70 billion a year on training – and that number is expected to go up each year. While furthering employees education and skill level is important, many companies are missing a vital component of the […]

Almost every business leader passes off Enterprise risk Management (ERM) to the CFO or their staff. Sound familiar.  Beware, the sleeping dragon inside your ERM priorities is probably cyber risk. For years, Boards, CEOs and CFOs have steadily been raising the ranking of cyber threats as major concerns and something that the enterprise risk management […]

Finance and accounting often do not hold HR to the same standards as other departments because it is believed that HR is different and people initiatives cannot be measured or managed like other business initiatives. However, having different standards for HR is a disservice to both HR and the company, resulting in lower expectations and […]

Companies understand the importance of training and educating their employees, as evidenced by the sharp increase in the amount spent on training. In 2017, overall training expenditures by US companies increased by more than 33%. But companies have to ask themselves if that training is effective – and if not, what can be done? So, […]

Illumeo is very happy to announce our new Illumeo Student Scholarship today. Read all about it here. The short story is that we’re giving away 10 Illumeo “Scholarships” every month through 2020 (that’s 70 scholarships total – full information here) to qualifying students in accounting, finance, and related areas – including undergrads, graduate students, and even those […]

Employers are becoming increasingly hesitant to pay for employees to attend giant conferences and workshops. Bloated travel and expense reimbursement requests, exotic locales, and low return on investment are a few legitimate reasons for the hesitation, but there’s one more important factor to consider: the rise of digital learning.  It’s becoming more common for employers […]

I’ve noticed a few things about those people who are the best of the best in sales after all my years of working with salespeople. These top performers aren’t necessarily any smarter than other salespeople. They are different in other ways. Why not see how you compare with these very successful salespeople to see if […]

Good communication is many faceted, but it is pretty simple to communicate effectively when you master a few basic skills. Two of the most important skills involved in great communication are the ability to understand your audience and listening effectively. It’s important to know your audience so you can communicate in a way that works […]

Once I graduated from college, I fell into an Accounts Payable job.  It was not what I planned on doing out of college, but I figured I could take this job until I could find something better.  That was 35 + years ago.  As it turned out, I enjoyed working in Accounts Payable.  Yes, it […]