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She Owns It: More Thoughts on Growing Your Business

January 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
She Owns It

Portraits of women entrepreneurs.

In previous posts, members of the She Owns It business group discussed last year’s accomplishments and their goals for 2013. This week, a member of the group, Alexandra Mayzler, who owns Thinking Caps Tutoring, adds her perspective and leads the group into another conversation about managing employees.

Looking back at 2012, Ms. Mayzler was most pleased that her company created an infrastructure that she believes will enable it to grow. “When we started talking, my biggest concern was I didn’t want to grow if we didn’t have a system in place,” she said. “Now we have it, so there’s no excuse.” In the last year, she said, she has transferred the information needed to run the company from her head to a handbook complete with flowcharts that explain how to do things — including hiring and firing — the Thinking Caps way.

She is also happy with improvements Thinking Caps made to its tutor training materials that made them more fun and interactive. Updates to the company’s Web site and logo are imminent. Ms. Mayzler said these changes will reflect that “we’ve been around for 10 years and are growing up.”

During a previous meeting, Ms. Mayzler talked about two new Thinking Caps programs: Prepare to Launch, which is geared toward young adults navigating post-college life, and a study skills class (in addition to the individual tutoring already offered). Having the new programs is one thing, she said, but equally important is letting people know about them. Ms. Mayzler plans to accomplish this by partnering with schools or organizations that offer classes for children and teenagers, like a Y.M.C.A. or a Jewish Community Center.

Managing her staff continues to prove challenging for Ms. Mayzler. She feels she is effective in guiding, inspiring, teaching and critiquing tutors. But she is less adept at setting expectations and directing her office staff.

Another group member, Beth Shaw, who owns YogaFit, said she finds herself in a similar position. She feels she is better at managing her company’s yoga trainers than its office staff.

“I also wonder if I’m training people correctly,” Ms. Mayzler said.

“I’ve had issues with always trying to see the potential in people,” said Deirdre Lord, who owns the Megawatt Hour.

Employees who don’t see their own potential worry Jessica Johnson, the owner of Johnson Security Bureau. She said that while she’s in business to make money,  “something greater” keeps her going. “If I can use my business or my position and whatever bit of voice I have to help somebody get closer to what they’re supposed to be doing in life, I feel like that’s part of my job,” she said. But she can’t accomplish that without some help from the employee.

With a little extra effort, she said, some of her company’s guards could position themselves for promotions and higher wages. “If they realize they can do better,” she said, “I can help them do better. But if they can’t see that for themselves, everything I try to do for them is for naught.”

You can follow Adriana Gardella on Twitter.

Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/more-thoughts-on-growing-your-business-and-helping-employees/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Small Business Tagged With: , ,

Proposal Would Force Bank Loan Write-Downs

December 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The proposal appears likely to lead to greater write-downs — and thus earlier losses — than one being considered by international rule makers.

“The global financial crisis highlighted the need for improvements in the accounting for credit losses on loans and other debt instruments held as investments,” said Leslie F. Seidman, the chairwoman of the board. The proposed model from FASB (pronounced FASS-bee) “would require more timely recognition of expected credit losses and more transparent information about the reasons for any changes in those estimates.”

The new rules, which are unlikely to actually take effect for several years, were initiated by complaints that banks were unable to write down the value of loans as soon as they should have as the financial crisis was growing. Under the exposure draft issued by the board, banks would frequently evaluate the expected cash flows from groups of loans and securities they owned, and take write-downs to the extent they expect the cash flow to be lower than called for in the loan documents.

As a practical matter, it seems likely that any bank making a loan would almost immediately have to write down the value of the loan, even though nothing indicated that particular loan was likely to go bad, simply because experience would indicate that some percentage of similar loans do wind up defaulting.

The value would then be adjusted each quarter, based on changes in conditions. An improving economy might make defaults seem less likely and cause banks to write up the value of loans on their books, thus raising reported profits.

But the initial write-down could mean that banks with limited capital would be constrained from making as many loans as they otherwise would make.

The International Accounting Standards Board plans to propose its rule early next year, enabling people to compare them when they file comments. The principal difference is that the rule that board plans to propose would limit the initial write-down to the losses expected during the first year the loan was outstanding, rather than over its entire life.

The two boards had reached agreement on the set of principles contained in the I.A.S.B. proposal, but the American board backed away from them in a joint meeting in July, leaving Hans Hoogervorst, the chairman of the international board, sputtering with frustration.

The Americans switched course at least partly because bank regulators feared that under the agreement banks might be too slow to write down the value of loans that could go bad, making the banks appear to be better capitalized than they really were.

The international regulators privately argued that the pricing of loans reflected the degree of loss expected, therefore there was no need for an initial write-down. They agreed to the limited first-year write-down in what they saw as a compromise with the Americans, only to have the Americans walk away from it.

Under either rule, the change in accounting will be significant. Current rules refer to “incurred losses,” in which loans are written down as it becomes clear that a particular loan is likely to default.

Those rules stemmed from what were seen as abuses in a previous era, as banks used loan loss reserves to smooth reported profits. Now banks will have more flexibility.

The American board said it expected the rule to cover bonds as well as loans, but some details remained vague and were likely to be fleshed out after the two boards considered public comments.

The comment period for the American proposal will end April 30.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/21/business/proposed-accounting-rule-would-force-earlier-write-downs-by-banks.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: , ,

Consumer Advocates Abandon Talks on Window Blind Safety

September 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Four consumer advocates said that they would no longer participate in discussions by a task force that was intended to draft new guidelines to make window blinds safer for children.

The four, all of the consumer advocates on the task force, stormed out of talks on Thursday, saying their recommendations were being ignored by the group.

The task force — which has some 30 members including regulators and manufacturers of window blinds as well as the consumer advocates — was created last year at the behest of the Consumer Product Safety Commission to suggest improvements to window blind safety, in lieu of regulations. The task force’s recommendations are due in October. The commission then will decide what action to take, if any.

Roughly one child a month dies by strangling on window blind cords, and consumer advocates on the task force pushed for changes that they contended would eliminate the hazards.

Manufacturers focused on more modest improvements, saying removing all dangers was impossible.

The dispute hit a peak Thursday morning at a meeting in Washington, a day after manufacturers handed over the latest draft of proposed changes to window blinds and coverings.

“It did not fulfill the goals of this process, which was to eliminate the hazard,” said Rachel Weintraub, director of product safety for the Consumer Federation of America and a member of the task force. “Our recommendations were not being listened to, we were being ignored and resisted.”

She also said that research commissioned by manufacturers to help with writing the new guidelines was not made available to the entire task force.

“We could no longer give legitimacy to this process,” she said. The other task force members who left the meeting were Donald L. Mays, senior director of product safety planning and technical administration at Consumers Union; Carol Pollack-Nelson, a former regulator who is now a safety consultant; and Linda Kaiser, the founder of Parents for Window Blind Safety.

Ralph Vasami, executive director of the Window Covering Manufacturers Association, said he was disappointed that the consumer advocates had “abandoned” the process. He said his members were committed to working with regulators to update the guidelines.

“Already great progress has been made,” he said, in a statement. “Our safety standards are the safest in the world and the proposed updates go even further in minimizing potential risk.”

The proposals include more robust performance and testing requirements, the development of new warning labels and technical changes that would “greatly improve safety,” he said.

The impasse means the issue will have to be settled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an agency that itself is divided by partisan rifts. Its chairwoman, Inez M. Tenenbaum, previously expressed frustration with blind manufacturers.

“It troubles me greatly that the revisions to the standards for roll-up blinds, Roman shades and other window coverings may fall far short of what I expected,” she said on Thursday. “There are two months left before the window covering industry must meet their deadline and I expect to see proposed standards that are strong and eliminate the risk of strangulation to young children.” For a few decades, window blind makers have tried various design changes and offered tips to minimize the risk that children get tangled in blind cords. Still, the number of strangulation deaths has remained fairly constant. The industry points out, however, that sales have increased.

Some consumer advocates say that easy fixes to the problems are available, like cordless blinds and coverings for cords. But cordless blinds cost more to manufacture and can cost at least twice as much at stores.

Ms. Kaiser, whose 1-year-old daughter was strangled by a window blind cord in 2002, said the manufacturers’ current proposals did not address most of the hazards caused by blinds, like long operating cords and tension devices. “It’s disappointing,” she said. “The majority of strangulation issues are still there.”

Mr. Vasami said his members’ commitment to safety was “unwavering.” “We are constantly re-examining our standards and our education programs to ensure our products are on the leading edge of safety standards.”

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=52244ee972cdfce66dfea99338316fc1

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: , ,