Lean Accounting E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 502

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Praise for Lean Accounting Best Practices for Sustainable Integration "Anyone involved in a lean transformation inevitably bumps up against the vagaries of the accounting systems that reward overproduction and waste and seem to punish true improvement. We wonder what would happen if the accountants actually came to the production floor and witnessed firsthand the havoc created by their systems. This volume gathers together some of the best thinkers to take a critical look at traditional cost accounting and defines a path forward to 'lean accounting.'" --Jeff Liker, Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan "Joe Stenzel has put together a timely compendium of writings from thought leaders in lean accounting. The viewpoints in this fine book are diverse and yet proclaim a consistent message: that conventional management accounting is broken--and here is how to fix it." --Richard J. Schonberger, President, Schonberger & Associates "If you are serious about understanding and implementing Lean Accounting in conjunction with your Lean Enterprise journey, this book will illuminate the specific techniques, but more importantly, will explain the cultural changes that are a prerequisite for success." --Jerry Solomon, Vice President of Operations, Hunt Valley, for MarquipWardUnited, a division of Barry-Wehmiller Companies, Inc. Insights and strategies from the most experienced lean accounting and performance measurement?practitioners in America Learn how to integrate the proven lean methodologies embedded in the Toyota Production System with Lean Accounting: Best Practices for Sustainable Integration. In this comprehensive guide, leading accounting and performance measurement practitioners analyze the current business climate and provide CFOs and accounting/finance personnel with step-by-step guidelines to seamlessly and successfully integrate sustainable, lean accounting principles within their enterprise. Be a lean success story with Lean Accounting.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Foreword

ENACTING, NOT IMPLEMENTING, LEAN MANAGEMENT

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 9 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 10 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 11 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

PART I - LEAN ESSENTIALS

Chapter 1 - LEAN DILEMMA: CHOOSE SYSTEM PRINCIPLES OR MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING ...

1.1 LEAN CURE: SYMPTOM VERSUS ROOT CAUSE

1.2 BUSINESS RESULTS: MECHANISM VERSUS LIFE SYSTEM

1.3 CONFUSION OF LEVELS: LEAN PRACTICES VERSUS TOYOTA RESULTS

1.4 MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING CONTROL SYSTEMS BLOCK LEAN

1.5 LEAN ACCOUNTING ANSWERS THE WRONG QUESTION

1.6 ANSWERS TO THE RIGHT QUESTION—FROM SHEWHART AND DEMING TO TOYOTA

1.7 MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING CONTROLS OR SYSTEM PRINCIPLES: PICK ONE, NOT BOTH

1.8 EPILOGUE: LEAN AND THE QUESTION OF SUSTAINABILITY

NOTES

Chapter 2 - LIMITED PRODUCTION PRINCIPLES: RIGHT-SIZING FOR EFFECTIVE LEAN ...

2.1 LIMITED PRODUCTION VERSUS ECONOMIES OF SCALE

2.2 LEAN AND RIGHT-SIZING

2.3 RIGHT-DESIGNING FOR FLOW

2.4 ONE-PIECE FLOW

2.5 BEGINNING THE JOURNEY: EXECUTING RIGHT-DESIGN

2.6 RIGHT-DESIGNING COST MANAGEMENT

2.7 ALL PARTS AT EQUAL COST

2.8 THE JOURNEY TO THE PROMISED LAND—PERFECTION

2.9 WHAT THE CFO NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND AND COMMUNICATE DURING A LEAN TRANSFORMATION

NOTES

Chapter 3 - LEAN STRATEGY AND ACCOUNTING: THE ROLES OF THE CEO AND CFO

3.1 LEAN STRATEGY RESULTS

3.2 EASY TO AGREE WITH, HARD TO DO

3.3 WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO IMPLEMENT A LEAN STRATEGY?

3.4 THE ROLE OF THE CEO

3.5 LEAN AFFECTS ACCOUNTING

3.6 THE ROLE OF THE CFO

NOTES

PART II - PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Chapter 4 - CREATING A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT OF LEAN SYSTEMS

4.1 THE PROBLEMS WITH TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCE MEASURES

4.2 SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS

4.3 A STARTER SET OF LEAN PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS

4.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

NOTES

Chapter 5 - MOTIVATING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN LEAN ENVIRONMENTS: RESPECT, ...

5.1 ENTERPRISE EXCELLENCE AND PEOPLE

5.2 INNOVATION AND PEOPLE

5.3 THE POWER OF RESPECT

5.4 TWO VIEWS OF PERFORMANCE MOTIVATION

5.5 EMPOWERMENT AND PERCEPTIONS

5.6 MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEMS AND LEAN REGULATORY SYSTEMS

5.7 SUPPORTING LEAN PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

5.8 ACCOUNTING, LEAN PERFORMANCE, AND THE EMPOWERED WORKFORCE

5.9 SUPPORTING THE TRANSFORMATION TO LEAN

NOTES

PART III - LEAN ACCOUNTANCY

Chapter 6 - ON TARGET: CUSTOMER-DRIVEN LEAN MANAGEMENT

6.1 THE ECONOMICS OF THE CUSTOMER

6.2 COST: A CUSTOMER’S PERSPECTIVE

6.3 CUSTOMER-DRIVEN LEAN MANAGEMENT: AN EXAMPLE

6.4 VALUE SEGMENTATION

6.5 USING CUSTOMER PREFERENCES IN SEGMENTATION

6.6 PUTTING THE CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE INTO ACTION

6.7 BUILDING THE CUSTOMER IN: A SERVICE PERSPECTIVE

6.8 CLM: THE PATH FORWARD

NOTES

Chapter 7 - VALUE STREAM COSTING: THE LEAN SOLUTION TO STANDARD COSTING ...

7.1 THE PROBLEM WITH STANDARD COSTING

7.2 STANDARD COSTING IS ACTIVELY HARMFUL TO LEAN

7.3 VALUE STREAM COSTING

7.4 THE ADVANTAGES OF VALUE STREAM COSTING

7.5 CLOSING THE BOOKS

7.6 USING COST INFORMATION TO MANAGE THE VALUE STREAM

7.7 BUSINESS DECISION MAKING USING VALUE STREAM COSTING

7.8 VALUING INVENTORY

7.9 CHAPTER SUMMARY

Chapter 8 - OBSTACLES TO LEAN ACCOUNTANCY

8.1 UNDERSTANDING LEAN AS A MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

8.2 CULTURAL COMPATIBILITY WITH LEAN MANAGEMENT

8.3 OBSTACLES TO ACCOUNTANTS CHANGING TO LEAN ACCOUNTING

8.4 MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS IN MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

8.5 OVERCOMING THE OBSTACLES

NOTES

Chapter 9 - LEAN APPLICATION IN ACCOUNTING ENVIRONMENTS

9.1 GOAL AND FOCUS AREAS

9.2 KAIZEN EVENTS IN BRIEF

9.3 HOW TO GET STARTED AND NEVER END

9.4 WHAT TO EXPECT

NOTES

Chapter 10 - SARBANES AND LEAN—ODD COMPANIONS

10.1 OVERVIEW OF SARBANES

10.2 Q1: HOW WE GOT TO WHERE WE ARE

10.3 Q2: WHERE CAN WE GO FROM HERE?

10.4 Q3: ARE THERE COMMON DENOMINATORS BETWEEN SARBANES AND LEAN THAT CAN BE ...

10.5 EXAMPLES OF INTEGRATING LEAN WITH SARBANES

10.6 WHAT’S NEEDED TO INTEGRATE LEAN WITH SARBANES

NOTES

Chapter 11 - THE NEED FOR A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO ENHANCE AND SUSTAIN LEAN

11.1 INTRODUCTION TO COLLECTIVE SYSTEM DESIGN

11.2 ACCOUNTING FOR LEAN COMMUNICATIONS

11.3 THE JOURNEY TO ACCOUNTING FOR LEAN

11.4 OBSTACLES TO SUSTAINABLE LEAN

11.5 THE ESSENTIALS OF SYSTEMS DESIGN WHEN ACCOUNTING FOR LEAN

NOTES

GLOSSARY

INDEX

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Lean accounting : best practices for sustainable integration / edited by Joe Stenzel. p. cm. Includes index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-17375-6

1. Managerial accounting. 2. Organizational effectiveness. 3. Industrial efficiency. I. Stenzel, Joseph, 1957- HF5657.4.L42 2007 658.15′11—dc22 2006033471

FOREWORD

ENACTING, NOT IMPLEMENTING, LEAN MANAGEMENT

Managers always want to do something to improve how their organizations function. The combined effects of global competition, the growth in business books and magazines, and business consultancy has led to a never-ending series of fads to fix organizations. It often seems that these do more to confuse than inform people, leading to one change program after another, what the people at Harley-Davidson dubbed many years ago, “AFP,” Another Fine Program (often translated differently internally).

“Lean” is the fad of the day. For a top team to not have its version of a lean management program is tantamount to managerial negligence. Yet, few of these succeed in achieving their intended outcomes, just as few process redesign programs succeeded, and, before that, few TQM programs. In fact, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, one of the pioneers of total quality, became so disgusted with the fad fetishes of contemporary managers that he refused to use terms like TQ, TQM, or Total Quality in the latter years of his life. For him they had lost all meaning: “They mean whatever people want them to mean.”

The essays in this book represent the struggles of thoughtful and experienced people to get their arms around why otherwise useful ideas and tools can contribute to ongoing improvement in a few organizations and become mindless pabulum in so many others. Some of these contributors are good friends and long-time colleagues. While in no way summarizing their insights, the following three core premises capture a bit of where they are coming from, I think.

Genuine Reflection Will Always Trump Simplistic Solutions

Dr. David Cochran talks about the failure to establish agreement on important functional requirements. Why would this occur? It should be evident to everyone that such agreement is important, that forcing people to strive for goals they care little about is not likely to compel commitment or success. Yet, the agreement behind most lean initiatives is often token at best. It is not that people do not see the need for improvement. It is more the case that they usually doubt that this latest “AFP” is likely to address the deeper issues that frustrate them.

Deming used to say, “No reflection, no learning.” But, what he meant by this is lost on most managers trained in the instrumental problem solving popular in modern management education. By these approaches, we first “externalize” problems to a set of symptoms, usually measurable symptoms. We then figure out clever ways to address those symptoms and then “implement” the respective solutions. But throughout, the process is limited by unquestioned assumptions, like, “We really do not need to understand how the problem has arisen,” or “I am (or we are) separate from the problem.”

When pressed as to why they do not reflect more on how the problem has arisen, the standard response is, “We just don’t have the time to do this.” But the resulting superficial solutions rarely ever achieve lasting change—something that people often readily acknowledge. So, they may not have the time to do it, but they have plenty of time to “redo it,” often many times over.

Our experience has always been that there are deeper reasons than not enough time for why we shy away from reflection. Paramount among these is that people either feel unable or unwilling to confront the quality of conversation that is required. A conversation based on reflection on what exists that we “do not see,” as Cochran says, may lead to seeing ways that we are part of creating the problems, or that management systems in place focus people in ways that reinforce the status quo, or that there are underlying issues of power and personality about which people, in effect, have “taken an oath of secrecy.”

But failing to commit to more reflective conversation also masks our deepest aspirations and longings. It keeps people not only from talking about what is, but what they truly desire. Such conversations are difficult. They do take time. But they can end up saving much more time.

Systems Intelligence Will Always Trump Reductionistic Analysis

I am of the opinion that we are at the very beginnings of starting to wrestle with the profound implications of a systems worldview, and that this awakening, which started in physics, biology, and other basic sciences but which really has its roots in timeless ways of understanding common to native people the world over, will continue to unfold throughout this century.

That said, the time to start is now, and the benefits can be immediate as well as for coming generations. Tom Johnson points out that Toyota, the most studied company in the world, still outperforms virtually all of its competitors, many by a very long ways. How could this be? What are people missing?

I recall a story Professor Johnson used to tell about a colleague at Toyota’s Georgetown manufacturing facility. He had hosted literally hundreds of groups of visitors who had come to study the famous “Toyota production system.” According to him, the visitors would often say, “Oh, you have a Kan-Ban system, so do we.” Or, “You have quality circles, so do we.” Or, “You have process and value stream maps, so do we.” Professor Johnson added, “They all see the pieces. What they do not see is the way they all go together.”

There is an old saying in the systems field, “If you divide a cow in two, you do not get two small cows.” Systems have integrity. While they are composed of elements, they are not defined by their elements but by how all these elements function as a whole. The easiest way to perceive a system is to look at its functioning and then begin to imagine how the different elements must interact in order to produce this functioning. As one systems biology teacher put it, “There is a world of difference between memorizing all the parts of a cell and learning how the cell functions, how it processes nutrients, how it sheds waste products, and how it maintains the integrity of the cell wall in the face of continual onslaughts.”

These are the rudiments of systems inquiry but they are not as simple as they appear—in part because of complexity and in part because we ourselves—our mental models and our relationships with one another—are all among the elements of the system. So, systems inquiry is, by its nature, reflective.

Moreover, in a living system, these elements are continually being recreated, unlike in machine systems where the elements are fixed and simply decay over time. So, how we continually recreate our relationships with one another, form our interpretations of our work and reality, or shape our sense of shared purpose and specific goals—these ongoing activities are all part of the organization as a living system.

As soon as people start to contemplate this, their eyes cross and they can easily see the task as impossibly daunting. But look around. We see countless examples of very complex living human systems that function effectively. Sporting teams, symphony orchestras, jazz bands, dance troupes, and even many families and working teams. It is not that creating healthy living systems is impossibly complicated; it is the way we usually think about them that is impossibly complicated. Human beings have immense innate capacity for systems intelligence.1Our task is to understand this intelligence and how it either develops or stagnates. While rational and conceptual capacities are part of it, it is also an active intelligence that is evoked by doing things that matter together. In short, we build systems intelligence by continually and reflectively attempting to enact better ways of doing things. Systems intelligence cannot be broken down into simple rules or tools. It can only be learned, or as the Chinese would say, “cultivated.”

Closely related to the folly of rules of systems intelligence is the naïve belief that the right measures will save the day. Measurement by its nature fragments. To measure someone’s temperature is to capture one tiny facet of how one’s particular mind-body-heart system is functioning at that instant. This is the difference between the physician as mechanic who looks at all the fragmented indicators and the gifted medical practitioners who also looks at the person as a whole. Managers need measures. All learners need ways to assess how they are doing relative to their aims. Very often measures can contribute to this assessment. But it is foolish to confuse the metric with the assessment—like confusing your temperature with your health.

Humility, openness and asking for help, from everyone, will always trump arrogance and the naïve belief in the next greatest tools or leaders

“There are no answers—and even if there are, we do not have them.” This could serve as a regular mantra for all those serious about the journey. At one level, that we have not figured it all out is probably obvious to everyone. But we do not act as if this is so. Leaders regularly communicate that the new strategy is the right strategy—that the new change program or this new set of tools will solve our most intractable organizational issues—that the new boss will transform a mistrusting, non-reflective, under-performing culture. We bow to humility and then act as if we have all the answers. Perhaps, it is because we do not know how to act otherwise.

Surely, regularly confessing ignorance and incompetence to your direct reports does not constitute a compelling management style. But confusing insight with “the answer,” or compelling vision with “the plan” undermines an organization’s genuine learning spirit.

One of the corollaries of adopting a systems perspective is that there is no complete answer, no definitive analysis. We have only working hypotheses, and we are inevitably guided by vision and intuition. People in leadership positions grounded in these simple truths can build an enormous sense of common undertaking and shared responsibility. As one CEO once put it, upon his retirement after a remarkable time of turnaround in a Fortune 50 business, “My greatest learning was the power of my vulnerability. When I could, at certain times, simply say, ‘I do not have a complete plan and there are things about our business setting that I don’t fully understand, it turned out to be a tremendously effective invitation to others. People started to realize that, “Phil does not have all the answers, and we all have to be part of figuring out what is needed.”

The simplest way I know to summarize these three premises is that We are the organization as it operates today—what is visible, what is invisible, what is working, and what is not working. The structures and systems that dominate, both formal and informal structures, do so because we create them, day-by-day, hour-by-hour, by the way we think and act. No one is holding a gun to our heads. The rules we follow mostly take the form of habits we have acquired, habits of thought and action. And, most of these habits, especially the deep ones, are beyond our daily awareness. If the organization is stuck in counterproductive ways of doing things, it is because we are stuck, both individually and collectively.

This is the theory of “enacted systems”—that the systems that govern how families, organizations, industries, and societies work are created by their members. It is always tempting to find someone else to blame. Yes, there are external forces. Yes, there is history. These must be understood. But at some level it is pointless to attribute our fate to these. Comforting perhaps. But pointless.

Enacting alternative systems is not easy. It requires tools, methods, and guiding ideas—like those you will find in the following pages. But, the right tools used with the wrong spirit will amount to little more than symptomatic fixes, short-term improvements but little longer-term change.

Hopefully, appreciating these three premises will contribute to a learning spirit that can make the insights and ideas that follow truly helpful in enacting lean management rather than getting others to implement it. As this begins to actually happen on a larger scale, “lean” can take its place, not as “the answer,” but as one more step in the long journey toward truly healthy organizations—organizations that, by their nature, contribute to economic, social and biological health and well being, for all.

Peter M. SengeDecember 30, 2006

INTRODUCTION

Why are established lean enterprises so durably successful while so many attempts to become lean fail? The answer lies in the Anna Karenina principle, an extension of Tolstoy’s observation: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” In general, this means that a deficiency in any one of a number of factors critical to overall system function dooms the new relationship. Human interactions with nature are replete with examples of this principle. When an otherwise healthy species of plant or animal is introduced into a new ecosystem, the new species must harmonize with many critical subsystems—longitude and latitude, rainfall, terrain, predators, competitors, and sources of nutrition. More often than not, the introduction of a new species fails because the new ecosystem cannot support the alien life form, or the newly introduced species significantly disrupts the balanced subsystems of the finely tuned native ecosystem.

Unlike the balanced scorecard, activity-based costing and management, quality management, or many of the other fine tools that can be integrated into the overall enterprise ecosystem, lean is an ecosystem unto itself—an entirely integrated set of subsystems (like a good marriage) that cannot be adopted in a piecemeal fashion to manage a limited number of enterprise activities. An enterprise might choose to become more lean, but its managers should not expect to become lean by borrowing here and there from an integrated system where all practices are interdependent.

No single person can master the many details of the many interrelated lean subsystems, so this book maintains an appropriate focus: to provide perspectives on the ways that established lean enterprises treat accounting and performance measurement practices as subsystems that support an integrated approach to product and service delivery. Each chapter addresses important elements of these two practices. The best way to introduce this book is to characterize its authors and define the premises that guide their experience and writing, and the best way to introduce the authors and the core theme of this book is with its first premise.