One of the very basic tenets of accounting is that you only show as assets those things that you own. It’s completely obvious and sensible. That tenet will never change. Nor should it.

But this is one of the tenets that makes it hard to rely on accounting alone to understand how organizations work in today’s world. Because what defines a company or an organization today is not really what you own. It’s about what you attract. Can you attract the right people, the right partners, the…

In my post last week about ICountants versus Accountants, I talked about the critical role that accountants play in conforming to accounting and reporting standards. These standards are critical to the functioning of our economy—they ensure that readers can understand and…

I’ve been talking a lot about ICounting lately but I haven’t talked about ICountants. Since the name is a play on the word Accountant, it’s helpful to talk about ICountants in comparison with our financial friends.

Accountants are trained professionals with a broad variety specialties. Some are CPA’s, others management accountants, controllers, bookkeepers, auditors and many other specialties. Accounting is their primary job. All accountants work inside a standard framework of…

Accounting has roots that go back 500 years to Columbus-era Venice when local  merchants built global businesses and needed ways of keeping track of their financial transactions. This system worked well over the following centuries even as the global economy changed dramatically through industrialization. That’s because it is a system to track financial transactions. The…

I had a lot of fun on the IC for IP panel this week at the Intellectual Property Business Congress in Boston. The level of appreciation for the links between IP and IC weren’t too surprising. What was surprising to me was how much we ended up talking about accounting.

There are many cases of millions…

The Intellectual Property Business Congress 2013 is kicking off tonight in Boston. I’m excited to have it in my home town. I’m also excited and honored to be on a panel on Tuesday discussing how to use intangible capital to enhance the value of IC.

In preparation for that discussion, I thought I…

In financial accounting, a balance sheet or statement of financial position is a summary of the operational infrastructure of a business. Assets, liabilities and ownership equity are listed as of a specific date, such as the end of its financial year. A balance sheet is often described as a snapshot of a company's financial condition.

Until recently, corporate financial condition was directly tied to the health of a company’s tangible assets. You could read a balance sheet and…

Most organizations today are highly dependent on the strength of their people, systems, processes, relationships and strategy for success. Yet these intangibles are invisible and rarely managed in a systemic or holistic way.

This is a problem because, for better or worse, people tend to pay more attention to things they can measure. Measures help frame thinking and…