NOTE TO SELF

This post isn't about my business school experience - although I'm sure I could manufacture some kind of connection by talking about the allocation of resources among First World and Developing World nations.  About how we have enough resources on the planet to take care of everyone; they're just unevenly distributed.  But the macro-economic analysis would just be a facade that would quickly break down into the real point about doing the right thing - so I'll skip the economic foreplay.

I just watched the latest news report about the drought in Somalia / Ethiopia / Kenya and it was unnerving.  I've been to Kenya and have seen IDP camps, small medical missions and HIV orphanages.  But I've never seen anything like this.  The numbers are numbing:

 - 12 Million people living in the area directly effected by drought conditions
 - 500,000 in camps in northern Kenya and 20-30,000 new arrivals each day
 - 7.4 per 10,000 dying every day; most of them children
- At least two more months of severe drought expected
- $300M in food/water supplies needed; the US can't provide supplies directly to Somalia because of rebel troops supporting terrorists

Before you feel yourself start to shut down in preparation to endure another rant seeking to blame others or a hand-wringing about how awful this situation is or how God shouldn't allow this to happen.  Please know that's not my intent.  It's not to blame the rich (although I'm tempted when I recall reading recently about Mukesh Ambani building his home in Mumbai at a cost of $1Billion) or to blame corrupt African governments (many are); or the poorly organized, over-politicized response from the West.  There's enough blame to go around and spending time assigning it doesn't help. 

This blog isn't much of a pulpit to speak from ... only a few of you read it.  But it's what I have available so I'm using it.  I've been to Africa several times and the temptation for someone from the West is to be overwhelmed by the scale of the problem and to throw our collective hands in the air and say it's just too big; nothing I do is going to make a difference.  I know that's how I felt many times.  But it does help; and not just the people to whom we send money or devote our time.  It helps us.  We are called to treat others as we'd want to be treated; to put the needs of others ahead of our own.

"Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.'" 

My prayer for myself is this:  Let this be one time when I don't just listen to CNN and shake my head in disgust; let it be one time when I don't turn off the bad news and lose myself in the comforts that I have been given; let this be one time that I hear that "still small voice" that reminds me to love my neighbors ... and that my neighborhood extends to Somalia and Kenya and Ethiopia.

ACCOUNTING FOR GOODWILL

When I've noticed that a company is in the process of re-branding some part (or all) of its image, I've thought about cost implications of performing the actual re-branding - everything from new market directions, changes in operating procedures, down to the changes in logos.  However, I hadn't thought about the potential accounting costs as a result of having to write down the value of intangible assets such as "branding" and "goodwill".  When FedEx decided to re-brand its retail outlets to essentially eliminate the Kinko's brand from these stores in 2008, it took nearly a $900M write-down of the intangible assets associated with its 2004 purchase of Kinko's (the after-tax effect on income was $696M).  When I saw the name change on the store where I go to send my FedEx packages, I didn't think about this accounting impact.  Making the decision to change branding strategies has a broader financial impact than I'd previously considered.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE GETTING OLD WHEN ...

Had an odd experience a couple of weeks ago in Accounting class.  We were reviewing a Harvard Business School case about a company that got into some trouble for not clearly disclosing information to investors.  The professor was trying to make a point about how accounting information can be manipulated to hide problems.  This one turned out to be a bit more than manipulating; the company and its CEO and CFO were charged by the SEC with violations of anti-fraud and securities laws.  The company settled with the SEC for $10M and the CFO settled the personal suit for $100K (and the agreement that he not serve as an officer in a public company for the next 5 years).  The names of the CEO and CFO were included in the HBS case write-up that we reviewed in class.  Turns out the CFO is a guy that I worked with when we were both working for the same large company about 20 years ago.  Made me feel a bit old having personal experience with someone that is subject of a cautionary tale case study.  Small world.