Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas will be past by the time this is printed. Darn that means its year-end and time for our annual audit, again.  Where did the year go? We were busy both out in the field and in the office.  So what is new in accounting?  Well…

     At a conference I recently attended, it was stated that companies in the 1900’s resisted change for years, over 20 years in some cases and still maintained a profitable competitive edge in their market. This is not the case today.  Due to technological advances, change should happen every 3 t o 5 years with several industries (highly technical in nature) change is every 12 months or less.   Why do I talk about change when really no one likes it or we become comfortable with our old ways while making money -- why stir the pot?  Sometimes we have to look outside the warm and cozy box we live in and see what really happening on the outside.  As stated, technology has advanced tremendously over the past few years.  What was done 10 years ago on a computer system can now be accomplished in minutes on today’s system.  Plus, there are outside entities changing the way we do business, too. 

     Everyone has heard about the Arthur Andersen and Enron/WorldCom debacles. Although these were multi-billion dollar publicly traded companies, the fallout from them is affecting anyone who is audited though a review of their internal controls.   Consequently, we had to look at ourselves and ask what can these forces do for us to make us a more effective and efficient company.  The following are the highlights of these changes:

     Work orders allocate parts and labor to the equipment being serviced.  With the assistance of several field mechanics, we created a timecard that served a dual purpose. It provided them a paycheck plus gave accounting the information and paperwork in a more timely fashion to update the system regarding the costs associated with these pieces of equipment.  The “envelope” worked and will be used by all field mechanics during 2005.  A special thanks to James Weiermann, Brent Barfield and Rod “Hot-Rod” Arvidson for their assistance in creating this betterment.

     Also on work orders we reviewed the cost codes and what was being charged to each.  We found out that it depended upon whom you talked to or who did the work on how it was coded.  Consequently, a BIG thank-you needs to go out to BK Waller, Dean Roth and Greg Ollinger who did some fine-tuning to resolve these issues. 

     Purchase orders state what and the quantities ordered, the purchase price, the date ordered and when it will be delivered or a written contract with our vendors.  Since implementing this in October, purchase orders have saved us money by catching double invoices or not pay for wrong qualities and/or parts that were sent.  Many people assisted on this implementation but Will Hochstetler and Patsy Peters took it to the next level for this to be a success.

     Tama Sand Pit started electronically providing their ticket data at the start of this year.  Peaches Burmahl saw the effectiveness of this and asked if she could inquire to our material suppliers if they could do the same.  As her luck would have it, Martin Marietta was creating a website that would assist their customers regarding ticket and invoice look ups and drilldowns.  Peaches asked Martin Marietta if they were going to have this electronic capability, too. They needed to know what information is required and how it needed to be formatted.  This assistance came from Candace Griffith and to make a long story short Peaches got her first transfer from them in early October.  Life is good and she continues to inquire to our vendors if this technology will soon be available from them, too.  Good work Peaches and Candace.  

     Other procedures and policies to numerous to mention one at a time were updated to meet our current systems and needs.  Does this mean we’re done?  NO - We’ll continue to have to review and update policies and procedures as needed.  And if there is something BIG that is legal and ethical to do and provide Manatt's, Inc. a better bottom line, we will take a long hard look at it and then discuss it just to make sure.   We will not change just to change.  There really is a method to our madness.