Memo 35: Business Administration

The following will be a series of posts on business administration.

It is written primarily for the benefit of Tek1 staff who are interested in this topic, but I hope it will be of benefit to the wider community.

Things you need to know:

• Double entry book keeping. This encompasses knowledge of the use of accounting software. This is a deep topic that it must be learnt. Go online and buy a book on this. It requires at least 10 hours of extra effort.
• Legal and Moral Responsibilities. More will come on this as I read on the topics myself.

Getting Stuff Done

• Most of all, a good manager gets stuff done. Saying “yes sir” and then forgetting about it does not make a good manager.
• Being a manager isn’t “fun”. Perhaps it is glamorised, especially in places like India, where the boss gets all the respect etc. “Yes sir”……..but being a real manager is hard work, and it isn’t fun. Why? Because you have to get stuff done:

1. The printer doesn’t work.
2. The internet doesn’t work.
3. The electricity doesn’t work.
4. There is no paper in the printer.
5. The toilet is clogged.
6. Payroll needs to be managed
7. Tax returns
8. Insurance.
9. Performance reviews
10. Marketing and winning business.
11. Interviewing staff.
12. Installing software on all staff computers.
13. Cutting costs and
14. Trying to improve profitability
15. Building and innovating.
16. Improving productivity.
17. Incentivising behaviour.

…….who is going to fix all of that? The manager.

Those things are not “fun”. But a good administrator needs to get it all done. If you are not going to do that stuff, then you will be a poor administrator.

Business

• Money in your hand now, is better than money coming later: As a general rule money in the firm’s bank account is better than money in someone else’s bank account. All efforts must be directed towards collecting early, and/or often, unless the benefits of delaying the receipt are favourable. This is why we:
  • Invoice early.
  • Invoice often.