Operational Review Workbook: Case Studies, Forms, and Exercises

ISBN-13: 9780471228110 / Angielski / Miękka / 2002 / 208 str.

Rob Reider

Opis

Practical, proven tools for conducting successful operational reviews

An operational review evaluates management's conformity with plans and resource allocations, organizational structure, operating procedures, processes, and controls. In today's volatile marketplace, organizations must do everything possible to ensure their operations are running most economically and effectively to maximize desired results. In such a competitive environment, operational reviews have become increasingly important. The Operational Review Workbook not only gives readers a better understanding of the concepts behind operational reviews but also enables them to conduct reviews with more confidence and authority.

A companion to Rob Reider's Operational Review: Maximum Results at Efficient Costs, Third Edition, the Workbook explains the benefits of a review and offers step-by-step guidance through its various stages. In addition to the author's incisive analysis, this practical guide:
* Includes case studies, checklists, forms, and exercises
* Reinforces the fundamental principles necessary to perform an operational review
* Presents in a step-by-step manner how an operational review should be performed
* Shows how to judge a review's results and make recommendations to management
* Demonstrates how to use tools and techniques such as financial statement analysis, verification of data accuracy, determination of compliance with laws and regulations, development and understanding of ratio change and trend analysis, use of systems and layout flowcharts, effective interviewing techniques, and preparation and use of survey forms, questionnaires, and checklists
* Integrates operational review concepts with other analytical processes such as benchmarking strategies and activity-based costing principles


The Operational Review Workbook delivers all the tools needed to successfully conduct an operational review of the organization, department, or activity. CEOs, operations management and staff, internal and external consultants and auditors, CFOs and controllers, and other organizational stakeholders will find Reider's incomparable guide an invaluable addition to their professional libraries.

Spis treści

Preface.

Introduction.

Chapter 1: Overview of Operational Reviews.

Stakeholders.

Why Businesses Are in Existence.

Businesses a Company Is Not In.

Some Basic Business Principles.

Criteria for Organizational Growth.

Mental Models and Belief Systems.

Organizational Criteria Example.

Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness.

Specific Objectives.

Specific Purposes.

Benefits of Operational Reviews.

Operational Review Phases.

Operational Review Engagement Development.

What Functions to Review.

Initial Survey.

Case Study: Joe Sorry, Inc.

Case Situation: Leasing Insurance Costs.

Review Questions.

Suggested Responses.

Chapter 2: Planning Phase.

Information to Be Obtained.

Sources of Information.

Review of Organizational Planning and Budget Systems.

Organizational Structure and the Role of Management.

Planning Phase Work Program.

Case Study: Joe Sorry, Inc., Planning Phase.

Case Situation: Purchase Order Quantity Tolerances.

Review Questions.

Suggested Responses.

Chapter 3: Work Program Phase.

Benefits of the Operational Review Work Program.

Work Program Work Steps.

Engagement Control.

Case Study: Joe Sorry Company, Work Program Phase.

Case Study Situation: Defective Merchandise Returns.

Case Study Situation: Equipment Maintenance Review.

Review Questions.

Suggested Responses.

Chapter 4: Field Work Phase.

Field Work Techniques.

Specific Field Work Techniques.

Work Papers.

Case Study: Joe Sorry Company, Field Work Phase.

Case Situation: Clerical Procedures.

Review Questions.

Suggested Responses.

Chapter 5: Development of Review Findings.

Operational Review Finding Attributes.

Operational Review Criteria Standards.

Some Possible Types of Causes.

Effects of Operational Review Findings: Possible Indicators.

Review Findings Development Checklist.

Case Study: Joe Sorry Company, Development of Findings.

Case Study: Finished Goods Shipments.

Case Situation: Shipping and Receiving Procedures.

Case Situation: Accounts Receivable and Collections.

Review Questions.

Suggested Responses.

Chapter 6: Reporting Phase.

Characteristics of Good Reporting.

Examples of Reporting Operational Review Results.

ABCs of Effective Report Writing.

Case Study: Joe Sorry Company, Reporting Phase.

Review Questions.

Suggested Responses.

O autorze

ROB REIDER, CPA, MBA, PhD, is President of Reider Associates (Santa Fe, New Mexico), a management and organizational consulting firm. Prior to founding Reider Associates, he was a manager in the Management Consulting Group of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell Co. (now KPMG). He is the course author as well as seminar leader of over twenty workshops conducted nationally and is also the author of Benchmarking Strategies: A Tool for Profit Improvement and Improving the Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness of Not–for–Profits: Conducting Operational Reviews, both from Wiley. He can be contacted at hrreider@reiderassociates.com.