Nice job, Leslie!

Every Thursday, I run a report that lets the financial folks at Crane know our current numbers. We have targets that we're trying to hit by the end of the fiscal year (FY). So, some folks are anxious to see this report each week...including my bosses.

This morning, I finished the report and sent updated numbers to a few folks in key positions, like I do every week. One of the people that gets that information is the Comptroller. I really like Mr. C. We've been a little concerned with hitting our projected Revenue numbers this year, so I let them know that our revenue was up $12M this week. (It was up a little more last week, but less than that the three weeks prior.) Anyway, he came back with a message. "Good job, Leslie! $12M is a good number."

I had to stop and think about that. The fact is, I don't do ANYTHING to 'affect' the numbers. I simply run the report and then report the results. THEN it crossed my mind that maybe I SHOULD HAVE BEEN doing something to 'affect' those numbers. I started to freak out a little, thinking that the previous employees who filled this position were accountants and probably knew how to adjust balances between the various departments, etc. to improve our numbers. But no one has ever taught me how to do this, so I've never done anything like that.

Well, Mr. C stopped by my desk about 20 minutes later. I couldn't help myself...I just had to ask him... "When you said, nice job to me, you're not REALLY saying that I personally did something to improve the flow of Revenue for Crane this week, are you? Or that I might actually do some creative accounting with the data to 'fix' errors the systems might have caused?" He flat out laughed at me and said that no, he knew I was simply reporting the numbers, that his comment was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. I told him that I was relieved, but that it had crossed my mind that if our Revenue was already improving and I hadn't even tapped into any power *I* might have for improving things... well shucks, things could be GREAT if I actually knew how to take advantage of that 'power'. He looked at me seriously and said that there would NEVER be a need for me to report anything other than the real story.

Good! Because that's all I know how to do! I really like working for Mr. C.

I have to say, I didn't honestly think that I was expected to do anything sly or under-handed to improve the financial picture at Crane. I simply thought that there might be accounting rules or financial tools that I wasn't aware of that I could be (should be) using to correct any previously made errors. But no...I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do...at least with respect to this report. I was relieved to hear that!

Nice job, Leslie!