Coming up for air

Wow. Well, THAT was a fun two weeks. Just handed in a 25-page marketing paper and am busily chipping away at a macroeconomics regression. After the Feds threw us all for a loop with their lowering the discount rate, now I'm tasked with guessing their next move. Rock on. The past few weeks have been brutal. In between turning in 3 papers and one mid-term exam, I managed to sneak away with Mike to the Beach Boys concert for my birthday. We both preferred their opening act, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, though the Four Seasons all seemed a bit too young and pretty as Frankie's backdrop. Nonetheless, Frankie hit his iconic falsetto high notes, and I cheered in response. I've got this macro paper to write and some valuation problems to do for finance, and then I'm home free for Labor Day weekend. But until then, I have to learn to love my WACC as much as possible! See you all after Labor Day.

Lucky 13

Here is a shot of my global team this mod. It was taken the first night of our Supply Chains and Sustainability residency in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. We have three total teams as we progress through the program. This is #2 of 3. From left to right, the members are:
Tall dude in back: Erik B of Utrecht, the Netherlands--supply chain manager for the parent company of Mentos. Just had a beautiful baby girl with his wife, so of course, I HAD to send a cute Strawberry Shortcake outfit.
Short dude in front of him: Scott D. Technical Director of AOL in Wash. DC. The biggest sweetie ever, even though his heart will always belong to the Wolverines. A curse upon thee, Michigan!
Female #1: Laetitia L from the Hague, Netherlands. Known to our class as "the dolphin lady", she is the founder of a pretty popular organization in Curacao that allows tourists to swim with the dolphins. I don't think I've ever known such a maven of dolphins even existed. Now I do. Her fashions are as colorful as her personality. Passionate, dedicated, committed.
Female #2: If you have to ask......and would you believe it, as I'm typing this I'm seriously considering a major shift in careers. Yes, I'm comtemplating getting out of accounting altogether. More on that another day--we have to see how the cards fall. This is not something that's just going to happen overnight.
Jovial dude next to me: Jason J., portal content specialist for Motorola in San Jose, CA. Dude is a friggin writing mastermind. I adore sitting next to him during our US-based classes, even though he constantly distracts me with his sharp wit and self-deprecating humor. I can certainly see his poli sci background. Reads people very well too. A corker.
Dude next to him: Jesus C from Mexico City. IT wunderkind. Excel warlord. This guy kicks some serious names and provides his thirsty teammates with the best Mexican tequila I've ever tasted. I'm so looking forward to our reunion in November in Sao Paulo.

Saludos! And that, my friends, is Lucky team #13.

Breezes on the back of my neck

I chopped off all my hair. It was long past my shoulders, and I got tired of it. I pulled a Victoria Beckham and chopped it all off into a short, funky angled bob. Brightened up my complexion with complementary color in a mix of 7A and 7B. It's much more versatile now. I'm happy. The hubby......not so much. He'll live.

Can I have a bottle of dork with that?

Sometimes I amuse myself. I may be the only one who understands my idiosyncratic humor, but some people actually do hear one hand clapping. Take my classmate, for example. He is a finance guru at a large financial institution. I have offered my help to tutor my classmates in accounting and told him over the phone this session would be too elementary for him. Yet, he decides to be a smartass. So I respond. Funny or not funny? You decide. Here is our email exchange. Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

________________________________

From: Accounting Rebel (me)
Sent: Fri 8/3/2007 12:02 PM
To: XXXXX
Subject: Reminder about accounting review session



Hola, class!
This is just a friendly reminder that the accounting review session I'll be hosting will take place this Sunday at 7pm eastern. I've only had three questions sent in so far, so please send me more! I'll accept questions in problem format until midnight tomorrow. Basically I've structured this as a review of fundamentals: what's debited versus credited, how the matching principle works, how timing affects cash flows, etc. If you have a pretty solid grasp of all the material, this is probably going to be too elementary for you.

Please make sure you don't ask me something that's too close to an exam problem. If you do, however, I'll change it significantly enough it can't be directly applied. If you understand the theoretical principle behind my example, then you should be able to complete the exam problem accordingly.

I have no idea where skill sets lie, so if you could forward me questions about well...pretty much anything....I'll have a better idea of how to frame the presentation without assuming too much or too little.

Thanks much, gang. See some of you on Sunday.


----Original Message-----
From: Banking Mastermind
Sent: Fri 8/3/2007 5:07 PM
To: Accounting Rebel
Subject: RE: Reminder about accounting review session

Can you please help explain the GAAP accounting for the derivative associated with a base metals commodities hedge assuming the price of lead (that you are holding in physical inventory) has increased dramatically over the last 90 days....

Just kidding. Hope you are well.

--Banking Mastermind

________________________________

My response:

You crack me up. Seriously.
I mean, c'mon. You know physical commodities inventory is valued at the lower of cost or market value. Didn't anyone tell you lead is soooooooooooooooooo 2004??? How passe that you would still own this in your physical inventory. Uranium is the way to go these days--sheesh! Anyway, I'm sure you're aware the price risk is mitigated through the use of derivatives. This price risk mitigation does not generally qualify for hedge accounting under GAAP. So no hanky-panky stuff. In such situations, unrealized gains in inventory are not recognized under GAAP, but unrealized gains and losses in related derivative positions ARE recognized under GAAP. As a result, the company's reported commodities trading earnings are subject to volatility. I'm sure that keeps you awake at night. Or at least it should. Just the suggestion of "volatility" anywhere is enough to make me shake in my britches like Ebeneezer Scrooge at a United Way meeting. Pass me the small cap international any day......

The bigger and more important question remains: Why am I still at WORK? Ack....time to jet.



Later I chided him for bringing up a FASB statement that was issued after I had finished my undergrad schooling. I don't have to go to all that CPE since I'm not in public accounting, so I'm about 10 years behind on some of the FASB and SFAS statements (not good ole GASB, though--I'm up-to-date on all my governmental accounting shizznit). Have any of you been to those sessions? One word: Snoresville.

Anyway, I sent him a link to FASB 133 just to be a smartass back. That'll learn 'im.

Rock, rock, rock around the clock

Well, more like "study" around the clock, but that's a different story for a different day. In July Mike and I attended the Heavy Rebel Weekender in Winston-Salem and had the opportunity to consume much Magic Hat while listening to incredible local talent, including the Straight 8s, the Tremors, Jem Crossland and the Hypertonics, and Hick'ry Hawkins. They all have myspace pages--google em! The Straight 8s are one of our faves, and the lead singer lives just down the road from us.

Here's a pic of the hubby and the bookworm before we go out on night numero uno.