Here's what Autonomy told its salesmen they were allowed to do With the Autonomy Trial in full swing over HPE's allegations that the British software company fiddled its accounts to inflate its buy price, what exactly were the corporation's internal rules on recognising revenue? An internal presentation from its general counsel, obtained by The Register, sheds some light. Joel Scott, …
As the former Head of Finance for a similar organisation (which has now been subsumed), I can see exactly how this happens.
We were often referred to as the 'Sales Prevention Team' because we had to be all over Sales and local management to get this right. Once you find yourself in a culture like that being displayed here, sometimes the only thing you can do is quit.
(Depending on evidence you may drop an email to the Audit Committee on the way out.)
Or any of the following habitude, hackable, hackette, hairlike, hairline, hairwove, halazone, halflife, halfpace, halfpipe, halftime, halftone, halicore, halidome, halimote, hamulate, hamulose, handlike, handmade, handsome, hangable, hangfire, harambee, harangue, hardbake, hardcase, hardedge, hardface, hardline, hardnose, hardwire, harelike, harplike, hateable, hawklike, hawknose, headache, headcase, headgate, headline, headnote, headrace, headrope, healable, healsome, hearable, heatable, heatwave, hebetate, hebetude, hebraize, hegumene, hellfire, hellhole, hellkite, helotage, helpable, helpline, helpmate, hematine, hematite, hemipode, hemocyte, hemolyze, hemplike, henhouse, hepatise, hepatite, hepatize, herblike, herdlike, heritage, herniate, herolike, hesitate, hetaerae, hexamine, hexylene, hiccatee, highlife, highrise, hillside, hireable, hittable, hivelike, holdable, holesome, holocene, holotype, holydame, holytide, homelike, homemade, homepage, homesite, homicide, hominine, hominize, homodyne, homotype, homuncle, honeybee, hoodlike, hooflike, hooklike, hooknose, hooplike, hornlike, hornpipe, horologe, horrible, hoselike, hosepipe, hothouse, hotplate, huarache, huggable, huisache, humanise, humanize, hummable, huntable, hurtable, husklike, hylobate, hymnlike, hyoscine, hyperope, hypnotee, hypobole, hypogene.
habitude, hackable, hackette, hairlike, hairline, hairwove, halazone, halflife, halfpace, halfpipe, halftime, halftone, halicore, halidome, halimote, hamulate, hamulose, handlike, handmade, handsome, hangable, hangfire, harambee, harangue, hardbake, hardcase, hardedge, hardface, hardline, hardnose, hardwire, harelike, harplike, hateable, hawklike, hawknose, headache, headcase, headgate, headline, headnote, headrace, headrope, healable, healsome, hearable, heatable, heatwave, hebetate, hebetude, hebraize, hegumene, hellfire, hellhole, hellkite, helotage, helpable, helpline, helpmate, hematine, hematite, hemipode, hemocyte, hemolyze, hemplike, henhouse, hepatise, hepatite, hepatize, herblike, herdlike, heritage, herniate, herolike, hesitate, hetaerae, hexamine, hexylene, hiccatee, highlife, highrise, hillside, hireable, hittable, hivelike, holdable, holesome, holocene, holotype, holydame, holytide, homelike, homemade, homepage, homesite, homicide, hominine, hominize, homodyne, homotype, homuncle, honeybee, hoodlike, hooflike, hooklike, hooknose, hooplike, hornlike, hornpipe, horologe, horrible, hoselike, hosepipe, hothouse, hotplate, huarache, huggable, huisache, humanise, humanize, hummable, huntable, hurtable, husklike, hylobate, hymnlike, hyoscine, hyperope, hypnotee, hypobole, hypogene.
Found it !
None of those is was HARDWARE. They were reselling hardware and the reporting blurred the distinction between hardware sales and desirable software sales. Hardware resellers are almost valueless (they add nothing to the product) whilst software development houses are valued at multiples of revenue.
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hp-autonomy/hp-was-aware-of-autonomys-loss-making-hardware-sales-ft-idUSBREA1H08O20140218>
I've seen this before, typically in smaller/struggling companies that survive month to month, desperate to see an uptick in the management graphs!
I say desperate, because they are are usually operating close to bankruptcy or just lack the skill and leadership to see past the next month or two..
@David Austin
I don't often post AC but:
3 times in the last 12 months either sales or a proj manager has promised new or potential customers things that our software does not do, and was not being worked on at all. We write software that sells to healthcare providers.
Advancement after advancement, superceded by lack of timely capital or let's sell or load debt/equity to either ruin or foreign purchase. You can understand the dysfunction required to produce a financial, legal and inaccurate audit swamp with cambridge econonics. #climbthruthechair.api
Sounds right for non-'SaaS' licence sales. So customer buys a 2-year licence, pays up front and then the company has the cash to recognise. Requiring S&M is also sensible (sorry HR) because otherwise there's a tendency to cut those charges and end up giving away free support.
Usual trick is for sales to get a 3-5yr deal to boost commission, but argue that having annual benchmarking exercises with break clauses means it's still worth the full value. Sensible finance types tend to disagree.
he testified to the High Court that he "violated this with permission and tolerance and guidance at times", before agreeing that in general, there was a "zero tolerance policy" towards breaking the "no side agreements" rule.
Must be a sales and marketing definition of zero then, that looks to be a 1% tolerance of 'no side agreements', certainly not zero tolerance if they sometimes tolerated it.
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