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Is this "tuning" typically done on the revenue side or the cost side? I'm surprised it's at all possible with proper revenue and cost recognition policies in pl
by rodionos 11y ago
Is this "tuning" typically done on the revenue side or the cost side? I'm surprised it's at all possible with proper revenue and cost recognition policies in place.
- pbreit 11y agoSpending $500m, $1b or $2b on video content is pretty easy to time.
- adamt 11y agoBut that isn't an immediate expense it's a balance sheet asset written off over a period of time.
- ChuckMcM 11y agoAt Sun there was literally a taped square on the floor of the factory, and things in that square were "shipped" to as the quarter was finishing up the factory would figure out how much had to be shipped to make the numbers, and they would process enough orders to make that happen. If there weren't orders, then some "one time deals" would be mentioned to top customers who might get a really nice discount or something. Sometimes contractors are told to go home until the next quarter. At NetApp there were other tools, service revenues, expenses, etc. One quarter the call went out for everyone to be sure they had expensed everything they had outstanding. Once the summer employee event shifted by a week. They would also do close the quarter incentive sales which could bring in just enough orders to keep it in line. As far as I can tell this is something they teach in business school as part of your MBA training. It seems pretty universal. When things can't be managed that way, you get actual unexpected surprises, lay offs, or work furloughs, or perhaps you decide you aren't going to hire nearly as many next year so you trim all the contract staff. Clearly people aren't as worried by over delivering as they are under delivering. As you can see from the Apple and Google earnings calls, a small miss negative can have an outsized impact on your stock price. But it is also important to not consistently have upside surprises as suddenly people start valuing the stock assuming an upside surprise.
- hinkley 11y agoEverybody lives and dies by the numbers, long term consequences be damned. Even developers do this, although most of us resent having to do it. You manage risk and tech debt by splitting high risk projects into many small pieces, and amortizing improvements across low-complexity features. The long and short lines are never more than an order of magnitude or so apart, even though it might take ten 'tasks' to equal one change that the customer will actually notice.
- coredog64 10y agoWhen I was at OnSemi, we had multiple calls for mandatory vacation. Paid leave is a liability on the books, so by forcing employees to take it, they could make the numbers look better. The message from management each time was "We know we told you last time that it would never happen again, but..."
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoOne old company I worked at shipped empty boxes to a customer to make the quarter come out right. Shipped the hardware the next week when it was ready.
- hkmurakami 10y agoThere's a certain video game company that ships remakes on newer platforms to meet revenue numbers.