More than 15 years ago, the Harvard Business Review had already declared corporate planning and budgeting as all but dead. “Corporate budgeting is a joke, and everyone knows it,” the business magazine wrote in 2001. The polarizing article generated an enormous reaction. However, little has changed since then.

We’ve all come across checkpoints in our personal lives where we commonly think about or use phrases such as “let’s take a few steps back”, “I need to reset things” and “let’s start all over again”.

P&L management focuses on the items included into P&L (profit and loss) report. It has become an increasingly popular technique used by the top managers around the world. P&L responsibility scope goes far beyond being simply responsible for profits or loss. Managers must not only understand what stands behind and drives each item of the report, but also need to take steps to improve P&L statements.

Back in 2004 I spent a large portion of time overseas travelling around France. I would often find when talking to a “local” the first question I would ask was:  “Do you speak English?” Most times, the response I got was a short, sharp “No!”