Nick Katko and Mike De Luca Talk About Practicing Lean Accounting

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/428 My guests for Episode #428 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Nick Katko and Mike De Luca. Nick is president and owner of the firm BMA and Mike is a Lean coach, serving as principal and owner of Torre Consulting. Nick and Mike have a new book out called Practicing Lean Accounting. And I'm thrilled that the title is inspired by the book I edited called Practicing Lean. Their book is available now in paperback and Amazon Kindle formats. Nick has been practicing lean accounting for over 25 years, both as a CFO and as a lean accounting trainer and coach. Nick is also the author of the book The Lean CFO (2013) and is co-author of The Lean Business Management System (2007). Mike's lean journey began with implementing lean accounting as a finance leader in the early 2000's – evolving the finance department's role to meet the changing needs of a lean organization. Today, we talk about the book and more, with topics and questions including: Nick and then Mike, how did you first get introduced to Lean and what was the context? Manufacturing and healthcare How did you come to collaborate on this book? Budgets – from quarterly batches to daily practice The “tyranny of budgets” leads to blame? What is “Lean Accounting” in relation to the accounting function, payroll, paying suppliers, etc. “Becoming immune to waste” Why is it important for others to understand “how accounting thinks”?? What does “respect for people” mean to you? “It's not about the numbers, it's about the people using the numbers” Lean accounting applications in healthcare? What's uniquely healthcare? Final tips — How to best engage CFOs? Is there a clear message about what Lean means to the org? The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more. This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.