Knowledge management and Financial information

Looking at the roles in the table above, many of them sound like they are taking on general leadership and management roles. So how do they differ from other functional managers inside your organisation? Perhaps the main difference lies in the accounting policies contained in FRS18 that govern the way an accountant thinks about an organisation. Before FRS18 (2000) one of the over-riding accounting concepts was ‘prudence’, which basically says that anything bad that can happen will happen so take it into account, and if there’s anything good that may happen ignore it or think prudently. But now FRS18 refers to:  true and fair view  going concern realisation.

Realisation, the fourth point above, is a similar concept to prudence, but with a little less doom and gloom. Nevertheless, compared with other pieces of information in an organisation’s knowledge management system, it’s still safe to say that the accountant’s view is likely to be more prudent than information from other sources. As a strategic leader, it’s up to you to weigh up all the information on your organisation’s knowledge bank and make decisions within the risk framework acceptable inside your organisation.