Fear and Loathing in Agility: Long Live the Accounting Department
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This document discusses challenges with reconciling agile software development practices with compliance and accounting requirements. It proposes an agile framework for capturing project costs that addresses three traditional phases - preliminary, development, and post-implementation - in an agile context. Key aspects of the framework include classifying work as expense or capital based on simple rules, documenting management authorization, and assessing the probability of project completion. An acceptance test is provided to evaluate if the framework provides an auditable, scalable and sustainable solution consistent with GAAP. The document encourages readers to get involved in further discussing these issues.
Fear and Loathing in Agility: Long Live the Accounting Department
- 1. Copyright © 2014 SolutionsIQ, Inc. All rights reserved. Fear and Loathing in Agility: Long Live the Accounting Department Pat Reed & Laszlo Szalvay 21 March 2014 Austin, Texas http://ScrumAndCompliance.com/
- 2. To become a mainstream methodology, Agile had to overcome many potential obstacles. The first was geography…One of today’s most daunting obstacles is compliance, often bringing heavyweight documentation, required procedures that are very waterfall-ish, complex approval workflows, and complicated approval processes. July 2011 Forrester Research, Inc. “Compliance Is A Hurdle, Not A Barrier, To Agile” Tom Grant, PhD
- 3. “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible” Agile Community of Practice
- 4. About SolutionsIQ • Company operations embrace Agile practices • >150 people working across the globe • Engagements are collaborations between our consultants and clients • Change Management on a large scale • Embedded Agile practitioners work side-by- side with client teams • Full Scrum teams deliver Agile software
- 5. • Ever changing • More scrutiny due to Sept 2008 crash and general „anger‟ at Wall Street (e.g. Occupy Movement) • Many faces, although for financial vertical Singapore is emerging as a leader (strategic) • Not familiar with internal corporate vernacular, culture, or even software development compliance is complex
- 6. • Singapore sees compliance as a strategic differentiator and Singaporeans have taken a very taken a very hard position within the banking industry. As such, they are now seen as the international standard. • Complex set of cross-border rules that can be contradictory, incomplete, or vague • Have seen this in other industries (e.g. Postal) • Customs is where the most senior people from DHL, FedEx, UPS sit compliance has emerging leaders
- 8. problem statement: mindsets & mental models 8
- 9. quotes from regulated industries Agile is not just a method or a process, it‟s a way of being. You don‟t do Agile. You are Agile. The FBI has arranged to loan their ScrumMaster to other teams to get them trained. Increased Transparency has kept stakeholders in sync. Further, stakeholders would modify their expectations, based on the increased visibility of the process. Jack Israel, CTO FBI With no significant bugs reported…operation nearly flawless – a stunning and an unpredicted success. What are the implications for failing IT programs across government? Roger Baker, CIO VA “ ”
- 10. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) be followed in financial reporting by publicly traded companies. Currently, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is the highest authority in establishing generally accepted accounting principles for public and private companies, as well as non-profit entities; and the guidance on how to apply GAAP principles has been written in language designed around a waterfall software development methodology. background
- 11. • Objectivity principle: the company financial statements should be based on objective evidence. • Materiality principle: the significance of an item should be considered when it is reported. • Consistency principle: The company uses the same accounting principles and methods from year to year (note: referenced by documented policies) • Conservatism principle: when choosing between two solutions, the one that will be least likely to overstate assets and income should be picked relevant gaap principles/constraints
- 12. Before an Agile initiative can scale, an Agile accounting practice needs to be developed to enable CFO‟s to understand and leverage the benefits of Agile software development. the cfo need to understand “the why” 12
- 13. To ensure compliance, we must interpret regulatory guidelines through an Agile Lens to consistently estimate, allocate, track, a nd report labor costs to internal IT projects based on project work done in three specific phases: Preliminary, Development, and Post Implementation. what‟s the problem, man? 13
- 14. How do we replicate the Preliminary, Development, and Post Implementation phases within an Agile context consistent with both Agile and Accounting Principles and Values…. without ending up a dead ScrumMaster? don‟t end up a dead scrum master 14
- 15. the solutions: break paradigms, expand mental models and create a common language, culture and partnership 2 17
- 16. Effort Time Preliminary Development Post Implementation waterfall methodology 3 Months
- 18. Step 1: Paradigm shift: let‟s suspend our knowledge of the differences between Agile and Waterfall…..and take a new look at the “waterfall centric” project stage framework through an Agile lens Step 2: Adopt an Agile Project Stage Framework and Test Case Step 3: Standardize on a lightweight process to capture evidence of management authorization and commitment to project funding Step 4: Apply and adapt this framework to our organization an agile approach. . .
- 19. Effort Time Iteration12345 a new look at agile 3 months What happens before Iteration 1 begins?
- 20. 1. The nature of work performed in the Preliminary and Post Implementation phases is primarily Expense. 2. The nature of work in the Development Phase determines whether it will be Capitalized (if the work is critical to creating the asset) or Expense (if the work is basically overhead i.e. training, manual data conversion, administrative) reduce the problem to simple rules 22
- 21. can project labor can be capitalized? • It is reasonably expected that the project will be completed and the software will be used to perform the function intended. • Beneficial use of a minimum duration of 3 years • New or upgraded software functionality • Estimated costs (excluding hardware and software costs) result in the creation of a new asset of at least $100K. • High probability that the project can be accomplished • Preliminary project stage is completed • Management, with the relevant authority, implicitly or explicitly authorizes and commits to funding a computer software project and it is probable that the project will be completed and the software will be used to perform the function intended.
- 22. • Simple • Defensible / Auditable • Consistent across divisions • Scalable • Sustainable • Easy to understand, interpret, implement, administer • Value and risk balanced critical success factors to build an acceptance test
- 23. Does this solution clearly address the 3 stages of an IT project? 1. Preliminary (expense) 2. Development (mostly capital except for administration, overhead, training and data conversion costs) 3. Post Implementation (mostly expense) Have we documented management authorization of funding? Have we assessed probability that the project will be completed and resulting software used to perform the function intended? When do we define that the software is complete and ready for it‟s intended use? Would this proposed solution provide a defensible, auditable, scalable and sustainable solution? Is it consistent with GAAP and FASB (SOP 98-1)? acceptance test scorecard
- 24. expense versus capitalization 26 Release • Feature 1 • Feature 2 • Feature 3 Release N: Theme Iteration 1 Iteration 2 Iteration 3 Iteration … • Story 1 • Story 2 • Story 3 • Story 4 • Story 5 • Story 6 • Story 7 • Story 8 • Story 9 • Story 10 R Backlog Backlog • Story 1 • Story 2 • Story 3 • Story … • Story 11 • Story 12 • Story … Customer Evaluations Quickstart Inception Deck Treatment Inception: Design Storming Expense Capital
- 25. agile capitalization Expense Only Capital and Expense Quick Start Treatment & Pre- project tasks Design Storming It 0 It 1Project Stages Cost allocation Preliminary Project Application Development WhatHow • The Preliminary Project Stage: “What“ (Ends In Inception at the beginning of Design Storming) • The Development Stage: “How “ (Starts with Design Storming) • The Post Implementation Stage: “When” (Begins 72 hours after the last production implementation, when final user acceptance testing and Level 2 support or maintenance handoff is complete) Releases Final set of stories deployed. Expense 72 Hrs Inception Post Implementation Costs can be Capitalized once the “Approval to Start” has been secured and end at the completion of the Application Development stage when the asset is in production for customer use. Capitalization Begins Capitalization Ends … … Release It 2 ReleaseRelease Release Release Release It nIt 3 It 4
- 27. Join the conversation at http://ScrumAndCompliance.com/ get involved 29
- 28. Copyright © 2014 SolutionsIQ, Inc. All rights reserved. Thank you! Pat Reed preed@ihoriz.com +1.650.515.2989 Laszlo Szalvay lszalvay@solutionsiq.com +1.971.506.7862
Editor's Notes
- #3: Define the depth and breadth of challenge across What’s the real problem? The root cause? FEAR and the belief that MORE IS BETTER…..examples Sarbanes Oxley and Regulatory Controls…… brief examples of DoddI would argue that introducing compliance only complicates this issue. “Scaling is the last thing you should do” – Bas Vodde, Craig Larman, Martin Fowler, Jeff Sutherland, Ken Schwaber
- #5: Add new pic of Halim
- #10: Approach: Reality Deep Dive. 1. What are the risks we’re controlling for?What are the minimum viable controls and where should they be in an agile environment (control points at release train)What are the processes to effectively mitigate the risk (and recognizing that excess process and controls create waste and exacerbate the problem)What training and support structures do we need to ensure Approach: leverage what we’ve learned from TDD to start with an acceptance test.“Scaling is the last thing you should do” – Bas Vodde, Craig Larman, Martin Fowler, Jeff Sutherland, Ken Schwaber
- #11: Explosive and strategic growth of technology in the 90’sRecognition that internal software investments have significant future benefits and should be capitalized accordinglyMandatory accounting guidelines require all organizations to better define, standardize and report internal IT development costs in order to standardize financial reporting, eliminate the inconsistencies across companies and ensure investors made informed decisionsGuidelines were designed around a phased, waterfall based IT investment model where IT projects are delivered in discrete, time boxed phasesAs organizations adopt Agile development and delivery models, they will encounter inherent constraints and points of friction with legacy accounting practices and policiesBefore Agile can scale as the primary mode of developing software, this accounting issue needs more clarification and an Agile software and project accounting practice needs to be developed.
- #13: Transforming the constraint to a strategic advantage / enabler….. New perspective …… Zoom in……zoom outZooming out
- #14: Transforming the constraint to a strategic advantage / enabler….. New perspective …… Zoom in……zoom outZooming out
- #15: Transforming the constraint to a strategic advantage / enabler….. New perspective …… Zoom in……zoom outZooming out
- #18: Starts with the courage to understand the real problem. We will win by:Breaking Mental Models and Reframing old Paradigms to See The Real Problem Collaborating to Start with Acceptance TestsBuilding RelationshipsBroadening Network