A congressional report released Thursday slammed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for wasting hundreds of millions of dollars in hurricane relief and national security money on frivolous purchases and mismanagement of contracts.The report, prepared by staff of the House Committee on Government Reform, echoed an investigative report issued last week by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). It highlighted several examples involving the agencies within the massive department formed after 9/11.

People have always been willing to change in order to improve the future. Consequently, old dogs can learn new tricks as they find more effective ways to adapt and leverage new technology, methods, processes, ideas, and social networks that help them improve the return on the investment they make in human capital. But can they create new tricks?According to Ron Baker, author of the white paper “Old Dogs Can’t Create New Tricks,” it’s not likely. Basically, what he means is that the older we get the less likely we are to create a ground breaking innovation.

"You hear people say it all the time: business is just slow in the summer," says Steve Johnson, co-author of Selling Is Everyone's Business: What It Takes to Create a Great Salesperson (Wiley, 2006, ISBN: 0-471-77673-4, $24.95). "For many sales organizations, it seems acceptable to slack off, to cut corners, to put off making the tough calls because 'everyone's on vacation' or 'no one's in the mood to make big decisions.' Well, naturally if you expect business to be slow, it will be slow."So how can you keep your sales force from falling prey to the self-fulfilling slow summer prophecy?

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Institute of Management Accountants have both affirmed support for new guidance for smaller public companies released during a webcast on July 11 by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).