Hitting the Numbers

In my honest opinion, "hitting the numbers" is a very appropriate goal for an organization if the company goes about attempting to hit those numbers in an ethical way. Goals are very important for all companies. If some Wall Street security analysts expect a company to attain certain sales numbers or profit numbers, by all means the company can do their best to meet or exceed those numbers (goals). The problem comes in when the pressure to "hit the numbers" causes companies and the employees of those companies to engage in unethical activities. According to "a survey conducted by CFO magazine, 41 percent of surveyed chief financial officers admitted ethical problems in their organizations" and that's very startling (Gitman 2009 p 204). So many companies feel the need to "hit the numbers" that they are willing to compromise their job and break the law in order to do so. Organizations need to do their best to communicate to their employees that while they want to do their best to reach their goals, they need to do so in an ethical and legal way. Many companies have their own ethics code that explicitly tells their employees right and wrong conduct, and that's fantastic. Companies, such as Texas Instruments, even have written detailed standards of conduct which go into further detail (Gitman 2009 p204). These help organizations show their employees that they want to have things done right and I believe that makes the employees more comfortable. "Hitting the numbers" projected by Wall Street is a great goal for any company. Everyone needs goals so they always have something to strive for and are never becoming complacent. By working hard to attain these goals in an ethical manner, companies and employees will feel much more pride when they actually do "hit the numbers" that were estimated.

Gitman, Lawrence J. (2009). Principles of managerial finance, brief (5th ed.)

Boston,MA:Pearson/Addison,Wesley