statements

Facebook has scrapped a change to its terms that users complained could be used as an excuse for censorship, and reopened the consultation into the other changes to those terms.

Thousands of users sent in responses to the proposed revisions to Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, during a brief consultation period that Facebook quietly ran in March. The social-networking firm said late today that it would re-open the consultation for the next week, and that it had already altered some proposed changes due on the reaction they received.

"Based on your feedback during the recent comment period … Read more

For Hewlett-Packard, fiscal 2011 was the year of two CEOs--Leo Apotheker and Meg Whitman--and it cost the company dearly.

In its proxy statement filed today, HP outlined the compensation packages for its relatively new CEO and the parting gift for Apotheker.

The damage? Whitman took a salary of $1 for fiscal 2011 and option awards worth $16.15 million. Toss in other competition and the grand total comes to $16.52 million rounded. And then there's Apotheker, who wrestled with strategy, communications, and a decision on whether to spin off HP's PC unit. Simply put, the Apotheker reign … Read more

Microsoft's board decided to pay Chief Executive Steve Ballmer a $682,500 bonus on top of his $682,500 salary in the fiscal year that ended June 30, concluding that Ballmer met, but did not exceed, his performance targets for the year.

The pay was disclosed today in Microsoft's annual proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ballmer's compensation plan allows for the bonus to be two times his salary, if the board deems his performance worthy.

In the filing, the board gave Ballmer credit for the successful product launches of the Kinect motion-sensing controller for the Xbox as well as the cloud-based Office 365. The board also noted "enhancements" to Windows Azure and Bing, as well as "continued progress positioning the company as a leader in the cloud and cloud-based infrastructure."

Ballmer also benefited from the company's partnerships with Facebook and Nokia. And the board noted the company's "significant progress in development of the next generation of Windows." The company previewed Windows 8 at its Build conference in Anaheim, Calif., last month. And last, the board credited Ballmer for his work in the pending acquisition of videoconferencing pioneer Skype.

The board also highlighted a few misfires that prevented Ballmer from receiving his total potential bonus. It pointed to "lower than expected initial sales of Windows Phone 7." Ballmer said as much during the company's financial analyst meeting in September, noting: "We haven't sold quite as many probably as I would have hoped we would have sold in the first year."… Read more

Groupon sent out e-mails to its users this weekend about changes it has made to its privacy statement and terms of use.

Among the most notable changes is more information about the Chicago-based social buying start-up's collection and use of mobile location information.

Said Groupon:

"In short, if you use a Groupon mobile app and you allow sharing through your device, Groupon may collect geo-location information from the device and use it for marketing deals to you (and for other purposes listed in the "How Groupon Uses Personal Information" section of the Updated Privacy Statement)." … Read more

The General Ledger has been the basic bookkeeping tool of double-entry accounting since the Green Eyeshade days. It records financial transactions as both Credits and Debits in balance sheets, which before the advent of software were bound together in huge volumes like something out of a Dickens novel. BS1 General Ledger from Davis Business Systems brings the General Ledger up to cyberspeed with a variety of easy-to-use accounting tools that can track budgets and financial data and generate income statements, balance sheets, and other reports. It's freeware, a good start, accountancy-wise.

At just 1.44MB, BS1 is a fairly … Read more

LJZsoft's PTReportGen turns Microsoft's PowerPoint into a powerful tool for preparing and generating reports. If you can write a simple SQL statement, you can use PTReportGen to create just about any kind of customized report. By using PowerPoint for reports, you can save money by eliminating the need for extra software, as well as increase productivity by making use of a familiar tool. Using PowerPoint also helps ensure your reports will be readable when they're delivered.

LJZsoft specializes in tools that add features or functionality to Microsoft Office applications. However, unlike most add-ins, PTReportGen has its own … Read more

Options for computer-based personal finance management have proliferated in recent years, both in terms of software and Web-based services. Personal Financial Statement Software is, as the name implies, another entry into this field, and we can't say we're terribly impressed with it. It looks nice and works well enough, but its features simply don't compare with many of the other options that are available.

The program's interface is well-designed and attractive, and it's quite easy to use. A wizard-style dialog guides users through the process of entering their assets and liabilities, and users are able … Read more

It's hard enough to make a go of a restaurant by emphasizing things like food, service, and sanitation. Where too many good restaurants fail is not in the kitchen or the dining room but in the office, where costs, inventory, and profit and loss are often left to fend for themselves. Restaurateurs who want to succeed need to pay as close attention to their bottom line as they do their menus. Spreadsheet123's Restaurant Monthly Profit and Loss Statement Template for Excel RPLT 1 isn't too long a title for such a helpful tool. It contains five Excel … Read more

Cashbook Complete Accounting can help manage your company's finances. It can handle most any bookkeeping task. It will manage incoming and outgoing expenses, employee timesheets, list of contacts, and invoices for projects and jobs. You can also use it to run and print invoices, balance sheets, and profit and loss reports, and e-mail them to your customers or export them to financial-planning software. It will manage your company's bank accounts and even import data from your bank. There's a built-in backup utility, too.

Cashbook Complete Accounting is a good accounting solution for small- to medium-size companies. The … Read more