Compensation and Benefit Design: Applying Finance and Accounting Principles to Global Human Resource Management Systems

Preface

Accounting is the language of business. Human resource (HR) management deals with the major asset of a business: the employee. Therefore, when dealing with employee issues, shouldn’t HR professionals use the language of business? Shouldn’t a connection exist between these important dimensions? Yet, as often noted by various people, HR management and accounting (finance also) come from different planets. This disconnect was discussed in an article published in the WorldatWork journal¹ a few years ago, “Finance Is from Mars, Human Resources Is from Venus,” by Wade Lindenberger, CPA, and Kayoko Lindenberger, CBP, Employee Benefits Training and Solutions. But both of these planets are from the same solar system, and commonsense logic suggests ...