Memorandum
Improving our cost structure and creating operating leverage in our business is an
important part of our strategy for the Institutional Clients Group. The same
effort and innovation that we apply toward building our business and growing our
revenue must also be applied to creating a highly efficient and scalable cost
structure.
As you know, we have spent considerable time looking at our headcount and related
expense, and while we have made progress in that area, we still have more work to
do. I recognize that the work around headcount has been challenging, and I
appreciate all of your efforts.
It is equally important that we ensure that every dollar that we spend on third
party goods and services is highly efficient. I ask each of you to carefully
consider every expense that you incur and ensure that it is both necessary and in
accordance with our policies.
To that end, I want to let you know about several new and important expense
policies and pre-approval procedures which take effect immediately. These policies
and procedures apply to all ICG employees and the functional support areas
dedicated to ICG, in all regions.
Managing our expenses is not only a critical aspect of our strategy, it is also an
important part of our jobs. Each of us must do our part to manage our expenses by
challenging every dollar we spend to ensure that it is truly necessary and in
compliance with our policies. The Management Committee and I expect everyone’s
full support for this important effort.
Thank you.
-JPH
I. Expense Policies
Market Data - Over the coming months, we will conduct a comprehensive review of
our market data services and related usage. Early analysis suggests that the level
of market data services within ICG is above industry best practices. Therefore, I
ask each of you who use market data to carefully review all the services you
currently consume and cancel any services which are not absolutely necessary to
perform your duties. Going forward, all new market data services will require pre-
approval.
Office Space, Moves and Furniture - Real estate represents a significant share of
the expenses of ICG. Going forward, all requests for new office space, office
relocations and/or expansions and lease renewals will require pre-approval.
Additionally, office and workstation moves and furniture purchases will be limited
to only those which are truly essential and will also require pre-approval.
Color Copying and Color Printing - The use of color copying and printing
dramatically increases our copying and printing costs. Color presentations are
unnecessary for internal purposes; therefore going forward color copying and
printing should only be used for client presentations. Also whenever possible,
presentations should be printed double sided to reduce unnecessary paper usage.
Over time, we will be removing color copiers and printers from the locations where
they are not essential for purposes of preparing client presentations.
Late Night Car Service and Meals - Each of our locations has specific policies
regarding the use and reimbursement of car services and meals for employees who
are required to work late. Here too it appears as though we are not fully
following our policies. Going forward, it is our expectation that we will all
strictly adhere to our car service and meal policies and only those expenses which
are in compliance with policy will be reimbursed.
Non-Client Entertainment and Meals - Except with respect to employees who are
traveling for business, we will no longer reimburse without pre approval any
expenses for internal entertainment or meals with colleagues.
Client Events - We need to carefully evaluate our spending on client events and
ensure that they are good investments of our limited resources. We will be working
with the heads of each business to review all currently scheduled client events,
including the list of proposed attendees (both client and employee) and total cost
of the event (including any travel and client entertainment contemplated as part
of the event). Going forward, all new client events will require pre-approval and
any client event with an expected cost of $5,000 or more must be arranged through
the Global Event Marketing department.
The written pre-approval of Mark Rufeh, our Chief Administrative Officer, will now
be required for all:
Non-Client Travel
Training/Industry Conferences
Professional Memberships
Internal Entertainment
Corporate Events Over $2,500 (or the local equivalent spend)
The approval of Bruce Cohen or Diane Arber, our Senior Human Resources Officers,
will be required for all Contingent Searches.
The approval of Hamid Biglari, our Chief Operating Officer, will also be required
for all Retained Searches and Corporate Events over $10,000 or the local
equivalent spend.