To think these kids are CFs

[IsItOnly2023]

Hi all, first post as OP, hope it's not too lengthy.

My DS (15) is running a student company with 14 others under the Young Enterprise Company Programme. He's appointed as "Managing Director" and has esentially single-handedly (with some help from others) turned it into a success.

The company does a few things but one of the things it does is buy sweets/brownies and drinks from cash-and-carry and sell it at the school's weekend sports events. He and the boy who runs that are usually at the events but DS was at Alton Towers with a friend and the other boy had an argument with his dad so couldn't go.

Anyway, 4 people went to the event with £65 worth of stock and came back with £25 and little stock. 1 boy says he tried to keep it under control but the others ate/drank all the stock. DS not impressed, and not entirely sure on what to do. Context: They are going to the Company of the Year competition on Wednesday (which DS wrote the entire entry for!) and have End of Year exams this week. Year 10 so not too bad but still important.

I said DS should get them to pay for new stock and go to the cash and carry themselves (me/DH have tended to drive DS there). Every student had to pay £20 in for share money, so it could be taken off their shares so they get less return after eating £40 of profit! Or even ask teacher to warn them/stop them representing the business at the competition.

What do you think? I am happy to answer any clarifying questions.

The 4 who went pay £10 each and replace the stock
The other ten, including your son, go on Wednesday - these four don't
Vote of no confidence or written warnings

Are the others "on the Board" or are they "employees"?

Try that in a proper company (even a start-up) and there's a fair chance they'd be getting some sort of warning.

Appalling and a hard lesson to have to learn for everyone.

Moving forward every item that goes out needs to be tallied, so an inventory can be taken after each sale period. Cross reference with money and any thieves will be immediately kicked off the team

What a horrid situation.

The thieves need to be presented with options to restore the stock or money - pay retail for what they consumed, replace the stock themselves, pay the cost of stock replacement (including petrol costs) for DS to revisit cash-n-carry. A very clear timescale also needs agreeing. Once all agreed the teacher overseeing needs to know what has happened and how they are going to rectify the situation.

PP have given good suggestion but your 'DS' shouldn't be doing it all. he should get the others on board with agreeing that the thieves need to be punished, and made to replace the stock. They can then decide what action to take...

Really this is part of the learning as you always encounter dicks in real business. Let your son brainstorm some strategies then implement them. Careful about being a helicopter parent about it.

@AgnesX All on the board as such.
@Camablanca @Sewingdufus DS will go to the meeting with plans for future- keeping an inventory, set amounts for staff etc. and propose these. He will also try to ascertain what happened and then present the options to the board: official warning, reduction of shares, buying more, not going on Wednesday, repaying the company.

The only thing he's still not sure on what to do is what to say in the email to the teacher, who is the ultimate arbiter. Obviously ask him to sit in on the meeting but what else? Any suggestions PP?

My first thought was you should report the theft to the school and have them removed from the group. But I wouldn’t put it past them to take it further and start bullying your DS if they get kicked out. In which case there’s nothing you can do really. Best solution is to charge them for what they ate and wind it up, then your DS starts again on his own.

My oh is a multimillionaire business owner. He talks to me about business and dilemmas he has, I give him advice from time to time.

@IsItOnly2023 just wants opinions into how to help her ds see this situation through other peoples eyes.

It is likely the teacher may not be able to attend particularly at this time of year so it might be worth preparing him for this as some year 13’s still haven’t finished content at my DD’s school!?! But it is still definitely worth him asking and hoping a teacher can attend.

I would suggest your son goes to the meeting with an outline of what has happened factually without pointing fingers, he has a list of suggested options to try to rectify the situation and maybe ask at the meeting if the others present also have any suggestions. In the suggestions I would also include an option that everyone in the group including him pays a percentage of the lost stock (which isn’t fair but it is still an option). Did your DS give the others notice that he couldn’t work due to an Alton Towers trip? What contribution have the other lads made to the project so far other than loosing or eating stock and thereby eating into profits? Maybe as suggested the other lads are just along for an easy ride and aren’t taking this seriously unlike your son. Does your son and the lad who normally helps him get a greater share than the others or does everyone get the same?

They then also need to take a vote on the preferred action for replenishing stock/profit including how and when this will be done by. They also need to vote on what happens next especially if the ones responsible don’t agree etc.

Hope it goes well OP this is a harsh lesson in group work and life. Please report back.

1. DS needs to document the stock and money; calculate the discrepancy as missing stock price and missing retail price.
2. Find and invite a parent who is HR, a lawyer, or an auditor;.give them the details and ask them to attend the next board meeting to listen to what happened and give advice
3. Ask each of them to supply a brief written statement to the board meeting about how the losses were incurred, and if they took anything personally then whether they are able to reimburse the company.immediately
4. Present findings at board meeting; review the losses, review statements, ask the independent advisor for advice.
5. Present motions for the board to vote on whether anyone is removed from the company etc.

It'll turn the experience into a useful learning exercise for all of them. Learning in business is not only how to sell sweets at a mark-up, this is exactly the type of thing that will help them all see what running a company is like.

omg you’ve just reminded me how angry I was during young enterprise. We had to do a presentation and it had to be an exact number of slides. We all did one each for our area and the md and finance director presented. Finance director decided he wanted two slides but didn’t tell anyone because he “didn’t think it mattered”. It did matter as we had 1 slide too many so were disqualified. I’m now 40 and still annoyed having re remembered because we stood a chance of winning. Twat!

Agree - I think everyone knows what the right thing to do is but that has to come from the 'offenders' not your son. Being a manager is as much about persuading as it is about directing.

@IsItOnly2023 hope it goes well tomorrow for your son.

And asking for advice when you need it is also part of growing and being a leader.

Anyway, 4 people went to the event with £65 worth of stock and came back with £25 and little stock.clean

The outcome should be that those who consumed the stock should pay for it at the price it should have sold for at the event.

I would suggest that as a starting point the four should be asked to explain the missing stock. Give them a chance to put their side of the story, apologise, and offer to make amends. (Assuming what DS has been told is true.)

Of course, if they're feeling guilty and know they will be asked to explain themselves, they may not turn up to the meeting.

DS has had a look at the thread and thanks PP for a good series of posts. This is what he thinks. @Nereides DH says that but they're running in an official scheme and DS spent 100 hours over Easter working on the report and that damned presentation @TeenLifeMum 🤣 so is really invested in the competition. @BeeBB Definitely worth considering, DS will email the teacher to confirm. He told everyone he wouldn't be able to make the event as soon as it was announced so no issues on that side. @MRex Documentation isn't perfect but excluding tea and coffee DS had calculated it at £66.60. It's not that formal and he only has 1 day until the meeting so wouldn't be quite possible though a good idea. The business does multiple things, mostly marketing, but resale is one arm.

His plan is as follows:

1. Email teacher to let him know what the state of play is and what his plan for the meeting is, asking for him to sit in.
2. Investigate at the meeting.
3. Put things in place for future- better inventory keeping, potential staff pot, staff price list (cheaper) etc.
4. Present the following options (multiple can be applied)

a. The loss is absorbed by the company, devaluing everyone's shares. b. The same children run another event to make up for the shortfall (suggested by business advisor) c. The offenders are kicked out of the company. d. The offenders are given a final written warning. e. The offenders are not allowed to go to the competition on Wednesday. f. The offenders pay for the stock consumed at sale price. g. The offenders shares are reduced by the amount they ate. h. The offenders go and purchase what is needed.

If they had eaten less stock would it have been sold? If not, pay c&c price and replace, if yes, pay retail price so profits not affected. The children who ate the stock get to decide if they'd rather do another event or cover from their own money.

Did they definitely eat the stock? Also, if they did, was it equal? Seems a bit odd to have eaten £10 each without deliberately sharing it out between them?

I like all the suggestions, but I think it has to first be determined what actually happened. I think this should be ascertained by factually stating the stock that went vs came back and the cost price and lost retail potential. We're assuming that the 4 boys equally consumed the lot, but it could be that one kid sold £20 worth on the side, one nibbled a Mars all afternoon and the other two scoffed the rest. If they don't explain what happened then fair enough to divvy up the responsibility for £40 equally between them, but it would prudent to get an explanation first.

@daretodenim Not sure.

DS just received an email from the teacher saying he would investigate what happened as it would be theft which is gross misconduct which is very serious and has consequences. Teacher will talk to all involved before the meeting and 🤞keep DS mostly out of it. Should hopefully have some resolution and I'll keep you all updated.

Our boys had end of year exams every year from age 8.

Remove from the Board via vote of no confidence.

For the purposes of "the books", they each now have a £10 "directors loan" which is to be repaid from their dividend or sale of shares.

I think that’s a good step towards resolution and I like that they have taken decision making away from the pupils. 🤞🏻their support stays this strong.

I was wondering why the advising teacher wasn’t more involved Re the theft. This is a school sanctioned activity so I was thinking they would be more concerned that students involved stole from it the “business” while at at an activity. It looks bad on the scheme and on the advisor. I would have thought that they would have been on it at the first sign of any wrong doing.

@IsItOnly2023 how did the meeting go?