At Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU), they "make the things that make communications work." The former manufacturing arm of AT&T makes telecommunications equipment and sells it to carriers. But, of late, it's had problems -- it's got uncollected bills. (Shriek!) In recent years, Lucent has made bad financial decisions. It lost financial discipline in the race to hit sales targets and meet Wall Street earnings estimates. And, that led to ballooning accounts receivable (uncollected sales).

If you invest in a company whose accounts receivable (on the balance sheet) start to outpace sales growth (on the income statement), start worrying. That's what's happening at Lucent. It just hired a new chief financial officer. She has a monumental task ahead of her.

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