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Health Care Clarity - Mar 29, 2010

Posted by: John Williams in Articles

I was listening to the news this morning, and they were interviewing a protestor who said her business will be shut down due to the changes in the recently passes health care bill.  She really did not know why this would happen, but she said no one has read the bill and “it might even require us to wear brown on Tuesdays”.  There has been a lot of information and misinformation regarding the provisions included in the recent health care law.   In addition to my newsletter, I want to reach as many as possible with some non-partisan facts about the law and its effect on the country over the next decade.

 

The Kaiser Family Foundation has produced one of the better summaries of the law.  I have included major items from this summary and other news sources for your information.  I hope his provides an adequate understanding of the changes and allows you to plan your organization's policies to be prepared for the changes when they come:

 

There is no mandate for employers to provide health insurance to employees.  However employers with more than 50 employees will be assessed a fee of $2,000 per full-time employee for the number of employees over 30 employees in the organization, if they do not offer coverage and if they have at least one employee who receives a premium credit through an Exchange.   The changes by year include:

 

New Health Care Bill: Changes Happening in 2010

 

·         Medicare recipients will receive a $250 rebate to help in closing the "doughnut hole in prescription coverage.

·         Children age 26 and younger can remain covered under their parents health insurance.

·         Health insurance companies cannot exclude coverage for pre-existing conditions for children.


Starting the Voyage

When taking the reins of a business, often it is incredibly intiminating.  Will I take this ship and it's cargo on to the shore or will I successfully navigate this port and steer it to its profitable destination?

Almost always, the answer is in the planning, whether it is for piloting an ocean going vehicle or guiding a business to success.   Have you done adequate planning?  These questions should help:

• Do we have timely, accurate financial information?  Without an accurate understanding of what assets the company has, its debt load and the income effect of its decisions, it is guiding a ship through dense fog without any radar or other instruments.

• Do we have accurate cash-forecasting?  A company can be making a profit and run into a crisis when it unexpectedly runs out of cash.  This can occur due to large purchases of inventory, a slowing of payments of accounts receivable or other actions of the company which do not take into account the available cash to finance them

• Do we have access to sufficient sources of liquidity?  Just as an ocean going liner needs sufficient fuel, all companies need sufficient liquidity to profitably complete its voyage.  How are you going to fund your company's operations?  Has your bank committed to meet your needs?  Do you have enough invested in the company?  Make sure your plans are adequately fueled by the cash you need to execute them.

• Do we understand our cost drivers, and do we understand the links between our operating plans, financial plans and budgets?  Do we even have budgets?  Understanding the cost drivers of the company, such a quality control, packaging, certain manufacturing operations and items that create necessary costs to operate and how to control them, is critical to the success.  Just like understanding the tides at sea, understanding what is buffeting your business is critical in steering it.

• Can we identify investments that may no longer be meeting our financial objectives?  So many businesses have become emotionally attached to various units and hope that somehow they will recover and become magically profitable again.  Know what makes you money and get rid of the ones that don't.

• Do we have the right strategy in place to attract and retain the talent we need?  Not only today but for tomorrow.  If you don't have su....

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Cost Cutting is a Dead End Strategy - Feb 9, 2010

Posted by: John Williams in Articles

Steve Jobs said it all; “A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.”  This from a CEO whose company recently hit an all time high in stock price, in a severe recession.

 

The path Apple Computer took can benefit a number of small and mid sized companies who are facing a downturn and listen to the gurus that preach cost cutting as the salvation of all.  The fact is if you cut costs and downsize, how are you going to meet your competition that is taking market share from those who are pulling back?

 

Companies cannot cost cut their way to prosperity.  Companies prosper by providing their customers with exceptional products that customers want.  Notice I did not say demand.  It would be an unusual customer that demands a time machine, but if you could deliver one, you could not keep up with the demand.

 

Make an effort to do these five things:

  1. Get the right team on your side.  If a sports team experienced a losing season, would they react by finding the least expensive, least experienced players?  Of course not.  So why as a business person would you want to drive away your “expensive” experienced employees and advisors, while bringing in or keeping a bunch of rookies that are going to cost you much more in the long run?
  2. Promote your best products.  What are you good at delivering?  What service do you provide or product you make that is the example of what you do best?  How can you top those products?  Promote the ones you are best at delivering and the ones customers appreciate the most.  Build on them.  Apple’s I phone and tablet computer are not really all that different but one serves customers’ needs better than the other.
  3. Attack in the areas where you are strong while others retreat.  The best time to exploit weakness in competitors is when they hesitate or retreat.  The best time to gain market share is when competitors show a lack of nerve in protecting it.
  4. Stop waiting for the past to reappear.  I hear often “that business used to be a great money maker for us.”  By waiting for something to occur, we miss major opportunities that ....

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    Don't Let The Lessons Of 2009 Be Wasted - Jan 17, 2010

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles


    Many of us are elated to see New Year’s Day 2010 appear.  The economy was dreadful, too many people lost their jobs, medical costs skyrocketed and local government spending and services suffered.   Many business’ results reflected the difficult economy and those business owners would rather forget the difficult periods and concentrate on 2010. 
    But before you throw last year’s calendar into the archive, take time to study the activity you so diligently documented.  Look at the successes of 2009.  What activities did you do that created that success?  Was it your preparation for the meeting?  Was it the research you did that showed you to be the knowledgeable expert in your field that you are?  Perhaps you received a large order or successfully closed the deal with a new, substantive client.  Whatever it was, document the behaviors you feel made you successful.  Use the feedback from the people involved in the success to assess the factors that lead to it being a great day.  Keep track of those activities, even if they were not your own.  Are those activities things that come natural to you, or would you like to hone those skills?  If so, think seriously about getting training or acquiring resources to have that arrow in your quiver.

    The more uncomfortable process, but the one that yields the most value, is to single out the times where things did not go your way.  Did you have a difficult time with a presentation?  Did a meeting not go your way?  Did a customer or your boss chew you out?  Did you lose a valued customer?  The cause does not matter; the cure does. 

    Think seriously about what you did to cause this result.  As I said earlier, it is uncomfortable to look in the mirror when you are not on your game.  Understanding why this happened increases your success rate going forward.  Did you underestimate the task at hand?  Did you not prepare adequately?  Did you hesitate when you should have stepped up?  Analyzing each situation as to what happened and how you could have turned that into a success is the first step to make sure history repeats itself less.  I say that because you are never going to be perfect, but turning a mistake into a success will set you apart as the person people want to do business with.

    Once you have identified what you need to work on and avoid, keep a list handy.  Prepare for each day by reminding yourself of what you need to work on, as well as what you do well, until it is second nature, and celebrate your successes in 2010.


    The Long Goodbye - Jan 5, 2010

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

    You look at that business you have nurtured over so many years.  You have given you blood, sweat and tears to make it successful.  Now you look at the product of your work and realize that it is time to think about letting it go. 

     

    How do you do this?  Who will take the same care of the business that you have given to it and will they follow your dreams for the business?

     

    These are questions many small business owners must face when the time to let go sneaks up on them.  For many companies, venture capitalists are not a real option.  Owners sometimes are shocked to see what their company will look like and where many of these transactions will take their beloved enterprise.  Others do not know how to approach such companies and whether they will get a fair price for their enterprise.

     

    Other owners count on passing their company on to their heirs, often only to come to the realization that the heirs have no interest in running or even owning the company and have moved on with their own career and dreams.  Where does a business owner turn?

     

    Like any other good result, the sale of a company takes years of planning and work.  Owners should identify acceptable exit plans and thoroughly investigate their assumptions in executing on those plans.  Alternatives may include:

     

    ·        The sale to an outside party (such as a venture capitalist)

    ·        Inheritance of a family member

    ·        Sale to a member of the management team.

    ·        A competitor within the industry

    During our travels we talk to many people who are thinking about or planning to go into business for themselves.  Entrepreneurs drive the US economy and the creativity and dedication of those who start business are the reason why the country enjoys such a vibrant standard of living.

     

    However, most businesses fail within 5 years according to US Census data over the last 30 years.  Why do such a forward thinking group of people, following their own dream rather that working for someone else’s dream, have such a high rate of failure?

     

    I recently met with a person thinking about purchasing an ongoing restaurant/bakery.  He had done some financial modeling and some research on the franchise, but was woefully unprepared to take over such an operation.  In addition to going into a business that has the highest start up failure rate, he:

    ·         Expected to make a profit in his first year

    ·         Was prepared to put his life savings into the venture as capital but found it unacceptable to lose any of his investment

    ·         Did not know if he was prepared to rise at 4:00AM each morning to prepare the bakery for the day

    ·         Had never worked in a similar business and did not know if he would like it, much less love it.

     

    While these are major red flags, he had never really assessed whether he could had the necessary traits to succeed in his own business. 

     

    When thinking about working for yourself:

    ·         Are you a planner?

    ·  &nbs....

    Read more...


    The Elements Of An Embezzlement - Oct 10, 2009

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

    As the business environment becomes tougher and employers cut back on expenses, they often leave gaps in their internal controls that end up costing them much more than they realize.  Often entrepreneurs think that occupational fraud is something that rarely happens and a risk that can be assumed in tough times; not realizing that almost all companies will become a victim of this activity at least once in its existence.  It is not however, just a cost of doing business.  Understanding the elements of occupational fraud can assist business owners in preventing the theft from happening.

    Perpetrators of fraud need three elements to be motivated to commit the crime; Pressure, Opportunity and Justification. 

    Pressure can come from a variety of factors

    ·         Spousal job loss

    ·         Social or status issues

    ·         Different  monetary issues

    ·         Addiction

    ·         Physiological issues

    Any and all of these things can and do compel people to go against their values and consider committing a crime.  In a typical occupational fraud case, this activity begins and accelerates before the crime occurs, often as long as nine months before, and is the first behavior to taper off as the fraud happens.  Knowing your people and being aware of their challenges may help you identify and ward off behavior that could turn negative.

    Opportunity is the single biggest action item for businesses to address in this process.  If internal controls are lacking and oversight ignored, the risk of loss multiplies.  The five most effective things ....

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    Controls Are Key To Retaining Cash - Sep 16, 2009

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

    A recent newspaper column I published discussed several situations where employees had successfully executed an embezzlement operation where B2B CFO Partners had been involved in the discovery of the scheme.  Sometimes the offending employee had fled the scene and sometimes the person was caught with a variety of actions taken in response.  In effect, these companies tried to close the door after the damage had been done.  Often, the actions were only partially effective and left the controls of their company in less than ideal shape, despite the warnings of our Partners.

     

    I was really struck by the story of one client.  This particular business owner distributed produce to local restaurants.  The owner’s outside accountants several times brought up the company’s control weakness that one person was depositing cash receipts, writing checks and performing bank account reconciliations, all without any review or oversight.  The owners never acted on it, stating it was a waste of money to “bring in two people to do one person’s job”.  Unfortunately, this employee was stealing large amounts of cash.  When the Partner was called in for other work, this employee fled an amount determined to be over $400,000 stolen in one year with indeterminate amounts from prior years.

     

    This highlights a habitual practice in small businesses of looking at efficiency as having the least amount people employed and combining roles as much as possible.  This is equivalent to saving costs by not putting locks on the building’s doors or not buying insurance on the company’s assets.

     

    If you as an owner do nothing else:

     

    ·        Make sure you do not have the same person creating invoices as collecting cash.  This creates too easy an opportunity to issue credits or incorrect invoices and pocket the difference.

    ·        Make sure the employee who collects cash is not the person who reconciles the bank account.  Again, it is too easy to short a deposit and create an incorrect bank account reconciliation.

    ·        Make sure the person ordering inventory and supplies does not have the authority to approve payment of invoices and cannot approve purchase orders on their own.  Too many times vendors will cooperate with purchasing people to defraud companies.


    http://www.insidebiz.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications::Article&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=D3CB3B5ED8B94BC09857E56A15AFB80D


    Your Customer Is Your Best Friend - Jun 1, 2009

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

     

    The best part of being a B2B CFO Partner is the opportunity to meet a variety of business people and our ability to truly help them in their work life.  For example, I recently met a business owner who had turned his business around and was justifiably proud of righting the ship.  He was, however,  in a classic "Danger Zone" situation  where he was watching the numbers to a degree where he was pulling P&L reports very three or four days and struggling with both benchmarking and cash flow issues.

    I asked him how much time he spent visiting customers and just touching base as to how he could help them with their businesses.  He indicated that this was a tough thing for an introverted person like him to do and that he felt more comfortable sending his sales people out to deal with customer contact.

    This meeting reminded me of the reason why GM is where it is today and GE is where they are today.  I had the privilege to spend some time in a graduate study program with a talented engineer from General Motors in the early 1990's.  He relayed the experience he had dealing with the sale of locomotives to a foreign entity.  A Mid-East country had asked for bids on several locomotives to upgrade its rail transportation system.  GM and GE being the major players in this market were both invited to bid on the order.  This engineer, then in his mid-20's and a sales manager were assigned to make the proposal.  They requested that at least a VP of GM accompany them to the proposal.  There was no interest in a General Motors  officer attending the proposal with them.

    They went and made the proposal.  Upon completing the presentation to the procurement officer, they went into the lobby and saw the GE presentation team.  GE had sent their Chairman, Jack Welsh, the President of GE Transportation, and two other technical experts, waiting to make their proposal.  Needless to say, GE was awarded the business.

    I retell this story to demonstrate the point that people, no matter what the culture, recognize and appreciate the fact that their vendors believe them to be special and attentive to their needs.  As far as being hesitant to visit customers, I asked the business owner if he felt he was really helping clients.  He replied most assuredly that he was.  I them asked him how he could not want to enhance that assistance by making sure their needs were being met.  He agreed that this was his role and that looking at the books every couple of days was getting in the way.  We both agreed:

     

    Your customer is your best friend.  Treat all of them that way.


    Cash Is King - May 5, 2009

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

     

     

    Cash is king to successful businesses!  Unfortunately, to many entrepreneurs, cash is often viewed as a secondary consideration that might come from sales or reduction in expenses.  Expense reduction may not actually create value, cash and may lead to inefficient operations.  Focus on sales creation alone can bring a company to disaster.

     

    Take the case of Stoneham Chemical Company (name changed).  The company is a small specialty products company in a niche market with high barriers to entry.  The product is non discretionary but there is limited potential for growth.  The owners are experienced in developing and running the business, but have been focused on growing sales.

     

    The owners, Arnold and Elizabeth Girard, had turnover in their accounting manager position, and recently adding an experienced person to manage the administrative operation.  The company, however, was bumping up against its credit line limit and saw it bottom line income disappear in the last year.  Fortunately they sought the help of a B2B CFO.

     

    A quick review of the balance sheet and sales records pointed out the first significant problem:

     

     

    Year 1

    Year 2

    Year 3

    Sales

    $28,000,000

    $27,600,000

    $28,400,000

     

     

     

     

    Accounts Receivable

    $2,650,000

    $2,450,000

    $3,975,000

     

     

     

     

    Days Sales Outstanding

                34.5

               32.4

                51.1

     

    A review of the process showed that there was no management of the Accounts Receivable occurring.  While the collection effort was divided among several employees, there was no tracking of the success of these calls.  Additionally, there were no clear goals set among the collectors and on review of their efforts.  As a result, the percent past due went from 25% to 63%.  Their newly acquired B2B CFO resource set up a management process to review the results of each person's efforts and measured them against each other.  The result was that in two months the Accounts Receivable balance declined to a Days Sales Outstanding of under 30 days.  Instead of the Revolving line balance being at 98% of the limit, it dropped to less than 50% of the loan limit.

     

    Inventory is another area where, when companies do not control the levels, they experience severe cash problems. A high inventory position is even more difficult for companies to recover from since they must increase sales first and then wait until the customer pays for the sales of the excess product.  Often this is a fire sale and does not allow the company to recover what they paid for the inventory initially.

     

    Several other steps were taken to move this company to record profits.  The next steps taken will be the subject of the future Blogs.

    The Importance Of Paying Attention - Mar 11, 2009

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

      Many small businesses are immersed in the day to day transactions done to parry competitive moves and maintaining market share.  Still others who have not yet discovered the value of a B2B CFO partner and involved in hiring and firing employees, tracking down accounting entries, scheduling payments of invoices and everything else that distracts from running the business.

    It is very important to be monitoring the actions of new legislators despite your particular political views.  One real threat to small and mid-sized businesses is the pending "Employee Free Choice Act".  While Unions contend the Act removes "unfair advantages" of employers, in fact, it removes the fairness and principles of arms length bargaining that has been the hallmark of the National Labor Relations Act.  This Act, passed in 1935, was the vehicle that allowed strong Union growth after World War II.  Depending on your point of view, the unions of that time have done their job so well that many of the changes they advocated have been broadly implemented, leading to a strong demand for union protection.  Without that demand, the businesses that are unions suffer sharp declines in revenue.

    Their reaction to this decline is to try to create through legislation a truly unfair advantage to compel companies to accept their services.  The proposed law amends the NLRA in the following manner:

    Today - If a union wants to be recognized, it must obtain signatures from 30% of employees asking for an election.  Once it does, the employer (1) may recognize the union or (2) either the union or employer may request a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.  The election normally takes place within six weeks and if the union gets 50% or more of the vote, the NLRB certifies that the union represents the employees, granting a number of privileges and protections to the employees.

    Proposed - If a union gets 50%+1 of employees to sign a card requesting an election with no time frame limitation, the union automatically represents all the employees.  You literally could leave work Monday and have a union Tuesday morning.

    Today - If a union is certified or accepted, normal good faith bargaining takes place until an agreement is reached.  If no agreement, the union could strike or the employer can lock out workers.

    Proposed - If no agreement is reached in 90 days, either party may request a Federal mediator to conduct the negotiation.  If no agreement is reached within 30 days, the negotiation is assigned to binding arbitration where a third party will draft a contract that you must accept for a period of two years.  There is no choice in the matter.

     

    Today - If an employer is determined to have committed an unfair labor practice that employer must pay the employee back wages.

    Proposed - The Act first makes these charges a priority of the NLRB.  If an employer is found to have committed an unfair labor practice, the penalty becomes triple the back pay to the employee.  It also provides fines of $20,000 per offense against the employer, and here is where the fairness comes in, it provides no penalties to unions who commit unfair labor practices.

    The solution to this is to make sure your Senator and Representative know how you feel about the issue.  The next solution is to find a good labor lawyer to help you set up practices to discourage your employees from signing,

    Your B2B CFO has years of experience in dealing with these issues and can help you navigate through the ongoing issues.

    Many small businesses are immersed in the day to day transactions done to parry competitive moves and maintaining market share.  Still others who have not yet discovered the value of a B2B CFO partner and involved in hiring and firing employees, tracking down accounting entries, scheduling payments of invoices and everything else that distracts from running the business.

    It is very important to be monitoring the actions of new legislators despite your particular political views.  One real threat to small and mid-sized businesses is the pending "Employee Free Choice Act".  While Unions contend the Act removes "unfair advantages" of employers, in fact, it removes the fairness and principles of arms length bargaining that has been the hallmark of the National Labor Relations Act.  This Act, passed in 1935, was the vehicle that allowed strong Union growth after World War II.  Depending on your point of view, the unions of that time have done their job so well that many of the changes they advocated have been broadly implemented, leading to a strong demand for union protection.  Without that demand, the businesses that are unions suffer sharp declines in revenue.

    Their reaction to this decline is to try to cr....

    Read more...


    Define Your Segment Before Taking Cost Savings Actions - Jan 6, 2009

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

     

    Often, in times such as these, many advisers and business experts suggest you cut any and all costs without regard to either short term or long-term consequences.  They often have this advice when an owner is looking for help in selling the company, reasoning that a sophisticated buyer won't notice the company is missing key pieces to produce prosperity.

     

    Please do not make the mistake of listening to or thinking that the companies with the lowest expense rate will be the most successful.  If this were true, the sports team with the lowest payroll would always win the championship.  This almost never happens and very few people would consider this a good strategy.  Why they think they are going to defeat their competition with the least amount of resources is puzzling at the best.

     

    The key to getting through tough times is the same as the key to success in any market; committing your resources to the strengths you need to maintain and grow your market.  All companies do this by operating successfully in three segments, either as a commodity company, growth company, or niche company (Niches do not have to be small, just well defined).

     

    A commodity company is successful through purchasing components that anyone else can purchase, manufacturing their product in a way that many others can do, and selling it at a market price.  Companies are successful through superior manufacturing techniques, successful procurement strategies and low overhead, such as SG&A and R&D.

     

    Growth companies on the other hand, cannot thrive without a strong R&D department, strong marketing and strong finance departments to facilitate the rapid growth.

     

    Look at why your customers deal with you.  Is it high service, quality products, low costs, flexibility in services or product offerings?  What ever that is, make sure that your resources are always committed to that strength and do not heed calls to cut your strategic advantages in a broad brush cost savings program.

     

    A B2B CFO can help you identify the advantages you possess and how to feed those strengths in any economic cycle.


    Setting The Right Pricing In Any Environment - Dec 21, 2008

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

     

    In the current environment, many companies are putting pressure on their suppliers to reduce prices, extend terms, provide additional services and make other costly concessions to the customer with nothing given in return.

    Many time the owner feels he or she has no choice but to comply.  This, of course, is the worst decision the CEO can make.  They are communicating to the customer that their goods and services are not worth what the customer has been paying and that there may be room for further price reductions, leading to a downward spiral and possibly the ultimate demise of the company.  How do we avoid this pressure and create a cooperative relationship with this customer? 

    Several steps, involving the personnel of the entire company can help achieve this goal:

    • Take charge of the pricing process. Establish clear pricing structures for products and services that can be substantiated to all employees so they understand the need to maintain the current pricing levels. Make sure your sales people can react to market conditions but reserve final pricing considerations to the owner/CEO. Above all, make sure your pricing reflects value
    • At the same time, be sensitive to the fact that the value of your products meets what the market is looking for, if you want the volume of a Ford, don't produce a Bentley.
    • Incent your sales people based on margin rather than volume. Often I see companies pay sales people based on sales, giving them all the incentive to cut prices to secure the sale, and therefore their bonus. Instead, establish a margin amount that they are expected to attain, and give them a generous bonus for exceeding that expectation. Make sure you do not deviate from paying on increased margin, thereby communicating to your sales people that increased margin, not increased sales, is your main concern.
    • Make sure your pricing of products reflect the market segment of your product line. If you are selling Bentleys and Fords, don't expect a uniform profit for each product sale.
    • Finally, spending time with the right customers and supporting them pays dividends and helps support your pricing structure. Spending time with the wrong customers can cripple a company. As a CFO of a successful turnaround, I implemented a plan to resign 60% of our customers. In doing so, we reduced our sales by 8% but created the first profitable year for the company in six years. This was a company that was losing $20 million annually. After that customer reduction, we were able to grow the business off the profitable base and never had an unprofitable year again.

    Hiring a B2B CFO can help you to implement these practices and more to resist discounting pressures and grow your business.  Log on to http://www.b2bcfo.com/ to find the one most appropriate for you, or give me a call at 757-344-7462 to help you grow your business.


    What A CFO Should Be To You - Nov 4, 2008

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

     

    Many times I talk to entrepreneurs and the subject naturally comes of the CFO role in an enterprise.  Often I hear that I have a great CFO who does a great job keeping the books.  These people feel proud that they have filled a slot at one-half the cost of other companies.   They also talk in terms of successfully controlling overhead.

     

    In congratulating them on their success, they generally admit that the "CFO" has no formal accounting training and no financial training or experience. It is really a shame that these people do not recognize the profit a trained, experienced CFO brings to their organizations.

     

    Bookkeepers provide an essential role in keeping the day to day books. Relying on this skill alone, however, can cause a company to dramatically misstate their financial position, causing them to lose essential bank financing, bonding and even contracts based on the financial position they represent. 

     

    A Controller is a trained accountant whose job is to maintain internal controls, accurately report operating and financial measures, accurately value inventory, accounts receivable and other assets.  A current study and knowledge of ever changing accounting rules by regulatory agencies is vital to this role.

     

    A Chief Financial Officer, however, is an executive position, a partner in the entrepreneur's success.  A CFO designs strategies to improve the gross profit, finances the business efficiently, confirms accurate financial and operations reporting, and creates cash forecasting.  The CFO has the ability to test out your plans and strategies in financial models before you risk the company in its implementation.  The CFO is a profit builder, not an additional cost.

     

    But what about the cost of a seasoned CFO?  The answer to small and mid sized businesses is the B2B CFO.  As a part-time CFO, we provide the value described above at a truly reasonable cost.  Our slogan that  "Every company regardless of its size needs a CFO" can be achieved.  Please ask me how.


    Turnaround That Operation - Oct 13, 2008

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

     

    Often we find ourselves in a situation where the company needs to take drastic action to survive.  Many owners now feel they are in that situation and blame the economy for where they are.  A recovery will not happen unless different actions occur to make it happen.  Losing 10% of your equity a month and having a company boat I'm sad to say are generally incompatible. On the turnarounds I was intimately involved in, the reasons for their success were pretty similar:

    - Get the financial numbers correct or get the complete understanding from upper management that the numbers are right.  You simply cannot right the ship without knowledge of where you are and where you are going and if management does not believe the numbers, the task will surely fail.

    - Develop a written plan and get the bank or other financing institution on board.  The task will also fail if the bank does not understand and can assess the likelihood of success of what you are doing.

    - Attack the drains of cash.  These might be expenses or they might be excess asset purchases such as equipment or inventory.  Get a rational justification as to where these balances need to be and challenge the management to develop a plan to get them lower.

    - Make management compensation contingent on success.  No big buyouts or severance packages.  Rewards come from success.

    - Look at each customer and fire the ones that are not profitable.  You might be shocked that in these situations, managers have gotten desperate and acquired many customers that are not profitable in an attempt to show rising sales.  I was in one turnaround where we fired 60% of our customers.

     - Look at manufacturing or other production processes.  Determine a more efficient way to perform them.  If the processes were the most efficient, the company would not be in that situation.

    - Reward everyone for the turnaround.  The best ideas do not come from management, they are paid to recognize the best ideas and get them implemented.  When it happens, most companies make the huge mistake of rewarding management but not the people that made it happen

    - Along the same lines, make sure you involve as many people as possible in the turnaround.  Hold after hours team meetings to create ideas and explore current procedures.  Often, the number of people that show up surprises managers and the contributions those people make.

    - Finally, measure weekly and daily progress against where you need to be.

     

    A B2B CFO can assist in this process.  Please let us know if we can provide the same level of success to you.

    Everything Old Is New Again - Sep 30, 2008

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

     

    On August 7th, The Economist published an article titled "Confessions of a Risk Manager", which discussed the unappreciated and frustrating role of a major bank Risk Manager.  While discussing the Risk Management Team's failings in missing signs that started to appear in 2005, the more troubling point of the article is the bank's attitude toward risk management in general.

     

    There was pressure on the Risk Management department to "keep up" and approve transactions by bankers and traders.  The article said, "In their eyes, we were not earning money for the bank. Worse, we had the power to say no and therefore prevent business from being done. Traders saw us as obstructive and a hindrance to their ability to earn higher bonuses."   Reading the rest of the article is almost exactly like reading the news reports of what happened to cause the Enron implosion.

    Enron's CEO Jeff Skilling proudly pointed to his Risk Assessment and Control department, run by Rick Buy.  Despite this show, Buy explained in promotional videotape for Arthur Andersen describing his job as not getting in the way.  It was documented that time after time, pressure was successfully put on Buy to approve marginal to perilous deals, with predictable results.

    Toward the end Buy was fired along with other Enron executives simply because he could not withstand the pressure that made him ineffective.  The week, we are seeing the result of not having strong, effective risk management departments monitor trading and investing activities.

    Hopefully, we will not have to go another painful lesson on the value of this necessary control.


    Theory Imitates Life - Sep 25, 2008

    Posted by: John Williams in Articles

     

    I met with a small business owner over lunch yesterday and the conversation turned to the uncertainty in today's markets and the effect on decision making. 

    The conversation turned to the reaction of business owners to fraud in their organizations as an example of how many people act against their own interests.

      According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners' most recent survey:

    • 70% of all companies have experienced fraud in the last three years
    •  Small business, those with less than 100 employees, suffer the highest median loss in dollars, not just in relative terms
    • The average length of a fraud is a little over 24 months.
    • The most implemented reaction is for management to review internal controls.  Out of 15 actions to take, this was done 56% of the time, more than twice as often as the second most implemented action.
    • Management review of internal controls is the second least effective means of controlling occupational fraud.

    Why do people most often pick one of the least effective ways to address this problem?  It was not asked in the survey but we speculated that this was the easiest and least costly action to implement. 

    At this point, my companion said, "I lived this two years ago!  What you described happened to me."  This is a small company that does not deal in cash.  This comment hit home to me that this survey has some credibility and fraud is happening to people who never suspect that it is going on.

    If you would like an outside review of fraud risk, a B2B CFO can provide immediate help. 

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