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TV Interview - Apr 13, 2009

Posted by: Karen L Chin in Articles

One of my friends, Joe Heller of Brooke Companies Search (http://www.brookecompanies.com/) invited Eric Standlee of American Prudential Capital (http://www.americanprudential.com/) and me to appear on Dialogue Houston in an interview with Laurence Payne. It was a great opportunity and I'd like to share the video with you. Just follow this link.

Karen Chin on Dialgoue Houston

In addition, I was invited to bring two clients: D'Lea (Dee) Nichols of Unishippers (http://www.unishippers.com/) and James Marcel of Reliant Leasing Systems (http://www.reliantleasing.com/) who brought their perspectives as business owners. Their segment is here.

Testimonial - FACES - Jan 23, 2009

Posted by: Karen L Chin in Testimonials

"I wanted to report back that my initial discussion with Jessica from XXX Co went great. We will find out in about 30 days what their initial offer will be.

Again, Karen, thanks for the great intro. That was, indeed, a "rifleshot"."

-- Greg Micek, President of IQBiometrix, Inc., (parent company of FACES)
http://www.facesiq.com/

A Winning Strategy - Sep 15, 2008

Posted by: Karen L Chin in Success Stories

Many people think the primary reason to hire a CFO is for their technical expertise. That is probably true. A CFO can help a company interpret their financial data, identify alternatives to improving performance, model the results of various alternatives or scenarios, and guide the company in achieving their goals.

In addition to these services, a CFO can help a company with introductions to other outstanding service providers. When a company needs assistance, they often don't know where to look for help.

Recently, one of my clients that is growing rapidly asked for my input. Because their business plan calls for significant growth in a very short period of time, I recommended outsourcing the accounting and the HR functions. By outsourcing these functions at this early stage, the company could be assured that the functions could scale quickly. In-house personnel would be overwhelmed quickly by the growth, whereas the outsourced service providers are already in a position to deploy as much resource as needed as my client grows.

We were able to refer this client to providers for accounting, HR/PEO, commercial insurance, commercial real estate, and start-up consulting. These services providers supplement the services I provide giving my client the best team possible. The end result is that my client engages this team of service providers for essentially the same cost as one employee, but we all have specialties that bring the caliber of service well above what one individual person could provide.

Testimonial - ERRA Incorporated - Sep 5, 2008

Posted by: Karen L Chin in Testimonials

"The services B2B CFO offer are exactly what the startup company needs. Seasoned executive experience when needed at an affordable cost. The depth of talent in this organization is extraordinary. In addition, my B2B Partner, Karen Chin, really makes me feel like a partner, a pure joy to work with!"

James Hogarth
CEO - ERRA Incorporated

There's No Straight Answer - Sep 5, 2008

Posted by: Karen L Chin in Articles

Ask your accountant "How's my business doing?" and a smart one will answer "it depends". There is no simple answer. Different stakeholders have different goals and objectives when asking about your company's financial status.

The Tax Man
When the IRS asks the question, you want to answer "not very well - I didn't make much money so I owe you very little". For the tax man, we want to minimize our income and maximize our expenses. To do this, many of us keep our books on a "cash" basis (versus "accrual" basis) for taxes. That means if we spend it, we deduct it. We make sure we've paid all the bills by the end of the year.

We also want to take advantage of accelerated depreciation to minimize our taxable income. If we buy a capital asset (something over our capitalization policy - for example, $1,000) that has a useful life longer than one year, then we should spread the cost over its useful life. Generally, we have to pay for the asset when we buy it (or we finance it through bank borrowing) but we record depreciation each year to show the economic reduction in value over time.

The Banker
When the Banker asks how you are doing, you want to tell them, "Great! Everything is going well, the business is growing, we need money to grow, and we have the ability to pay you back."

For the banker, we might not want to accelerate that depreciation, but record it more slowly over the asset's life. This is the difference between "book" and "tax" depreciation and is both consistent with tax laws and accepted accounting practice.

We might also prefer to use the "accrual" method to keep our books. In this case, when we make a sale and have earned the sale, we record the sale, even if the customer owes us the money.

The CPA
If your banker or investors require an audit or a review, the CPA will want to ensure the financials are fairly presented according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). For example, they might have you record start-up and organizational costs on the balance sheet and amortize them over a number of years.

The Owner
You want to know the money you have in the bank is yours to keep. Cash basis statements don't really tell you this. The accrual basis statements don't tell the whole picture. The GAAP statements may be accurate, but they aren't much of a management tool.

You will want to see a combination of all the information used by the other stakeholders. You'll also want to separate the recurring costs from the non-recurring costs. For example, the organization costs that the CPA put on the balance sheet reflect cash money out the door. However, they are non-recurring. You'll want to manage these costs differently than your recurring costs like cost of goods sold or supplies.

Fortunately, you are not alone in this dilemma and we can help you identify the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that best meet your business. We can help you focus on the metrics that will help you improve the performance of your business, not just report on what has already transpired. We understand what YOU need to know about your business.

Testimonial - Rainard School for Gifted Students - Jun 20, 2008

Posted by: Karen L Chin in Testimonials

"I serve with Karen on the board of directors of Rainard School. I can rely on Karen to shoot straight, to give her all to the ultimate objective of furthering the school's ability to achieve its mission, and to do her utmost to see to that the school is run on fiscally sound basis. She is a great ally, and I admire her selfless donation of her efforts to the school."

David Steakley, President
Rainard School for Gifted Students
http://www.rainard.org/
(Recommendation on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/klchin)

Testimonial - Sacred Heart Schools - Oct 19, 2007

Posted by: Karen L Chin in Testimonials

“Karen has a great knack for taking a difficult problem and formulating a tool and/or solutions that are useful for the rest of us to use to come to decision. She is a consummate problem solver and readily looked for opportunities to improve the bottom line as well as our processes so that we left in much better shape than before she arrived. In other words, she's not working at the status quo; she raises the bar. One of the best things about Karen though, besides how hard she works and how effective she is, is her great sense of humor and her ability to remain calm in a storm.”

M'Lis Berry, Director of Development
Sacred Heart Schools
(Recommendation on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/klchin)