By Jeffrey Appleman Manufacturers are focused on sales—not cost or profit. If they were keen on net income, manufacturers would know one key data point: contribution margin. Once you know it, the possibilities are endless for growth, sustainability and efficiency. In effect, a contribution margin is the percentage of revenue that remains after you pay…
By Tim Jung As CFO, you have 60 months before the private equity firm sells your company again. And the newly installed CEO doesn’t like the company’s reports. Maybe the reporting isn’t timely or lacks the right numbers. Maybe it doesn’t tell a story from the progress that has been made, how you’re going to…
By Eric Segal The banking landscape has consolidated in the last three years. Maybe it was runaway inflation that caused cost-cutting branch closings. Or it was bigger banks gobbling smaller banks for quick market share. And let’s not forget the industry’s ongoing march toward digital transformation, which grabs more traction each month. Whatever the cause,…
By Chris Delaney When it comes to managing their business, manufacturers need much more than historical financials to project their future revenue, profitability and liquidity. Historic numbers simply capture what has happened in the past—but traditionally do a poor job predicting where a company will be in the near (3-6 months) or distant future (1-2…
By Tim Jung A private equity firm just bought your promising firm with high hopes. You estimate that the company will be sold again for a much higher margin within 60 months. But your finance team has trouble closing the books in a timely manner. So, what does the company’s financial picture look like? You…
By Paul Karr There is a common misconception that accounting policy is something that controllers can do in their spare time. Midsize firms especially can fall into the same trap: We’ve always had a small team, and everyone has to complete a lot of work, and we can’t afford another resource. Your controller already has…
By Allan Tepper Often, parties interested in making a purchase are serial buyers, hence their advantage. But for midsize sellers, this will probably be the one and only time they sell. Sellers spend the better part of their lives building a company so they can now cash out and ride into the sunset. Unfortunately, mergers…
Every business owner dreams of selling their business one day for a lot of money then retiring with a home on the beach or traveling the world. However, when it comes to actually selling the business, many business owners don’t follow a unified strategy, leaving them confused and frustrated because they realize running a business is…
By Tom Aiken While more companies transact and store their business off premises, SaaS companies have seen a run up in their valuations. Since 2015, the SaaS market continues to grow—18% annually—while 99% of organizations are using at least one cloud solution to drive demand. From an investor perspective, SaaS companies provide a dependable revenue…
A major theme of this edition of ProfitSense was accounting, as host Bill McDermott welcomed two CPAs, Bradley Carroll, CFO of Progressive Lighting, and Gary Clayton, CFO of Superior Business Management. Bradley discussed his move from a CPA firm to in-house practitioner, the significant problems associated with logistics and sourcing products internationally, and more. Topics Gary addressed…
For my wife’s and my 25th wedding anniversary, our family went to France. Paris, Provence, Chamonix and on the way back to Paris to catch our flight home, we went to the cathedral in Reims. The one with the Chagall stained glass and where Joan of Arc was to be crowned by King Charles in 1429 after…
Every business owner has a big vision for their company and wants to make it happen. However, most don’t follow a unified strategy to get there. Leaders often have trouble pulling the trigger on spending money on people or new strategies because they don’t understand what their numbers are telling them. Many business owners haven’t fully appreciated accounting…
By Allan Tepper Companies need about three months to receive a clean opinion for their annual audit. So why does your company need more time? Expending too much time and money on your annual audit is a red flag for the executives involved with corporate governance and financial oversight. New accounting rules and regulatory changes…
With more employees working remotely, it can be an escape to enjoy working from anywhere. If not home, maybe a vacation home? However, many may not realize if they stay in another state for a long period, they could be considered residents of both that state and their home or “domicile” state, resulting in double taxation of…
We are hearing and reading a mix of information from economists and suppliers in a wide range of industries. Some state that they expect supply constraints to loosen by the end of the year and prices to plateau. Others tell us that even though some of the commodity indices show price relief, it will still…
In our prior article, the details of the new test for determining who is an employee and who is an independent contractor was laid out click here. As of last week, that rule is effective. Now clients are asking how we got here and what comes next. Here are our thoughts. Effective March 11,…
Starting with the End in Mind – webinar for business owners and buyers May 16 at 1PM (EDT) If you have the following questions, this webinar is for you! How do I strategically think about my end game? In other words, how do I figure out what game I am playing? What makes a business…
The Red Sea disruption forcing ships to go around Africa creates a new Supply Chain reality. It can lead to late deliveries of inventory resulting in disruptions affecting business globally. One of the noticeable issues is the Reuters report, “Tesla, Volvo Car in Europe Pause Output of Certain Car’s models.” Besides the production disruptions, late…
THE CRITICAL QUESTION FOR BUSINESS OWNERS: DEFINING SUCCESS – WHY ARE YOU ON THIS ROAD? By Ladd Hirsch on April 15, 2024 “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” — From Alice’s conversation with Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland For business owners intently focused on growing their…
It’s midnight. Your recycling bin is overflowing with rejected resumes. Your eyes can barely focus on the letters in front of you — and you have this uneasy feeling that you are about to invest in another candidate who just isn’t going to work out. This has been a vicious cycle over the past several…
“I should demote myself!” joked the head of sales. “It looks like I am better at selling than at managing a sales team.” We were looking at his team’s individual sales numbers. He was selling more when he was a regular salesperson than his whole team today. We too often promote the wrong person into…
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