As we experience a strong year in our business, new clients always have a list of questions to guide our client-tailored task list, and one question that appears on more than half of those lists is this one: “We’re making a profit, why isn’t our cash flow reflecting...
I was asked last week to explain the value of a CFO to a young entrepreneur who had started from scratch with a great idea, and built a pretty solid business before hitting the glass ceiling (no, not that one) where the financial infrastructure he had in place just...
Accounting is a foreign language. Or at least that’s how many CEOs and business owners see it. If they get monthly financial reports, they may only look at two numbers on the income statement – the top number (sales) and the bottom number (net profit). That...
I spoke with a CEO today, referred to me by a business associate, about providing CFO services to get their financial records current and their financial reporting up to what is needed to manage the business. It didn’t go as I had hoped. The CEO’s company, in the...
I wrote this article for my (print) newsletter 25 years ago. It’s so relevant even today that I decided to republish it, even though it’s longer than my usual post. I think it’s worth the extra few minutes you’ll spend reading it. We are often asked: What is the most...
We have two clients currently looking to improve or change their banking relationship. In both cases the reason is twofold: the need for growth capital and the unresponsiveness of their current bank. Neither is based in southern California, where intense banking...