CLIENTS
The Client: Professional Services
THE PROBLEM: This well-established and profitable business was experiencing major regulatory changes. Slow-paying clients extended receivables, leading to cash & tax issues. The accounting process was too slow to help identify problems in time to catch them when they were small.
THE SOLUTION: In this long-term CFO relationship, we did a major reorganization of the accounting system based on a workflow study of major service categories. We were able to streamline invoicing for this 50+ employee company to speed collections, and capture data at a more granular level, which allowed us to analyze key drivers. Armed with this information, we reorganized sales to target the most profitable services, established controls to stay on top of receivables, and established variable labor targets. This allowed us to work our way out of the cash flow problems without borrowing.
The Client: Hospitality Industry
THE PROBLEM: This employer with nearly 200 staff members had outgrown their in-house controller. They needed financial & member analytics, leadership team development, and updated procedures with emphasis on automation.
THE SOLUTION: We provided long-term CFO services, including management of accounting, I/T, and human resources. We used best practice, low cost software to automate processes, wrote policies & added internal controls, implemented an intranet for improved staff communication & collaboration, and trained leadership into a self-directed work team. We also conducted strategic planning and upgraded board reporting to include functional cost analytics. Our expanded internal controls unexpectedly identified some problems which we were able to quickly & quietly resolve.
The Client: Community Credit Unions
THE PROBLEM: Clients require quarterly regulatory reporting for ALM (Asset & Liability Management) for state & federal examiners and board reporting, but are not large enough to bring the work in-house.
THE SOLUTION: In these long-term financial roles, we use industry best-practice software to build sophisticated financial models that can meet extensive regulatory requirements & exams. We also use the information for budgets, rolling forecasts, and what-if scenarios. Coupled with management team and board training, the data is also used for pricing decisions and risk analysis.
The Client: Professional Services
THE PROBLEM: Client had outgrown their systems, and without analytics and internal controls, cash flow in this long-term profitable business was in crisis.
THE SOLUTION: We provided a long-term CFO solution for this client. We immediately built a quick cost model and established some internal controls & metrics to provide immediate cash flow relief. We subsequently expanded to more robust analytics, improved internal communication & reporting via an intranet, and executed a long-term plan to develop the leadership into a mature, self-directed work team. With these analytic tools in hand, leaders were able to better manage costs & achieve targeted, rapid growth.
The Client: Entertainment Industry
THE PROBLEM: Ready to go live with a new product & existing labor, the client had no understanding of cash flow, managing a startup, establishing pricing, or how to secure investors.
THE SOLUTION: After studying the product, we performed a market survey & the competitive environment, and established a working price range. We created the startup company, built a functional budget, established variable labor ranges, trained on using financials to profit key operating metrics, and launched a profitable business.
The Client: Sports Ticket Sales
THE PROBLEM: After many years of stable, profitable sales, client was struggling with rapidly declining revenues creating a cash flow problem.
THE SOLUTION: We analyzed the market and determined that his formally loyal customers were not interested in paying for his personalized services: they had flocked to the internet, and his competition was now national. We redirected his marketing budget to social media, tightened operating expenses to provide cash flow relief, and worked with brokers to establish a realistic market value, closing with the eventual sale of the company.
The Client: Professional Services
THE PROBLEM: The client was working on a project for a major customer, and needed a robust, interactive database that could analyze raw data from multiple perspectives. However, staff was already spread thin, the project was behind, and the timeline was short.
THE SOLUTION: We met with the project team, talked through the information needs and how data would be used, and reviewed how competing bidders would likely analyze the same information. We used low-cost software tools to build a highly flexible database in time for the immediate deliverable, and the client was able to maintain it going forward, adapting it for future bids.