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Part-Time Financial Expertise with Full-Time Impact
A Smarter Way of Doing Business
3 Ways I Can Help You With Your Financial Reporting:
In the competitive world of small and mid-size companies, having the best financial expertise and a trusted business strategist can make the difference between success and failure. Traditionally the onus of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has fallen on the shoulders of CEOs who are busy managing their companies. With budgets tightening and needs increasing, hiring a full-time CFO may be out of reach.
Until now.
The ideal solution is to partner with a top-notch CFO on a part-time, as-needed basis so you can get the best financial expertise and guidance available without the high-priced salary.
Streamlining Financial Reporting for Business Owners
Focus your attention on a point in time. This means pay attention to YTD results. The month just ended is history.
It is time to modernize the P&L analysis and help business owners start a forward-thinking process to address negative trends.
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CFO-Pro founder John Lafferty has become recognized for decades as the go to virtual CFO for entrepreneurs, start-up ventures and both emerging and mature businesses in a variety of industries. Backed by an MBA and an early career in progressive financial roles with leading global consulting and venture capital firms, the Fortune 500 and rising entrepreneurial ventures, John has built CFO-Pro into a rich resource for small and mid-sized companies.
Today he advises clients in strategy development, systems and process management and oversight, growth initiatives, infrastructure and operations improvement, margin and revenue enhancement, and creation of successful exit strategies. Coupled with his in-depth understanding of the interrelation of operations, marketing and finance, John brings unique value to client companies.
Blog Posts
Strengthen Your Business by Eliminating the Weak End of Your Product Line
In past newsletters we’ve focused on finance, marketing, getting out of debt, sales, and establishing a sustainable growth rate, so it’s time to look at your product line. For some, the statement “more is better” sums up their philosophy on an effective and profitable product line. But that mantra is missing a key word: profit. To…
How Much Can You Spend on Marketing?
Many business owners rely on guesswork or product enticement to determine the amount of money to be spent on marketing to increase sales. This is a risky strategy as it doesn’t provide a hard cost calculation method. Following is a straightforward formula to help you understand where your marketing dollars are coming from. One way…
Recapture the Profit You Are Currently Giving Your Creditors
Why would anyone want to own a leasing company? (Why does GE Capital Credit exist?) A leasing company earns the difference (or spread) between rental income / residuals and the cost of funds. Problems do exist for leasing companies: Potential bad credit Potential inadequate residuals Potential lack of customers Potential lack of access to funds…
How to Accelerate Your Wealth Creation — Become Your Own Bank
The average American is paying from $0.54 to $0.64 of every dollar they earn on interest and taxes (using an average of $0.24 – $0.34 for interest on your loans for home, car, credit cards, etc, and $0.30 for taxes). That equals 54% to 64% of your total income! Realizing how much money the typical American…
How to Get Out of Debt in One-third to One-half the Time
United First Financial’s Money Merge Account® (MMA) program will change the way you bank. Instead of having a standard, passive bank account, your MMA account mimics a bank itself, earning interest and canceling interest on every dollar you earn. Think of the MMA program like a financial GPS; live and web-based, this online money management…
Using Key Financial Indicators Effectively
A financial ratio has no single correct value. It depends on one’s perspective and the competitive strategy employed. Lenders like a high Current Ratio that suggests strong liquidity and high likelihood of repayment. From an operating viewpoint, the important question is not whether the current ratio is too high, but whether the chosen strategy is…
Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew
Business growth presents special challenges in financial planning because executives often believe growth is something to be maximized. Unfortunately, fast-growing companies that lack the financial acumen to manage their growth can and do fail. Increased sales require more assets of all types (i.e., inventory, accounts receivable, productive capacity), which must be paid for. Retained profits…
Where’s the Cash?
Click here to download the Balance Sheet Template This is a question often asked by business owners. They know sales are being made, but don’t know where the money goes. They do know that it’s not in the bank! The answer lies in the activity in all the other balance sheet accounts. Look at the following comparative…
Good to Great Financial Reporting
The most important elements of informative financial statements are 1) a well-defined Chart of Accounts and 2) an insightful classification (positioning) of totals in the financial statements. Let’s take a look at how these elements are applied to a great Income Statement. Sales: Each major product and/or service line should have its own account so…
Using Breakeven for Decision Making
The term breakeven sales means the dollar amount of sales that exactly covers all expenses resulting in zero profit. Let’s look at the following example: Sales $1,000,000 Cost of Goods Sold (variable) 400,000 ————— Gross Profit $ 600,000 Gross Margin 60% Overhead (fixed) 400,000 ————— Operating Income $ 200,000 Operating Margin 20% To calculate your breakeven…