INSIGHTS & ARTICLES

I’ve seen many business owners who are ready to grow and expand their business in their existing business or into new product lines or markets but aren’t sure if there is enough demand for their increased investment. Understanding the level of demand in your industry...

The Boston Consulting Group did a study of the cash conversion cycles of 122 fast-moving-consumer-goods companies from 2006 through 2009, and the results were incredible: by simply being more efficient with their inventory and receivable cycles, they estimated savings...

The realm of equity can get very complicated and is rarely as straightforward as debt financing. It is a critical alternative to debt, however, and deserves careful consideration. Most small business owners will hear that debt is a better form of financing because you...

Creating useful, accurate budgets is one of the most common, persistent thorns in the side of every business owner. Not only is the process of putting them together painful, but if a manager does ever stop to compare their actual performance with what they projected,...

Breaking the Pattern of Failed Business Resolutions Leadership Series Missed quarterly sales quotas. Dropped responsibilities by overwhelmed staff and a lack of hiring. Irrelevant business budgets that by the end of the year are millions of dollars off the mark. Many...

Sony’s Failure of “The Interview”: Life-Changing Lessons from Failure Computer systems at Sony Pictures Entertainment were hacked in November by a group with suspected ties to North Korea; terrorist threats picked up this week against cinemas in North America. All...

Defining the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) & CFO Services In the many blog posts that our CFO’s have posted at preferredcfo.com, I realized this week that we’ve never addressed the topic of defining the Chief Financial Officer or CFO services. I’m going to lay it...

Nothing beats standing at the top of a mountain knowing you’re about to fly down through powder. The vistas are breathtaking, and it’s easy to take in the beauty—and your next route—all in one breath. In terms of awesomeness, coming in a close second behind...

Forbes recently published an article about Uber Conference, a fast-growing tech company that for the time being focuses on conference call software. The company is backed by the famous venture capitalist, Marc Andreesen who calls the company a two-stage rocket, “The...

CFO’s Perspective: The ROI of Increased B2B Advertising Budget In December Functioning as an outsourced CFO for many businesses, I don’t weigh in all that often on marketing or advertising strategy. There is one significant exception, and that is particularly when an...

Interviews may not be worth the time you spend conducting them. They’re certainly not worth all of the time it takes setting them up. Some people you interview look the part and talk the part, but then utterly fail. Rather than write a post about the perfect interview...

Some of our most successful entrepreneurs never attended an accounting class, let alone graduated from college. Many entrepreneurs wouldn’t believe the point that skyrocketing revenues is an all-too-common quick recipe to kill a business. “What?!” you ask? It all...

When it comes to making successful decisions, especially in running and bootstrapping your business, hindsight is always 20/20. One of the hardest things about making successful decisions, is knowing which decisions to make. Prioritizing your time so that you focus on...

Too many businesses that I’ve seen don’t differentiate between their “accountant” and a Chief Financial Officer. Some even regard having an outside tax accountant or a simple bookkeeper as being sufficient for their business. I wish I could just sit these business...

Less than five years ago, this blog post would have included only three options for early-stage entrepreneurs to raise capital. Today, it’s exciting to discuss a fourth—crowd funding. Whether you’re working on an idea and need some seed funding, or you’re already...

Three days after the Virgin Galactic’s tragic crash and loss of its pilot and its SpaceShipTwo manned rocket, we reflect on startup lessons to be gleaned from the situation. John Goglia recently posted an article on Forbes describing some of the major differences...

Out with the Old One of the benefits of working directly with small to medium-sized businesses as part-time CFO’s is that we get to experience the culture of many clients. Some cultures foster results and innovation, encouraging and motivating employees to do and be...

I want to continue with the one of my most popular series on secrets to profitability. One of the secrets I’ve seen successful companies use to harness more profits is the sue of specific financial metrics. Your business may be great at producing a product, great at...

Critical Contract CFO Components Most Small Businesses are Missing Continuing with a series that I started writing a few months ago, another component has been on my mind while working with clients recently. Strategically approaching goals and identifying the...

Purpose of Business There are arguably many reasons why entrepreneurs start companies—provide jobs for others, accomplish a social good, leave their mark on the world—to name a few. No matter the altruistic or wealth-creating motive, all businesses should have as the...

In a previous post we discussed how a culture of performance positions your company for better profits. We feel that an inward focus is the first and best place to start so that any externally facing improvements don’t set your customers up for disappointment....