Resources
Guide to Fractional CFO Services
CFO’s Small Business Financial Report Guide
Articles
Why Bookkeeping Fails – Forecasting: The Future Is More Important Than the Past
For many small business owners, accounting can be intimidating. Many owners are strong with numbers and record keeping, but few are financial professionals. Concepts like enhanced bookkeeping or cash flow management can seem difficult and unapproachable. Financial forecasting, in particular, can conjure up feelings of dread for business owners. But, as the saying goes, ignoring
Why Bookkeeping Fails: Traditional vs. Enhanced Solutions
As a small business owner you are very aware of just how little time there seems to be each workday. Running a business isn’t easy, and requires a real investment of time and energy. Business owners can find themselves putting out fires or dedicating time to more pressing problems. Accounting, finance, and bookkeeping are activities
QuickBooks Online vs. Xero: Comparing Accounting Software
Choosing the accounting software your company will use may seem like a low-stakes decision. However, this choice can impact your company in many surprising ways. For many small business owners, there are two dominant providers to pick from – QuickBooks Online or Xero. There are many reasons that a company will choose to invest in
A Small Business Budget: Examples and Tips
If you don’t have a budget for your small business, don’t worry. You’re not alone. In fact, half of small businesses run without a budget. Why? Because many business owners suspect that even if they make a budget, they won’t be able to stick to it and it will be a waste of time. Fortunately,
Traditional Bookkeeping Doesn’t Work Today
When asked, almost any successful business owner would agree that bookkeeping is a vital part of keeping their business running. As a small business owner yourself, you probably value keeping a detailed and accurate account of your business’ financial data, and you may even dabble in bookkeeping yourself if the need arises. Nearly half of
Small Business Financial Reporting and Analysis
What is Financial Reporting and Analysis? When people ask me this question, there are a few metaphors that I could use to describe financial reporting. Sometimes, I will explain financial reports as your company’s report card, while at other times, I will describe it as the roadmap. I particularly like the roadmap metaphor for financial
Measuring Sales Channel Profitability for Food Manufacturers
As a small to medium-sized business owner, you are probably aware that opening a new sales channel can be an exciting process: New sales channels can mean accelerated growth and increased revenue, and the idea of reaching new customers is understandably appealing to business owners. What you might not be aware of, though, is how
Financial Coaching for Franchisees
As a franchisor, you are probably aware that new franchisees can often require a bit of coaching. What you might not be aware of, though, is how critical that coaching can be: Every year, hundreds of new franchises fail, and many of those failures can be attributed to a franchisee’s lack of financial understanding. In
What is Cash Burn and Why Is It Important?
As a business owner you are aware that operating your business requires cash. Stocking inventory, financing payroll, and purchasing new equipment, among other things, require a healthy reserve of cash. In fact, almost a third of all new companies that fail do so because they run out of operating cash. Most of these companies failed to
Raising Capital for Your Business
Time To Raise Capital? How Much Should You Raise The prospect of fundraising is understandably exciting to business owners. An injection of equity capital can mean explosive growth and the ability to break into new markets, among other things. As a business owner, you have probably imagined a best-case scenario where you had enough capital
What is a Cap Table and Why is it Important?
You are probably aware of the analogy that compares business ownership to pieces of a pie: The ownership of modern small and medium-sized businesses is often divided among investors, founders, employees and management, among other parties. Each of these parties owns a piece of the company’s pie, as the analogy goes. How can a business
The Role of a CFO in Franchise Sales
Opening a franchise is a significant decision and one that involves a certain amount of risk. The legal relationship between franchisors and the franchisees is also complex, and involves many difficult legal and financial concepts. Often, prospective franchise buyers are overwhelmed by the recruitment process or turned off by financial concepts that can seem like