Consult Your CFO Blog

A living wage is an hourly pay rate intended to allow a worker to meet a basic standard of living within their community. While the goal of reducing poverty is one most people share, the question worth examining is whether setting an artificial wage floor is the most...

Good design and quality finishes alone will not make your project successful. You need careful construction planning and budgeting to get the outcome you envision. Without both, costs can spiral quickly out of control. Start with a Clear and Complete Budget Your...

Consider these scenarios: Your business needs an independent advisor, free of internal politics and biases, to recommend and implement policy, procedure, and system changes for the betterment of the entire organization. Your internal accountant/bookkeeper requires...

Over the past 6 months we have helped a number of our clients in the following areas: operating cost reduction and process improvement.  If you have not done so already, this is the window of time to get your company's house in order, so when the economy turns your...

With the increased unemployment, more people are deciding to venture out on their own or with partners to startup a new business.  However, the success rate of new startups is not very good. “The impact of the national recession is evident in the business survival...

Whether you are starting out in your career, determining your retirement goals or managing a business, your future success or failure is based on how well you design, prepare, execute and evaluate your strategic plan and budget. There are many reasons why startups and...

Depending on whether your company has to go through an Audit, Review or Compilation at the end of the fiscal year it is important that management has the financials prepared accurately and according to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).  These financial...

On the 23rd of October 2009, the State of Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation issued a letter to companies doing business in Maryland.  This letter summarizes the impact of the dramatic increase in the number of unemployment claims by Marylanders. ...

Designing a new COA, in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), for a new company or changing an existing COA is easy to accomplish if you understand the basic fundamentals. There are 3 fundamental rules that need to be followed when designing...

The audit/review annual report is a report card on how well your    company’s financial department is performing.  The goal of the audit/review process is to have no documented audit issues or comments.  Having audit issues may have an adverse affect on obtaining bank...

The old mantra that Cash is King is even more important in today’s economy than ever before.  The access to loans and private equity has never been tougher to obtain.  While it seems that the credit market has at least stabilized, obtaining cash to grow your business...

There are thousands of financial reports that your company can write and use, but the following 10 key reports are a must to run your company successfully. (1)              Income Statement Trend Report An income statement report that shows consecutive monthly results...

There are 6 reasons to document company processes. Understand the steps required to complete a certain process Understand the time necessary to complete the entire process and each step Understand the complexity of the process, by determining which department produces...

Understanding how to measure financial stability of a company starts with the right KPIs. As discussed in the 1/1/2010 Blog called The 10 Key Financial Reports Every Company Should Use, all companies need to monitor their key performance indicators or kpis.   There...

An accounting manual is an important tool that all companies should create and maintain.  An accounting manual describes in detail accounting procedures and policies that are currently in affect at your company.  The accounting manual is like an owner’s manual you...