A growing number of mid-sized businesses are investing resources in the practice of financial planning and analysis — or FP&A, as it’s usually referred to. As we discussed in a previous article, many of these firms are benefitting from the forward-looking and strategic exercises that are part of the...
If you own or run a mid-sized business, then you are probably used to working in an environment of uncertainty. Things are constantly changing in the world of business — whether it’s customer preferences, government laws and regulations, raw material prices or competitors’ offerings. Successful owners and entrepreneurs can...
The catch-phrase “Show me the money!” was immortalized in the movie Jerry Maguire when the title character and his client, pro football player Rod Tidwell, scream the line back and forth at each other over the phone. Tidwell, of course, was telling his agent Maguire to negotiate a big...
Despite the rise in recent years of the IT and professional service industries, it’s the manufacturing industry that keeps the gears of the U.S. economy running smoothly. After all, manufacturing businesses build things that we use in our everyday lives — from cars and washing machines to furniture and...
This is the time of year when many businesses start preparing for next year’s budgeting process. In doing so, they will be gathering information and data with key personnel from various departments to obtain forecasted revenues and associated costs. Among the techniques that could be employed in this process...
De-cluttering and purging have become all the rage among many people since the release of a book titled The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. The author, Japanese organizing consultant Maria Kondo, urges readers to ask themselves whether or not every item they...
Large, publicly held corporations have entire departments devoted to managing investor relations. It’s the job of the investor relations department to provide both private and institutional investors with an accurate account of company affairs so they can make more informed decisions when it comes to buying and selling company shares....
As the owner or CEO of a mid-sized business, you make many decisions that impact the future direction and success of your company. These range from relatively small and non-critical decisions like choosing a janitorial or catering service provider to much bigger and more consequential decisions like hiring executives...
Outsourcing certain corporate functions to third-party service providers is nothing new. Businesses have been outsourcing functions like payroll, IT and human resources for decades. But many mid-sized firms haven’t thought much about outsourcing these or other finance and accounting functions. Doing so can result in a host of potential benefits...
Owners and CEOs of mid-sized businesses face a wide range of both opportunities and threats every day. For example, new technologies like the Internet can change the face of industries practically overnight, creating new opportunities that were unimaginable before. Meanwhile, threats like the emergence of new competitors can jeopardize market...