In recent articles, we have discussed how business owners and CEOs are addressing risk management and cyber security in their organizations today, as well as how disruptive a lack of planning for contingencies can be. Cybercrime is an especially hot topic for businesses right now when it comes to...
If you own a family business, there’s a good chance that you hope to one day pass it on to your children, grandchildren or other family members. Family-owned businesses have formed the backbone of entrepreneurship in America for hundreds of years, and their success is vital to the ongoing...
In our recent article, Key Steps to Building a High-Performance Finance Staff, we examined some of the key steps involved in building a strong finance team. While this is critical, it’s equally important that the finance staff be viewed as an integral part of the overall team. The fact...
In a recent article, we discussed the fact that it’s now essential that the finance function apply digital technology in order to properly serve the constituents of any organization. The current reality is that the operating model of the modern finance department will continue to evolve by automating non-value...
One of the primary responsibilities of a CFO or controller is to build a stable, high-performing finance staff. Finance is playing an increasingly important role in the strategic direction of many companies, which makes the successful construction and composition of the finance staff critical, not only to the success...
The procure-to-pay process followed by many middle-market companies today is anything but efficient. Typically, the process starts with a requisition and then proceeds to a purchase order, invoice and eventually a payment, either by check or electronically using the Automated Clearing House (ACH). This process may be justified for the purchase...
Since the principles of modern accounting were first established early in the 20th century, the record-to-report model has been the dominant accounting process. This approach manages the accounting cycle as a repeatable, end-to-end process that includes all steps starting with the booking of transactions and going all the way through...
Most Los Angeles and Southern California business owners and entrepreneurs have heard of the concept of lean manufacturing, but many of those who own non-manufacturing businesses think that lean doesn’t apply to their companies. If this describes you, you should think again. The concepts that underlie lean manufacturing can be applied...
When they hear the term “big data,” many Los Angeles and Southern California business owners and entrepreneurs mistakenly think this is something that only large corporations with multi-million dollar information technology budgets and sophisticated IT systems can benefit from. So it’s not surprising that according to research conducted by SMB...
If it were up to me, the term “non-profit” would be banished from the English language. Why? Because many people associate this term with “non-performance.” They think that just because an organization’s mission is something other than delivering profit to a group of owners/shareholders, the leaders do not need...