• The Strategic CFO or Controller

    Do you worry that you are perceived as a "bean counter" or do people call you that "in jest"? How do you get away from this disparaging label? Beans are a cheap commodity, so to count them is a rather silly thing to do. A "bean counter" is one who nitpicks over small things. It is a derogatory term for accountants, bankers, and anyone who holds a financial interest in an endeavor.” A bean [...]

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    Overcoming Challenges that Prevent Small Business Growth

    By Julie King, Published on CanadaOne. Growth is often the bulls eye businesses aim for, yet ironically enough, when it arrives the sudden surge can cause a company to falter or even fail. James Phillipson, a chartered accountant who provides strategic financial management skills to small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), has a good grasp of the "growth challenges" smaller companies face. For [...]

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    The art of collections

    Two recent conversations reminded me of the importance of collections to the cash flow of a business and the ability to use that cash flow to grow your business. Too often, I find that businesses have delegated collection of accounts receivable and then do not adequately supervise that critical function. The art of collections is based on persistence and regular calling of customers with the [...]

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    Surround yourself with smart people

    In The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Harvey Schachter quotes Peggy Cunningham, Dean of Management at Dalhousie University in Halifax who says “…surround yourself with smart people who have different perspectives and different skills. Listen to them respectfully and attentively, draw out their ideas, and work to integrate their perspectives into your plans and solutions to problems.”[...]

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    What is a Controller?

    The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a controller as “a person in charge of expenditure esp. a steward or comptroller.”  According to Wikipedia “a comptroller is a management level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization.” In Canada we often use the title Controller in a broader sense but I find that many businesses focus [...]

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    Identifying & leveraging your Key Performance Indicators

    In an article on About.com, F. John Reh defines Key Performance Indicators (KPI) as “financial and non-financial metrics used to help an organization define and measure progress toward organizational goals. KPIs can … assess the present state of the business and assist in prescribing a course of action.” Informationbuilders.com describes KPIs as “high-level snapshots of a business or [...]

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    Payables policies and practices to improve cash flow

    In our recent article on Cash Management, we briefly discussed the importance of payments in the cash flow cycle. The focus of this article elaborates on the importance of managing accounts payable and a number of key issues. In our recent article on Credit Granting Policies To Improve Cash Flow, we briefly discussed the cost of cash discounts in speeding up cash collections. In this article, we [...]

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    Coaching your Controller – Part 2

    As the owner of your business, do you have a person heading up the accounting function who has limited or no experience managing an accounting and finance function?  Very few SMEs will have an accountant with a designation and strategic skills in that role, which for convenience I will refer to as the Controller (other common titles are Accountant, Office Manager, Accounting Manager, etc.) As a [...]

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    Coaching your Controller – Part 1

    This article first appeared in CanadaOne, an online business newspaper and resource centre. As the owner of your business, do you have a person heading up the accounting function who has limited experience managing an accounting and finance function?  Very few SMEs will have an accountant with a designation and strategic skills in that role, which for convenience I will refer to as the Controller[...]

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    Inventory management practices to maximize your cash flow

    In our recent article on Cash Management, we briefly discussed the importance of inventory management in the cash flow cycle. The focus of this article elaborates on the importance of Inventory Management and a number of key issues. As with many cash flow objectives, there is an art in finding a delicate balance. Inventory management is definitely both an art and a skill that requires the [...]

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