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Posts Tagged ‘financial management’

3 Financial Management Objectives for CFOs

Saturday, October 8th, 2011 by Troy Schrock

3 Financial Management Objectives for CFOs

3 objectives for the CFOs of entrepreneurial and mid-market companies:

  1. Integrity in Financial Reporting: Implement the proper personnel and processes for reliable financial data.  Financial reporting is historical; it tells “what happened.” 
  2. Sound Financial Analysis and Synthesis: With solid financial reporting disciplines in place, CFOs can focus on what it means.  But they must not stop there.  CFOs also need to synthesize the information and help the organization’s decision-makers think about the future.  How do the financial results affect strategic and operating decisions, and vice versa.
  3. Tight Financial Management (Budget and Cost Control):  The budget (or the financial forecast, which is more flexible and preferred by some) paints the future financial picture for the organization’s leaders.  First, it connects current decisions to expected results.  Then, actual results can be measured and compared to expectations.  This calibrates the assumptions of the decision makers.  Because it requires an understanding of the key value drivers of the business, this discipline also enables CFOs to identify specific areas of cost control that need addressed (which can be anything from a line item to an entire process).

The CFO must ensure that the first objective is achieved, but second and third objectives are where CFOs add the greatest value to a business.  Therefore, those are the objectives on which he should focus his time.

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Cash Flow Management Help for Entrepreneurs

Monday, January 31st, 2011 by Troy Schrock

We recently got a nice plug from The Shoestring MBA regarding our recently launched online course about cash flow management, entitled “Cash Rules for Entrepreneurs.”  With permission from author Bill McGuinness, we adapted some of his material from his book Cash Rules, added some practical tips and tools from our experience as ActionCFO advisors, and put together an online tool that we think will be very useful to business owners and CEOs of small and midsize companies. 

You can access this tool at www.cashrulesforentrepreneurs.com.  For a very reasonable fee, you get lifetime access to an audiovisual presentation, podcast, booklet, and helpful review sheets.  If you’ve been looking for a crash course (or just a quick review) of fundamental financial management concepts for your business, I think you will find great value in this tool.

Please be free with your feedback on it.  As we hear back from people, we can continue to improve the tool in the future.

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