Is the almighty dollar as almighty as we like to think it is?

March 16, 2011

If this all sounds like a business model doomed for peril, I submit to you, my friends, that it is. Unfortunately, it’s all too real, and the government I refer to is the United States of America. Despite the fact that the government, politicians and the press generally don’t talk about it in these terms, the scenario I just described is factual. If you owned the “business” I just described, you’d most certainly file for bankruptcy protection.

Read the full article →

What gets measured gets done – performance measurement

February 5, 2011

I recently made a comment to a colleague that the simple act of measuring something improves performance by at least 10%.  Assume this concept is true and think about it for a moment.  What would it mean to you and your business if you were to capture an additional 10% of business from your current [...]

Read the full article →

What is my company worth? – part 1

September 6, 2010

Have you ever wondered what your business is worth, or how, for that matter, that value is determined? Generally, the value of a business is based on its ability to generate earnings, more specifically, free cash flows, most often defined as excess cash earnings, which are not needed to operate the business.  Most often, particularly for [...]

Read the full article →

Understanding accrual-based financial statements

August 8, 2010

If you’re like most managers or business owners, you are exposed to financial information on a regular basis, particularly the basic financial statements: the Balance Sheet, the Income Statement, and the Statement of Cash Flows.  Part of your job as an owner or manager is to read and interpret these financial statements in order to [...]

Read the full article →

Introduction to financial ratios – activity ratios

July 31, 2010

Have you ever looked at your company’s or organization’s financial statements and thought to yourself, “Okay, I see how much we earned this period.  I also see a bunch of different numbers on several pages, so there must be more to this than net profit.  How can I extract additional meaningful information that will help [...]

Read the full article →