Does everyone understand the Profit and Loss Statement, also known as the Income Statement? Sales and growth seem to be the big focus for most companies, regardless of how the bottom line performs.  Sure, sales can create growth and expansion, but it can also spell chaos and turmoil. Companies can choke itself financially with growth without preparation. Customer service, staff retention and owner satisfaction can all suffer. How about Cash Flow when a company goes through a growth spurt? Will it drain the company funds or feed the company?  New equipment, more staff and higher inventory often are prerequisites of growth.

There are some great reports in QuickBooks that can help an owner manage growth, stay liquid and sane at the same time. The first is to understand the Profit and Loss Statement and to ask yourself if the current model is creating profit? Can it be improved? Will sales solve the profit problem? Or do I need to look at the current cost structure and pricing structure? Is the  company carrying too much inventory? What is the right stocking level? The QuickBooks Sales by Item Summary report can show you the movement of each of the products and what is not turning. Why do we need 100 parts of an item that we only sold 1 of all of last year?

Did you know you can setup a forecasts and monthly budgets in QuickBooks? You can and it is hidden in the heading Company, Planning & Budgeting. This is a great tool to use when in a growth mode or when a company is just watching costs.  The forecast can be the basis for the Cash Flow Projection. The Cash Flow report is invaluable for any company that is growing and they want to predict the crunch months. 

Keep becoming a student of Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, Forecasts and Cash Flow reports. Get to know your industry best of benchmarks and set sail for those markers. Be a student of inventory because it has a large affect on meeting the customer's expected delivery time and, if to high, can drain off valuable cash flow. 

Commitments are a crucial part of being successful in . every aspect of life.  Whether it be a personal or business commitment, following through is expected, no matter what the results are. Hopefully the outcome will be a positive one where everyone involved is happy and satisfied.  If the results aren't what you hoped for, it is still critical to complete the promise made and then study what mistakes, if any, were made in the process.  The most important thing is that the commitment was fullfilled. Read more about the importance of following through with your commitments from the Entrepreneur.

http://www.startupbooster.com/2009/12/29/entrepreneur-why-you-should-follow-through-with-your-commitments/

Small business owners today are forced to safeguard their money due to unpredictable economic circumstances. Some ways to assure business success is to maintain a cash flow that allows your company to continue operating and to forsee any unexpected setbacks. One way to do this is to develop a company budget that assures regularity within the business checkbook.  Read Scott E. Schaefer's article entitled Worry Less about Money with a Cash Flow Plan from CBIA News.

http://www.cbia.com/cbianews/sm_business_tips/199909sbworrylessaboutmoneywithacashflowplan.htmin

Change can be a tremendously stressful occurrence whether it be in your business, family or personal life.  Many individuals would rather remain in a negative situation avoiding change and the unexpected events they may encounter with change.  If approached with an open mind and positive attitude, change can be beneficial in every aspect of your life.  Betty Krecji of Purdue University addresses change and transition in her article Implenenting Change Successfully. Since change is imminent in today's world, especially with the economy and technological advances, we must learn to be receptive to transitioning ourselves for a more positive way of life.

 http://www.cfs.purdue.edu/extension/documents/home_money/implementingchangesuccessfully.pdf

Monthly Improvement and Business Education Advancement

1. Advanced Financial Management Coaching
   1. One meeting a month. Minimum of 12 months.
   2. Analyze and Improve Business Profits Monthly
   3. Building a Budget.
   4. Developing and Understanding a Cash Flow Report
   5. Benchmarking your company to the Industry.
   6. Unlimited e-mails and phone calls.
2. Job Costing Coaching
   1. Analyzing what each job costs.
   2. Determining the costly issues and how to avoid them.
   3. What went right and how to ensure duplication?
   4. Take each job and improve upon it.
3. Teaching the Bookkeeper QuickBooks Done Right
   1. How to do Quarterly Payroll Taxes
   2. How to post Refunds.
   3. Where to post equipment.
   4. How to update Loan interest write offs monthly.
   5. Unlimited phone calls and emails.
4. Lean Manufacturing
   1. Learn the lean process.
   2. Learn to identify waste in your business.
   3. Learn how to eliminate waste.
   4. Learn to identify the root cause of waste.
   5. Eliminate waste
5. Lean Office
   1. Identify waste in estimating, Invoicing and Change Orders.
6. Technology Advancement
   1. Identify Technology to improve the company.
   2. Recommend one Technology improvement a month.
   3. Make recommendations on timeline.   
   4. Software add-ons for QuickBooks- Scheduler, Inventory, Estimators etc.
7. Future Strategies, Services & Products
   1. What are the key future indicators for your business?   
   2. How will the future affect your business?
   3. How can be proactive towards the future?
   4. What new services and products can your company provide?

Value Added to the Business and Owner

1. Advanced Financial Management Coaching
   1. Improve financials by avoiding costly mistakes and improving net profit.  Yearly  $_________  Times 3 Years $_________
   2. More discretionary time.   ______Hours Year
   3. Less Stress with a greater understanding.  ____Reduction of Stress
2. Improving Job Costing Yearly $______ Times 3 Years
3. Teaching Bookkeeper Accounting
   1. Less time spent cleaning up reports.
   2. Stress level reduction.  _____
4. Lean Manufacturing – 80% waste in most processes.
   1. Savings in to the bottom line by eliminating waste.  
   2. Improved on time performance.
   3. Improved Customer Satisfaction
   4. Morale improvement with staff.
   5. Repeat savings in future jobs.
5. Lean Office– 80% waste in most processes.
   1. Savings in to the bottom line by eliminating waste.  
   2. Improved on time performance.
   3. Improved Customer Satisfaction
   4. Morale improvement with staff.
   5. Repeat savings in future jobs.
6. Technology Coaching
7. Future Strategic Planning

Here we are again, at the end year. A long, tough, and scary year for business owners.  QuickBooks is often the last thing people want to look at during a down year. But it is the navigator. The GPS business tracker. It tells us where we were, and where our business is going. If, by chance, it is set on auto-pilot, watch out!! It could be heading straight for a large coral reef.  Looking up and seeing the picture clearly may make us feel worse. But it gives a better chance get a grip on where we are heading. Seeing clearly is 80% of the battle.

How do we see clearly? The first thing is to straighten out QuickBooks®. As you are going through the numbers, stories start to unfold.  As the pieces of the puzzle are put in its rightful place, we receive feedback from this year. The winners and loser often surprise us. Like the old TV show "Dragnet", we need to know the facts. Blind faith cannot get us through these times. Maybe in previous years, but not these coming year.

Things to check and clean up in QuickBooks are the loan balances at year end, make sure expensive equipment are on the balance sheet report under equipment and flagged for year end. Check the Account Receivable and Account Payable balances and clean them up for year end. There could be some bad debts to write off and duplicate bills or invoices that need to be handled properly. It may have been a better year than expected. But how could it be if the checkbook is so low? Maybe customers are paying a lot slower than last year. Cash Flow can create many problems.

 Make a commitment to get QuickBooks right and dig deeper into your business's numbers. Read the story so you can write the future chapters with clarity and conviction. If you get hung up on some issues, call in a Pro Advisor.

There has been a lot of chatter about the recession. Many ideas contradicting other theories. There are two that ring true to me. One is that many of the past recessions took the shape of a V on a graph. The economy drops dramatically low but eventually bounces back to where it was. But this one will take the shape of the square root sign. The economy dips like a V but never fully recovers. It only comes back 3/4 of the way. 

The second theory that sounds true but is depressing when you think about, is that the recovery time of this recession will be a lot longer than the others. Each of the previous recessions had at least one strong force pulling it up and out of the recession, consumer spending, manufacturers building up inventory or foreign investments. Presently none of these driving forces are in play and they do not seem to be on the near horizon.  Hart Hodges of Western Washington University is a thought provoking speaker that puts all the studies and data in perspective and has some great insight regarding these times.

Recessions do force businesses  to rethink there strategies and business models. Many recover with new innovations and as a leaner organization provided higher quality service and products with less wait time for the customers.  The Lean Enterprise Institute has a great article and interview with a president that has made great progress in shipping the customers orders that night.

ProFound Impact Business Coaching

Are you READY for some Knowledge and Action? This Coaching Process is geared towards empowering you, the business owner, and key team members, with powerful business tools. It will assist you to clearly see the issues and solve the root cause of difficult business problems. 

ProFound Impact Process Business Tools

1. Product/Service Line Solutions You will know what products/services are profitable vs. a waste of time.Job Costing tracking creating a history of what does and does not work. Weigh new Product/Services that will further your goals.

2. Financial Awareness  Clean up QuickBooks & Train the bookkeeper to keep it that way. Use QuickBooks to the fullest potential.Build Cash Flow to lower debt, develop future services and enjoy life more.

3. Remove Wasted Steps and Time  Apply Lean Processes for faster and cheaper customer delivery.

4. Set Key Indicators  Set your Dashboard to track the top three key indicators and drive your business towards your goals.

5. Strategy for the Future  Map the current situation to see where you are.Set the course for a better future.Create goals and Organizational chart to take you there. 

Call Chris at 360-303-5798 and start taking action now.