Yes, 2022 is here - thankfully - and we can finally say good riddance to 2021. You've already got a long list of things to do ... executing the annual plan, inspiring your team, committing to a new level of productivity … and so it goes. To give you a…
New metrics to Define Financial Performance?
In the tumult surrounding the 3D maelstrom (Debt Ceiling, Downgrading and Deficit) of several weeks ago, you may have missed another chilling corporate finance update on the relentless pursuit of performance metrics that extol the sunshine while you’re in the heart of darkness. Yes, there may be some economic value for certain of these metrics, but they’re dangerous barometers of realizable value and highly misleading as to future achievements of tangible operating profits and free cash flow.
Most of us recall the “eyeball counting” that preceded the Dot-Com-Bomb and those certain “Signs of the Apocalypse”, as when your cab driver is telling you what stocks you should buy. (more…)
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So, why not jump into the deep end right now by reading Business Finance is about much more than finance
I’ve said before that leaders don’t have the luxury of confining their interests to just a few things
If you’ve ever exercised by lifting weights, you know that the amount of the weight on the bar is only one variable that needs to be considered for a particular exercise
If you’re doing a bench press, you can add more weight because your chest and shoulder muscles help your arms to lift the weight
But if you put 50% of that total weight on each of two dumbbells, you can’t lift either one
You’ve probably also learned that you can’t use the same weight for curls as you do for bench presses
[pullquote]“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler
” ~ Albert Einstein[/pullquote]
Likewise, if you’re going to do only one repetition, you can handle more weight than if you’re going to lift it ten times
If you are lying flat, (more…)
~ Thomas Carlyle
A lady walked into a neighborhood market one day and spoke loudly over the counter to the head butcher.
“Your prices these days are atrocious, Sal. Joe’s Deli across the street is selling your $10 chuck roast for only $5!”
“I know, Mrs. Haggle. I saw the sign. The thing is . . . Joe doesn’t have any chuck roast.”
So, the law of supply and demand rears its head again, some days a beautiful vision, other days an ugly hag. We’re surrounded by her mystique everywhere we go. Traffic is tied up because there are more cars than highway space. Starbuck’s is backed up because people want coffee faster than it can be made. There are no paper clips in the supply room but there’s plenty of fruitcake left in the kitchen.
Supply and demand drove markets long before economists appeared … and its jarring prevalence is unavoidable. One of my favorite examples is (more…)
We knew that 2010 was a pretty "fowl" year didn't we ... but did you think that the price of a French hen would increase by 233%? Or that two turtle doves would now cost 78.6% more? That a lone partridge would go up 20%?Not that there's anything wrong with…
My friend and colleague, Steve Fredricks, President of Turrentine Brokerage, Trusted and Strategic Advisors to Growers, Wineries, and Financiers in the wine industry, did a terrific job at this year's Wine Industry Financial Symposium, Competing in a Rapidly Changing Global Wine Market.[pullquote]The Turrentine Wine Business Wheel of Fortune is the gold standard for…
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Why is this so hard? We find ourselves entrenched in the quagmire of a lingering and painful recession … more companies than ever need stronger financial management … and yet so many of them remain painfully slow to recognize it. Sure, many have trimmed costs and are paying closer attention to nickels and dimes, but few of them have a comprehensive financial strategy.
So, in some misguided way, I guess it feels good to have some company … because the need for financial discipline was a common refrain among wine industry cognoscenti at this year’s Symposium, Competing in a Rapidly Changing Global Wine Market. The economic shock waves of the last 24 months have rocked the wine industry, dragging many of its members, in some cases kicking and screaming … into an era where professional management and greater financial discipline are demanding front row seats alongside the entrepreneurs and artisans that have reigned over the California wine industry
[pullquote]Stronger financial management is overdue in the California wine industry.[/pullquote]
Building a bridge between the financial community and the wine industry is one of the founding precepts of the Wine Industry Financial Symposium formed in 1992. Last Monday, I was privileged to lead a 90 minute workshop devoted to Practical Strategies to Improve Cash Flow, in which I shared a few “diamonds in the rough” about how to get more juice into your bank account … and how the California wine businesses can integrate Strategic Finance into their everyday business decision making.
During the preceding From Survival to Prosperity – Strategies for Transition session, (more…)
Volume 2 of our Financial Adrenaline series, entitled How Do We Do it?, explains how we begin the process of introducing the powerful principles of Strategic Finance into your business. We expand upon our conversation about the current state of financial reporting and describe our commitment to you that Finance should NOT be the Reason for Business Failure. We offer a series of questions that are crucial to successful businesses but that we don't think you can answer by looking at your traditional financial statements. We also explain why traditional financial statements are historical renderings of financial transactions but don't lead to the action plans necessary to drive improved business performance.