Finance for Non-Financial Managers

Employment growth in small business - new data

Macroeconomic Advisors reported this morning that the US economy added 110,000 private sector jobs last month, a bit more than predicted. More importantly, they all came from small and mid-sized businesses. All of them. Some things don't change, and one of them is that small business produces most of the job growth in this country because small business does most of the growing. Now is the time. If your business isn't growing today, you're doing something wrong. Find out what it is and fix it.

Sunny Robilotta - Nonprofit CFO of the Year!

"In a packed Millennium Biltmore Hotel grand ballroom in Los Angeles today, and with a very competitive field of CFO Finalists (40 in total), Sunny Robilotta, CFO of Exceptional Children's Foundation, was named the 2012 Nonprofit CFO of the Year by the Los Angeles Business Journal's panel of judges. The award, in a highly competitive category in a town with literally thousands of nonprofit organizations, places Sunny among the City's elite financial leaders, a place she has occupied for years among all of us who work with and know her."

This announcement was made today by Dr. Scott Bowling, CEO of Exceptional Children's Foundation, a wonderful service organization on whose board I have served for over a dozen years. I was there as the award was announced, and to share this honor with Sunny and ECF.

Great work does bring its rewards. I thought you'd like to know.

Amazon.com best seller: #31 in Corporate Finance

My long-standing best selling book, "Finance for NonFinancial Managers," hit #31 on Amazon's list of best selling Corporate Finance books recently, an indication of how high quality content is truly ageless  even in today's world of rapidly growing information via the Internet.

Available in hard copy or eBook from Amazon, or in hard copy signed by the author at www.GeneSiciliano.com. If you don't have one you might ask yourself "Why not?"

As always I welcome your comments and feedback.

 

3 Great articles: August issue of Nonprofit Business Advisor

This month's issue of Nonprofit Business Advisor has some great reads, including these:

• IRS true to its word has removed the tax exempt status of 275,000 organizations that failed to file annual reports for 3 consecutive years. If you've missed 1 or 2, time to take quick action.
• Two articles on a Congressional Budget Office proposal to modify charitable deduction rules, including some very forward thinking out of Fordham University's Center for Nonprofit Leaders.
• A very well written article on salary negotiation strategies for nonprofit executives in transition, based on an interview with a seasoned recruiter.

The publication is a product of Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Subscriptions via US mail or email are available by calling 888-378-2537 and back issues can be accessed by subscribers at www.wileyonlinelibrary.com.

 

 

Cyber Security to Avoid Having Your Car Stolen

Another scary cybercrime news item from Dr. Stan Stahl (stan@citadel-information.com ), who reports these events to give us reason to be cautious, especially if you drive a late model car. He says:

Theft via text: Cars vulnerable to hack attacks: Texting and driving don't go well together - though not in the way you might think. Computer hackers can force some cars to unlock their doors and start their engines without a key by sending specially crafted messages to a car's anti-theft system. They can also snoop at where you've been by tapping the car's GPS system. Source: VolunteerTV, August 19, 2011

Requirement to rotate auditors? It could be coming to you...

Today the US Government's auditing watchdog board (PCAOB, or Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, for those who care about the details) announced they are actively considering a new rule requiring public companies to change independent auditors every few years. This action comes in response to numerous studies that show that the independence of many accounting firms is still not what it should be, despite the new rules imposed in 2002 by Sarbanes-Oxley.

Why do you care? Because 'Sarbox' rules ultimately flowed down to many in the nonprofit world, as evidenced by California's Nonprofit Integrity Act of 2004 and similar laws in other states. And because auditor independence is still an issue for those serving the nonprofit community, just as it is for public company auditors. So if you've had the same audit firm for 5 or 10 years because you like them and because they know you, you can appreciate how that sometimes leads to audit reports that may be more favorable than they might be if a new firm was doing the audit.

What action should you take? So, for now, be aware of the possibility. If you have political figures among your supporters, you might look for the opportunity to let them know how you feel. Better sooner than later, as they say.

And if you have not yet formed an audit committee of your board, consider doing it NOW.

As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.

 

Want to hear that interview with Jim Blasingame on accounts receivable management? Twenty minutes or so in length, as Jim and I share views on a fundamental concept of business financial management. Here's the direct link - following some wonderful lead in music from the 60s:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://smallbusiness.forbes.com/small-business-interviews/gene-siciliano-10876/popup&ct=ga&cad=CAcQAhgAIAEoBDAAOABAlezh8QRIAVgAYgJlbg&cd=pQkUpB-zrsE&usg=AFQjCNEGmxdcLSzCtFcf6YUAKSvm6Un_ew

Cash management: Accounts Receivable metrics for sm(all) businesses

I'll be featured on Jim Blasingame's morning (Internet) radio show this coming Monday. Subject: "How Healthy Are Your Accounts Receivable?" The show airs at 8:30 ET, 5:30 PT, but can be heard later by going to the Small Business Advocate archives at http://www.smallbusinessadvocate.com/show .

Hackers Shift Attacks to Small Firms!

That's the headline in a Wall Street Journal article this past Thursday. The Journal went on to say:

"Hackers are expanding their sites beyond multinationals to include any business that stores data in electronic form. Small companies, which are making the leap to computerized systems and digital records, have now become hackers' main target....In 2010 (the government) responded to a combined 761 data breaches, up from 141 in 2009. Of those, 482 or 63% were at companies with 100 employees or fewer."

Local security experts have been raising the red flag for several years now, but the message is often poorly received because of the cost of beefed up digital security, often seen as unproductive overhead during a challenging economic recovery. It's like fire insurance -- the only thing more expensive than paying the premiums is the cost of a loss not covered by insurance.

This profit protection tip is brought to you by Your CFO for Rent.

As always, your comments and feedback are welcome.

Fund raising Q&A: Collecting on Pledges

Q: What is an acceptable ratio of pledges paid to pledges promised?              

A: The only good answer is: better than last year. There is no rule of thumb here, because the right metric depends on your history, your donor base, how passionate they are about your mission, and more.

If you know an agency that has a similar size and mission to yours, and they’re on better financial ground than you are, you might take their metric as a benchmark to shoot for. But lacking that, just get better every year and make sure the people who ask for donations get some training, and you’ll be headed in the right direction.

As always, I welcome your feedback and comments.