Category: Articles

Chart of Student Loans Owned, Securitized and Outstanding

The following chart shows the growth in student loans between January 2006 to October 2018 in billions of dollars.  In January 2006 there was 480.97 billion dollars and in October 2018 there was 1,569.35 billion dollars of student loans owned, securitized and outstanding.  This is a 1,088.38 billion dollar or just over a trillion dollar…
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Why the Balance Sheet is so Important to the Business

Listen to an executive that knows their business and they will tell you about the health of the business’s Balance Sheet, because they know that it is the Balance Sheet that will make or break their business (literally). Why is the Balance Sheet so important?  The Balance Sheet shows executives, lenders and investors about the…
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Chart of Price per Gallon of Regular Gasoline and Breakdown of Costs Related to a Gallon of Regular Gasoline

The following chart shows the national average cost of a gallon of gasoline since August 1990 to present.  An interesting point related to the cost of a gallon of gasoline is that the price increases during the summer driving season and during recessionary periods (recessions are denoted by the shaded gray bars on the chart…
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Increase Revenue or Profitability?

Executives often talk about the business’s revenue growth, but fail to focus on the profitability of the business.  Over time there have been many businesses that have grown themselves right out of business by just focusing on revenue growth. Revenue growth is a wonderful thing for any business, but revenue growth at the sacrifice of…
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Chart of 15-Year Mortgage Fixed Rate vs. 30-Year Mortgage Fixed Rate

Thirty-year fixed rate mortgage interest rates are higher due to the simple fact that the loan is riskier for lending institutions.  In addition, the borrower may be considered to be a higher credit risk, due to low credit ratings and/or low-down payments and incurring higher fees, such as, mortgage insurance premiums.  Fifteen-year fixed rate mortgages…
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How Quickly Can You Deleverage the Business

The economy is in flux, interest rates have increased over the past year and lenders are starting to be less flexible on their loan covenants.  Business executives need to be completely aware of their business’s financial condition, especially how leveraged the balance sheet is and loan covenants that relate to the debt on the balance…
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Budget – Even If It’s on the Back of a Napkin

by Daniel R. Siburg, CPA, CVA A budget on the back of a napkin is better than no budget at all.  Even the simplest of budgets will make management think about the coming year’s future direction and performance goals for the business. Budgeting Helps the Business Look Forward to the Coming Year Budgeting is important…
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5 Items for a Company to Consider for the Economic Turnaround

by Daniel R. Siburg, CPA, CVA and Howard W. Fisher Every company, small or large, needs to have a strategic plan outlining their business’s efforts for the economic turnaround.  During the coming period of economic growth, every company should have a defined set of goals to reach and indicators to watch as the economy starts…
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A Publisher’s Cash Management Plan – Part 5 – Risk Management

By Daniel R. Siburg, CPA, CVA & Howard W. Fisher This is the final installment of the Publisher’s Cash Management Plan series that began in October 2002 with “Managing Your Cash Flow” and continued in succeeding months with “Managing Your Accounts Receivable,” “Bridging the Cash Gap with Asset-Based Lending,” and “Managing Your Inventory.” Publishers, like…
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A Publisher’s Cash Management Plan – Part 4 -Managing Your Inventory

By Daniel R. Siburg, CPA, CVA & Howard W. Fisher Inventory management is critical to keeping your publishing business operating smoothly and your customers happy. Inventory is usually one of a publisher’s two largest assets, the other being accounts receivable. Every company needs to manage all aspects of their inventory—from what titles and quantities to…
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