Category: Blog

Chart of Personal Saving Rate from January 1959 to June 2020

Personal saving is equal to personal income less personal outlays and personal taxes; or can be viewed as the portion of personal income that is used either to provide funds to capital markets or to invest in real assets such as residences. Personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income (DPI), frequently referred to…
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Evaluating and Operationalizing Short-Term Decisions Made in a Crisis that Have Long Term Benefits

In the past six months, businesses have been making numerous short-term decisions that can have long term operational benefits.  The key is to evaluate and operationalize these short-term decisions to provide long term benefits to the business operations. The fact is that almost all businesses during the past six months have been forced to do…
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Chart of Retail Beer, Wine and Liquor Store Sales for January 2000 to April 2020

As states and cities across the U.S. started locking down during the COVID-19 response retail alcohol sales spiked. It appears that alcohol consumption shifted from bars and restaurants to drinking at home.

Eight Essential Elements of an Exit Strategy for Business Owners

By Daniel R. Siburg, CPA, CVA and Stephen E. Koons, CPA/ABV/CFF, ASA All business owners will need to transition their businesses to new owners at some point in time. The new owners could be business partners or family members, and transactions range from management buy-outs to outright sales of the businesses on the open market.…
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Chart of Household Debt Compared to Corporate Debt from January 1990 to January 2020

This chart shows household debt and corporate debt as a percentage of GDP. Households take on debt for various reasons, such as, purchasing a house, buying a car and paying for education.  Corporations take on debt for various reasons too, such as, capital improvement, stock buy backs and to build up seasonal inventory.  Household debt…
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A Simple Way to Get Reacquainted with the Business

Recently, I have been having conversations with clients on how they need to get back in touch with what is going on with and in their business.  Below is a simple methodology on how to get back in touch. Sign all the checks the business issues! Yes, it is that simple.  Sign the business’s checks…
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Weekly Economic Index (Lewis-Mertens-Stock) May 2008 to May 2020

The WEI is an index of real economic activity using timely and relevant high-frequency data. It represents the common component of ten different daily and weekly series covering consumer behavior, the labor market, and production. The WEI is a composite of 10 weekly economic indicators: Redbook same-store sales, Rasmussen Consumer Index, new claims for unemployment…
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Strategies for Budgeting and Forecasting Due to Extraordinary Events

At any point in time during a year a business may need to revise their annual budget or forecasting models and processes. The Differences Between Budgeting and Forecasting Budgeting is a planning process that is done on an annual basis to help the executive management team define what they want the business to achieve during…
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Map of Commercial Banks by State as of Q4 2019

A commercial bank is where most people do their banking.  Commercial banks are financial institutions, which include depository trust companies, credit card companies with commercial bank charters, private banks, development banks, limited charter banks, and foreign banks.  A commercial bank accepts deposits, offers checking account services, makes various loans, and offers basic financial products like…
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Avoiding a Liquidity Crisis from Becoming a Solvency Problem

Any size and type of business can have a liquidity crisis. Liquidity can be defined as the ability of a business to pay their current financial obligations, which requires converting assets, such as, accounts receivable, inventory or services provided into cash as quickly as possible.  Cash is the most liquid of all assets and is…
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