Category: Business Strategies and Planning

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…
Read more

Chart of Federal Minimum Wage Rate Compared to the State Minimum Wage Rate

The first minimum wage rate was established in the United States with The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the initial minimum wage was $0.25 cents per hour.  This chart shows Federal minimum wage from 1968, which was $1.60 per hour, to January 1, 2019 where the Federal minimum wage is now $7.25 per…
Read more

Budgeting: Is it Worth the Time and Effort? Do You Need a Map for a Road Trip?

Budgeting:  Is it worth the time and effort?  Simply stated – businesses should be budgeting for annual business plans, special projects, capital equipment purchases, new product development and more. Businesses that fail to budget have no defined plan to project growth, manage and judge the performance of the business.  Lack of any kind of budgeting…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

Cash is King of the Balance Sheet

By Daniel R. Siburg, CPA, CVA and Howard W. Fisher Every business owner or manager knows that to pay the bills, make payroll, or buy capital equipment, the company needs cash. The issue for business owners and managers is to manage the cash resource applications in mind and especially during cash flow shortfalls. Why Cash…
Read more

Make More Profit by Managing Gross Margin

By Daniel R. Siburg, CPA, CVA and Howard W. Fisher The difference between a company’s net sales and the related cost of goods sold is gross margin. Gross margin is represented as both a number and a percent. Understanding the differences and relationships between the gross margin as a number and a percent is paramount…
Read more

Proprietary Product Lines and Their Benefits to Distributors

By Daniel R. Siburg, CPA, CVA and William E. Siburg, CPIM Distributors Build Brand Awareness for Manufacturers Distribution can be defined as the marketing and merchandising of another company’s products.  Manufacturers consider distribution to be a key component of their marketing and sales strategies because distributors help create brand awareness through the sale of manufacturers’…
Read more

How Acquisitions Succeed

By Daniel R. Siburg, CPA, CVA and Howard W. Fisher A company that plans its acquisitions strategy in advance of a transaction will greatly improve its likelihood of executing a successful acquisition. A well thought out acquisition process helps a company to focus on establishing a plan and achieving the goal of acquiring the right…
Read more

Are National Trade Shows a Good Use of Marketing Dollars?

By Daniel R. Siburg, CPA, CVA For smaller companies, national trade shows are very expensive and can be the largest use of some companies’ marketing dollars. Look at all of the costs associated with trade shows from the booth, to prepaying for exhibit space, all the shipping costs to get trade show items there and…
Read more