iCFO Financial Benchmarking and Modeling
Numerous companies purport to sell financial advisory services to small and medium sized businesses by using a “performance review” as the proverbial “foot in the door” to sell additional often non-related services. Often these are low-cost or no-cost offerings and are worth what is paid: they offer little that is useful and actionable, the methodologies are suspect, and there is no experience initiating and monitoring a follow-up plan, nor is there a desire to do so. A business owner’s clear understanding of benchmark methodology and classic fallacies will assist not just in saving some money, but also in saving much wasted time providing information and interviews and receiving non-useful non-actionable information.
Practical benchmarking, business financial modeling, monthly variance reporting, and department management accountability is the only lifecycle methodology that ensures a complete feedback loop for company profitability and employee accountability. Proper implementation and on-going utilization can significantly assist owners and senior managers in identifying successful growth strategies that positively affect the bottom line, even in hyper-growth or turnaround situations. Utilizing the company’s own accounting system and some simple customized Excel tools can provide a roadmap to what success looks like and a rapid feedback mechanism to alert everyone when an element of the business requires immediate attention.
For more details on these methods, their implementation, and the feedback loop created, please download the White Paper.
