How to Become a Successful Company: 3 Tips for Managing the Startup Phase

/0 Comments/in /by

For any new business getting through the startup phase can be intimidating. It’s estimated that almost 90% of new companies fail with most companies making similar mistakes and lacking the information and team they need to sail past the startup phase and enter into the growth stage. The faster a new company makes it to the growth stage the better their odds of survival become.  How does a company make it through the startup phase successfully? Through partnering with people/companies that have expertise in helping companies get off the ground, investing in long term goals not just short-term solutions, and evolving as the company develops.

Partnering with the right mentors:

One of the biggest mistakes a new startup makes is not looking externally for partners that can guide them through the startup process. Partnering with a strategic business partner can give you inside knowledge into what has been successful for other companies in your industry, how to take a deep look at your finances as you begin to make money, where to invest in the future, and how to build your brand. Many companies that don’t reach out for advisement often react to late or completely miss what is happening in their business ultimately leading to their demise.

Look for a partner that has helped similar companies or companies within the same industry. This way they will completely understand the challenges you face, and how to make your company competitive.

Investing in the long-term:

Being short-sighted is something startup companies face without evening knowing they are up against it. Owners, startup executive boards are often focused on reacting to day-to-day challenges and crisis therefore they are only spending money on what they have to get by. However, those companies that have a partner by their side to help pull their eyes up to what’s happening one year, five years down the road. How are you investing in technology, sales, marketing to ensure you make it not only to the growth stage but past it?

Evolution of your company:

Many startups make the mistake of trying to make their idea or product work for their customers they don’t allow for the business to evolve. Evolution is key to not going out of business. Consumers and markets are constantly changing therefore companies should always be looking at how they can react to changes and improve their business practices.

Find out how rinehimerbaker can be the right partner to help create strategic growth for your company.


ERP Solution Overview

Setting Yourself Up For A Successful Investment Round Or Sale Web Series

/0 Comments/in , /by

At rinehimerbaker, our goal is to help companies meet and exceed their financial growth goals including having a successful investment round or sale. Having your financials wrapped up in a bow for prospective investment companies can ensure a sale is completed in your benefit. But how do you get your financials ready? Watch our three-part web series to find out our top tricks and tips or contact our team now to have a customized meeting related directly to your companies needs.

Fill out the form below to access the 3-part web series.

 


manage your remote team

Best Practices for Managing Your Finance Team Remotely

/0 Comments/in /by

In 2020 more and more companies are offering remote work options for their employees especially under changing circumstances. However, if you haven’t managed a remote team before it can be a daunting task. Below are our top four tips to help you regroup and get your team on track.

Technology

Before you can offer your team the ability to work remotely or from home on a part-time basis you have to have the right technology in place. Cloud-based solutions give your employees the ability to access all of the information they need to get their job done as well as keep the rest of the company up-to-date. Cloud-based solutions are more flexible and easier to administer compared to VPNs and access to on-premise solutions.

Clear Direction and Expectations

When you aren’t in the same place as your employees it can be challenging to ensure you’re all communicating exactly what needs to be completed. How can you keep the lines of communication open?

First outline exactly what you want to be completed and think about what questions you would have if you were given the same assignment or project. Ensure you make time to go through the goals and objectives and let your team ask questions prior to starting their tasks. Give reasonable timelines for projects and offer touchpoints throughout to ensure everyone remains on the same page.

At the end of a project or task have a check-in to see what worked, what was helpful, and what could have been better. Clear communication is key.

Schedule Pulse Checks

Since your employees are working from home or an outside office they are often left to their own devices to ensure they are completing their job. Scheduling regular check-ins to discuss everything going on with their projects, daily tasks, challenges, and take note of what’s going on in their personal life. The more you communicate with each remote team member the better you will understand their workload, where they excel, and what they need from you.

Offer Flexibility

Part of working remotely is having the ability to work at a pace that is best for you. From a manager’s perspective focusing on accomplished tasks vs. hours is key to being a success in these new roles. It also gives your team the ability to take care of their personal life the way they need to which in turns means when they work they will be 100% focused on the tasks your company needs to be completed.

While managing a remote team may be a new concept for some companies, it can be one that is extremely productive with the right steps taken.

 


time poor

Managing Your Business When You are Time Poor

/0 Comments/in /by

One of the main constraints owners face is the fact that there is only 24 hours in a day. The needs of a successful business can take up more than 24 hours in any given day rendering them time poor. Below are top tips for managing your business when you are running out of steam daily to help reorganize your company’s structure.  

 

Expand Your Team- 

 Having the right internal and external team can help balance the hours in a day. While your company is in the growth stage the balance between hiring your own key staff members and using outsourced companies is important to redistributing the work load. Startup and growing companies alike should focus their hiring efforts on employees who are involved with the product or service creation and delivery. This will allow the business to stay focused on what they do best and not get weighed down by day to day support tasks. Owners should look to outsource support services such as social media management and accounting.  Creating a balance between internal/external teams helps you redistribute tasks, maintain efficiency,  while minimizing your total costs.  

 

Have a Clear Vision for Each Day: 

 Before beginning each workday take the time to have clear priorities on what needs to be accomplished. Your business priorities should not only be set for you but for your internal team and external partners. The next step is to recognize any distractions that need to be handled before starting your daily tasks. This can include any fires that need to be put out or personal items that need completion so they don’t distract you the rest of the day.  Create weekly check-ins with all of your internal team members and bi-weekly check-ins with your external teams. This will help you stay on top of what is happening and able to change focuses as your business changes.  

 Another way to manage your day to day work is to set up calendar blocking allowing you to focus on each aspect of your business uninterrupted. This is the practice is separating out chunks of time each week to focus on specific tasks or portions of your business. You can set aside Monday mornings for marketing, Friday afternoon for employee checks, etc. This practice helps you focus on and complete tasks in a more efficient way.  

Redefining how you manage your 24 hours a day through internal and external resources can be the difference in creating dynamic growth.

 


How Hospitality Survives in 2020

/0 Comments/in /by

These are completely unprecedented times and with stay-at-home orders across the nation, hospitality companies are facing new challenges to stay relevant. The overall hospitality industry has taken a huge hit in business and is facing sales that aren’t enough to cover their fixed costs. With that in mind, hospitality companies’ goals for the next six months focus on maximizing profit margins for delivery, take out, new programs that can be mailed out, and virtual programs. Many of these offerings can be completely new to the business making it a significant challenge. Given this, what are a few ways to meet this challenge and bring customers back to your business?

Offering Discounts:

Many of your customers are stuck at home therefore you aren’t losing them to a competitor but rather to no decision or rather lack of opportunity. With that in mind, offering a discount will encourage your customers to call in order even if they aren’t able to eat at your restaurant. With many people out of jobs, or on limited hours a discount could also put your business back into their budget.

New Offering for Stay-at-Home Customers:

Hospitality companies that relied on their customers to be able to come into their place of business such as gyms, or breweries are looking for ways to still engage and be relevant. The big question here is what can you offer to customers virtually? For example, a Pure Barre studio could offer classes virtually- allowing them to still collect their monthly memberships and help customers remain connected. Breweries can offer a drive-through option where customers can still pick up their weekly drink of choice. Local boutiques can offer delivery within a certain radius of their store with virtual shopping appointments.

New Services at Lower Prices:

The economic landscape has drastically changed in the past month leaving many households with a more limited budget for fun or extras. Hospitality has always been in the extra category, therefore, taking a look at what your previous cost as per customer and where ideally you think your customer could afford to be is a huge factor in surviving. Restaurants alone can offer new to-go options that are more cost-effective on their end for ingredients, and eliminate actually cooking them by offering ready to cook options. These options could be family-style and slightly lower than their typical menu. For hotels offering a post-pandemic package that includes a resort credit or is a slashed room rate can entice customers to return later this year even if they won’t have the same travel budget.

The overall key for hospitality companies to survive and thrive is to look at ways they can reinvent themselves to match the new landscape.

At rinehimerbaker, we provide leading cloud-based technology packages as well as best-in-class outsourced accounting to hospitality companies. If you are struggling to keep up with your business from home reach out to our team to see how we can help you change the dynamic and put you back on top.

 


accounting system

Why Your Accounting System Needs an Upgrade

/0 Comments/in /by

{ FREE WEBINAR} Do you experience hours of manual work with exports, rekeying, and workarounds every month? Just because you’re in a growing organization that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with an old accounting system. If you experience consolidations that take days, or EOM closings that take half the month it’s time to consider what your options are to upgrade your accounting system.

 

This webinar is for any company that feels the pain points of a system that doesn’t fit all their needs and they’ve hit the solution’s ceiling. The host will hit the top five key pain points that we see many of our clients facing once they’ve outgrown their system. Take the time to listen in, and see how many you identify with. Then contact our team to see how we can create a best-in-class solution based on your specific needs that won’t hit a ceiling in the future. 

 

rinehimerbaker works directly with Sage Intacct because of the solutions ability to eliminate many issues growing companies face internally. Sage Intacct offers growing companies the ability to scale with their growth and cut their monthly close process in half. Cloud-based ERP solutions are offering companies the ability to work remotely, access to real-time data, and reports within minutes. 

 

 

Join Jack Sweeney, host of “CFO Thought Leader” and 2 leading Finance Executives to learn:

  • ·       5 specific signals that your system is holding you back
  • ·       Key steps to consider to make a change, and ensure an impact
  • ·       What they did to reduce accounts payable processing costs by 90%

 

 

Sign up now to reserve your spot during the webinar or to ensure that you receive a copy of the recording if you can’t make it. 

 

Contact rinehimerbaker today to make your move to the cloud.

 


Using a Slow in Business to Your Advantage

/0 Comments/in /by

Businesses have stagnant periods throughout their longevity that sometimes are caused by actions that are out of their control such as large customers going out of business, changes in the supply chain, or pandemics.

Currently, the world is facing a business slow due to COVID-19 that companies haven’t experienced before. Employees are quarantined, customers are shutting down for extended periods, and states are calling for mandatory shut-downs. While many executives see this time as a negative to their bottom line there is a silver lining- It’s a time to complete improvement projects that will allow your organization to come out stronger. We have pulled together three ways executive teams can maximize a slow-down.

• Accessing current processes and how they can be improved
Many times executives are faced with needing to automated and improve processes but they lack the time to get these projects completed efficiently. With the inability to travel, and the reduction of travel time from everyone’s day there is more time to look into how to upgrade technology and eliminate manual work. Where should a company start? First look at the processes or business tasks that currently can’t be done remotely. Is there a solution that would allow team members to executive this at home? If so, set up a demo and evaluate the pros and cons of implementing it now. Secondly, take time to follow up on current best practices for HR, finance, sales, and marketing. Is there anything your team has tabled for the year that would be a benefit if you took the slow time now to evaluate? Any improvements that can help with a remote team will only increase your overall strategic power once COVID-19 is controlled.

• Elevating Your Customer Experience
This is a great time to check in with your customers and find out how they are doing during this economic crisis. It’s also a great time to send out a survey through your preferred platform on how they enjoy working with your company. It’s a great time to find out what your team does well, and where opportunities lie to improve.

• Education
Many companies are offering FREE webinars, web series, and information daily to provide thought leadership and helpful advice. Take advantage of these opportunities and use them for the above two bullet points. Rarely in the day to day operations do we have time to work on improving our business

Not just focusing on the bad during the time, but the ways you can improve your own business, and provide value to your customers. At rinehimerbaker, we can help you evaluate your current finance processes and technology package. Contact our team through the form below to get started today.


ready for COVID

Are Your Finances Ready for COVID?

/0 Comments/in /by

The coronavirus has created anxiety around the globe leaving companies in a vulnerable position with their staff – how do we continue to operate, while keeping our employees’ and the public’s health a priority? Furthermore, how do we do prioritize human health while staying ahead of a potential economic crisis?

Companies that are not on the cloud are currently experiencing not only a loss in workforce availability, but limited capabilities to function due to the lack of access to their data, workflows, and more. These businesses are facing harder financial losses than those that can continue to operate with team members in quarantine.

The companies still thriving are able to do so because they have the ability to continue day-to-day operations remotely because their employees can be anywhere and still access critical company data. Cloud ERP solutions such as Sage Intacct allow companies to not only maintain the status quo through a world-crisis without limiting the work that can be done but also gives them an edge in attracting and retaining high performing employees without geographic restrictions.

The cloud provides a secure way to keep businesses going when worker mobility is limited, plus positions finance departments for success in the future by providing room for more flexible working arrangements.

 

Anywhere, Anytime Benefits of the Cloud:

 

  • Workers can be productive wherever there is an internet connection
  • Additional flexibility helps attract and retain top talent
  • Increased collaboration and version control with real-time data

 

While bracing for the worst of the coronavirus spread, we encourage you to take the time to evaluate how your company can continue to operate efficiently while keeping your staff safe. If you aren’t on the cloud, now is the time to change to ensure your business won’t skip a beat when uncertainty clouds the future.

Contact our team now to start your move to the cloud. 

 


Does Your Accounting System Make the Grade?

/0 Comments/in /by

Your accounting system can make or break a finance department’s strategic impact on your company’s growth. If you find yourself having to put in hours of manual work, lacking insight into your business, and an inability to grow your company because of your accounting system it is time to consider if it’s making the grade. Read through our list of what your accounting solution should provide.

What You Should be Looking For in Your Current and Future System:

  • Accurate Bookkeeping- Overall an accounting solution allows businesses to keep track of financial transactions. This includes being able to create income statements, balance sheets, cash-flow statements, and custom reports all without human error. Being able to eliminate errors ensures that decisions for expansion are made on accurate information.
  • Scalability- The accounting system your company uses should have the ability to grow as sales increase. As your business expands through new locations, product lines, expansion into new countries, or additional customers your system should be able to easily add these into its system. Look at your current system if you added a new location to your company how long will it take for your accounting solution to add it? Hours or days? Is there a cap on how many can be added in total or is it unlimited? How easy is it to add a finance employee to your system? If your system is limited in its capabilities to expand then it’s not making the grade.
  • Ease of Use- Having a system that is user-friendly is key to maximizing the insight a finance department can produce quickly. This also allows you to focus on potential employees’ capabilities from a strategic point of view vs. their pre-knowledge of how to use your accounting system.
  • Audit Features- An audit can be an intimidating part of the year if your finances aren’t organized. An accounting system that allows you to add notes to any manual changes that are made as well as a drill-down ability makes it easy to get by with flying colors.
  • Cloud-Based/ Web-Hosted- In the current technology impacted times not being able to access your financial data anywhere anytime will instantly put you behind your competition. Does your current system allow you to have team members spread out across the country? Can you log in at any point in time to access a report?
  • Time Saving Automation- When companies implement new technology one of the biggest benefits they are looking to achieve is time savings. Your accounting system should be working for you. Reports should be instantly produced based on settings that have been saved. Your system should also have the ability to seamlessly integrate with your other software solutions such as your CRM. If your business changes how long does it take to get a new report from accounting?

Does your current accounting system do all of the above? Does it make the grade?

Find out how rinehimerbaker can help your company get results through the cloud by reaching out to accounting@rinehimerbaker.com.

 


Sage Intacct release 1

Sage Intacct Release 1 Updates

/0 Comments/in /by

Sage Intacct’s first update of 2020 has been released for February 21st. This release will include changes to inventory control, purchasing, contracts, and web services. Each update is described below.

Inventory Control:

For inventory control, the newest update is linked to inventory adjustments. Users are now able to create inventory value-only adjustments for specific source transaction lines. Sage Intacct’s instructions for how to use this new feature are as follows “To create a value-only inventory adjustment, create a new inventory transaction and provide the source transaction line you want to adjust. Only purchasing and inventory control transactions with a value-only inventory effect can be adjusted.”

Purchasing:

For Purchasing the newest update is purchasing transaction allocations. Users now have the ability to use transaction allocations to automatically distribute amounts for non-inventory purchasing transaction lines. This can be distributed among multiple dimensions.  This feature only applies to purchase transactions that post to the accounts payable subledger.

Contracts:

For contracts, the newest update is centered around draft contract state. The update allows users to save a contract, contract line, or expense line as a draft without it affecting the general ledger or the contracts subledger. The data can be published by any users who have access once its ready.

Web Services:

For web services, the update includes a new query function. The query update will support more robust complex query statements using a XML-based syntax.

 

To find out more about click here to read the official report from Sage Intacct.