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The Top 3 Take Aways From Advantage 2020 for a CFO

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Sage Intacct hosts a spectacular conference every October that provides top trends, new technology, and guidance for the financial teams throughout the world. This year’s virtual conference brought new Sage products, and ways for CFO’s to take charge and lead as the world around them continues to change. Below are the top three take-aways for CFO’s in any industry.

 

1) The Evolution of the CFO

 

The CFO role has changed in the past decade as technology has evolved. The CFO is no longer just the historical record keeper or information protector but rather the data enabler, or strategic business partner. The change has come from technology being able to provide accurate real-time data allowing the CFO to transition from trying to sort the data to analyze what the data means for the company and how to use it for their advantage.

 

Nowadays a great financial leader can be a peer collaborator and bring real data to back initiatives. They have more of an operator mindset and help the CEO plan for the future with their forecast. They can drive strategical planning through multiple scenarios to allow for better decision making. They are also a technology evangelist because technology is what is helping take the manual work away from them and their team to allow them to be more business influencers.

 

Overall CFO’s today are just as important to a company’s success as the CEO because they are the ones with all the data at their fingertips.

 

2) Using Technology to Drive Change in Your Organization

 

Building on the concept that a CFO should be a technology evangelist is that CFO should be using and implementing the newest technology to drive change in your organization.

 

Technology is eliminating hours of manual work, the use of old data for decisions, and the back and forth between departments for payroll, insurance, sales, etc. The financial leaders embracing technology are the ones that are creating a profit or growth within their company. They are allowing the senior management team to work on new data, focus on initiatives vs. managing the manual processes.

 

What did the CFO’s say they were able to do better through technology now? Track labor costs manage their pipeline, people management, have on-demand insight, and be a forward-thinker. Embracing technology allows the CFO to deliver what the CEO/owners/investors/board needs in a timely fashion.

 

3) Seeking Ways to Continue to Learn

 

2020 has brought upon a crisis that has forced CFO’s to go outside of their comfort zone. This created a cross-learning opportunity for financial leaders to work with companies larger than themselves, to meet with other leading industry experts ultimately resulting in new and exciting ways to operate. As business is starting to return to normal in most areas the thought is to not go back to the previous bubble but rather continue to learn from one another to strengthen your knowledge base. Step outside your comfort zone to learn from colleagues, stakeholders, clients, and other industry financial leaders and collaborate.

 

 

Adapting in 2020 for company leaders can be the difference between growth and standing still.

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Advantage 2020

Why You Should Attend Sage Intacct’s Advantage 2020 Conference

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2020 has brought upon cancelations, decreased opportunities, and a lack of interactions. From a business perspective its less interaction with vendors, and customers. It less learning opportunities at conferences, lunch and learns, and networking events. This can be overwhelming and seem to halt your business’ forward movement. However, Sage Intacct has taken this opportunity to provide a virtual connection by turning the Advantage 2020 Conference into a virtual event. So why should you log in for the two-day event?

 

Virtual-

 

It’s virtual, therefore you can remain safe from your office or home while still having the ability to learn about best-in-class practices, new marketplace partners, and more. Plus, who doesn’t want to stay in their pajamas for a conference??

 

Another bonus of it being virtual is the lower price tag. Your entire team can attend this year for only $79 a person. This is great for new team members, entry-level positions, and those outside the financial team.

 

The sessions will be available for an additional 30 days after the conference in case there are multiple sessions at a time you want to watch. It also allows you to engage in the session and go back for notes afterward.

 

Connect-

 

Since this year has taken away so many of the “normal” opportunities to connect with others in your industry take this opportunity to virtual meet and greet others on the same journey as you, those in similar industries, and others that can provide guidance on what they are doing to keep their financial team moving forward.  Get inspired by new connections!

 

 

Finding out what’s new-

 

Advantage 2020 has always been a leading conference in the ERP world. Take this opportunity to learn about product innovations, industry insight, and best practices from top professionals. You will also have the ability to schedule private meetings with the experts to get your product questions answered.

 

Sign up today to reserve your spot and start planning your schedule. Don’t miss out on Sage Intacct’s Advantage 2020.

Outsourced CFO

The Top 3 Reasons To Hire A Fractional CFO

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Successful CFOs can bring an extensive amount of knowledge, experience, and expertise to a company’s financial health with the added benefit that they also cost the company a fraction of the cost. A Fractional CFO is a great way for a company to have access to dynamic CFO on their own terms. Wondering what is makes this the better move for small to medium-sized businesses? How about professional experience at a fraction of the cost, robust strategic planning for growth, and an expanded network to help get you to your goals

Professional Experience at a Fraction of the Cost

An outsourced CFO provides Fortune 500 guidance in-process structure, reliable financial statements, compliance, and company direction. The professional competency a CFO brings to a company is the basis for expansion and dynamic growth. They have unique outlooks and business competency from working with multiple different types of businesses. Since they have multiple companies at once or within a short period of time that have a unique perspective on how to handle different situations that may arise.

Outsourced CFO’s typically have years of experience at top accounting firms, and/or fortune 500 companies. At rinehimerbaker our team has over 115 years of combined accounting experience in helping companies save hundreds of hours, expand into new locations, and save hundreds of thousands annually. When looking for a Fractional CFO or firm looking into the industries and years of experience ware immensely important in finding the right guidance.

While typically this type of expertise can cost a company 6 to 7 figures annually on top of an executive benefits program that’s not the case with a fractional CFO.

Strategic Planning

Every company plans for the future. An executive finance leader is an important part of this process as they oversee ensuring that strategical development is robust and profitable. Their unique perspective due to the nature of their work brings invaluable insight and perspective. Working with multiple companies at the same time allows a fractional CFO to swiftly think on their toes and use innovative ideas for different industries. A CFO by nature will guide the owner or CEO to create achievable growth plans. This is invaluable to a company and its success.

Expanded Network

One benefit that isn’t typically thought of when considering an in-house CFO vs. fractional CFO is their network of connections. With the nature of fractional CFO’s days, they are constantly expanding their reach with partners, connections, and knowledge of additional resources. An in-house CFO will only have exposure to groups and connections that are active within the company’s industry.

Reducing your overall cost, robust strategical planning, and an expanded network are the top three reasons why working with a fractional CFO should be a top priority for all small to medium-sized businesses.

Contact our team today to get started on the journey with the right partner.


How to Scenario Plan for Your Business

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Scenario planning for your business can make or break your long-term plans when adding in new products, services, or dealing with unforeseen business changes. Scenario planning or thinking is a strategical planning method that lets organizations have flexibility when making long-term plans. This results in multiple outcomes that could possibly happen based on different factors within the business and external world. Ultimately giving the company an advantage when looking to the future.

 

But how do you scenario plan?

 

There is a well-known 7 steps to Scenario planning which are:

 

1.Focal Issues- The first step is scenario planning is to discover what focal issue or issues a company will have in the short term and long term. This could be implementing new technology, adding a new product, expanding to a new region, or even a more open-ended issue.

 

2.Key Factors-Step two is ranked as the second most important step (behind discovering your focal issue) as it helps a company to understand everything that could affect their long-term goals. Most companies get to a list of 30 to 40 internal factors that could disrupt their focus remaining on their set focal issue. Once they are identified they can be addressed beforehand to ensure they don’t disrupt the process or they can show a business that they aren’t ready to move forward on an issue until other factors have been modified.

 

3.External Forces- Identifying external factors can be slightly daunting but it’s key to ensuring it’s the right time to move forward. These external forces can be economic factors, social factors, or geographical factors that are often left out of the original plan.

 

4.Critcial Uncertainties- Once factors that can be identified have been compiled it’s time to move to those that can’t be planned. This step doesn’t apply to every scenario, but a good example is the rise and fall of gas prices. This can’t be mapped out for the long-term since it’s constantly changing.

 

5.Scenerio Logics- This step is crucial before actually running your scenarios. Businesses have to take a hard look at all the factors they compiled and select the top few that might actual create a larger impact on their scenario.

 

6.Scenerios- Once the factors have been condensed, it’s time to run through many different scenarios to see what the outcome is for your company in the short-term and long-term. Did you see a profit or decrease? Did the scenario go off without a hitch? What obstacles did you still run into? All these questions will be critical before deciding to move forward.

 

7.Implications and Options- Putting together your final business proposal is the last step in scenario planning. The results from the planning or thinking that has been done come to the executive team for a final decision before moving forward.

 

Ultimately, scenario planning can be a huge time and money saver for companies who are looking to plan long-term.

 

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


unprecedented times

How to Plan in Unprecedented Times

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Businesses creating their 2020 forecast and budget may have thought they planned for everything that could happen however none of them planned for a pandemic that would shut down the entire world for months. Suddenly, everyone was pivoting their business plan to accommodate the stay-at-home orders, and still connect with their customers. For those that were completely shut down, they spun their wheels on how they would enforce new safety guidelines upon reopening to prevent having to close again. However, the main challenge for every business was how would they keep their cash flow going to stay open. A very different goal than they had in January. So how are they now looking at their finances to replan for 2020?

Forecasting and Continue to Forecast

As businesses develop new plans, new services, and new budgets a new forecast is also needed to ensure strong execution. Keep a rolling forecast with an accurate budget and adjusting as cash flow and financial projections shift. Being fluid with your forecast allows for quick reactions and changes to the market.

Adjust

Businesses cannot operate the way they did at the beginning of 2020 due to new safety standards. This creates openings in the market for new and innovative products or services to reach your current and prospective customers. For some this may mean making their service available for an at-home experience, for retail it means creating online shopping experiences, and for others it means adapting. With this in mind running scenario analyses can help you decide which changes to your business will be profitable.

Monitor Your Cash Flow

Cash is king currently. By monitoring your cash regularly you can ensure there is enough for upcoming bills, and purchases. You will also have the insight early to see if you need to speak to your landlord about splitting the rent into two payments that month, or if you need to pull back on any upcoming purchases to keep cash within the company.

Planning in 2020 will help you not only survive but thrive.

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


CFO

How Your CFO is Leading the Charge in Change

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As the digital age continues to shift how companies operate, the responsibilities of the CFO are extremely vital to the pulse of the company. The amount of data that the CFO is responsible for producing and interrupting in real-time is vast and makes the difference between growth and being stagnetic.

 

CFO’s are not only in charge of making sure that the books are correct for tax purposes but providing clear data on where the business current financials are in real-time. CFOs are able to provide better insight into inventory, location by location profit and loss statements, vendor costs, employee costs, and more because of the technology they are implementing not only in the finance department but across the company. CFO’s are making the room in the annual budget to upgrade every department from HR to sales to accounting to cloud-based solutions that offer open APIs. This allows for information to seamlessly travel between systems automatically. This is eliminating human error and giving CFOs better insight into exactly what is the cause of each result. This alone is saving companies up to 75% of the time it currently takes to check the accuracy of their reports. The upgraded technology also allows CFOs to have custom dashboards with instant real-time results such as totaled up expenses, revenue, net income, and more.

 

What does better insight lead to? Better performance. Better performance leads to growth.

 

What CFOs are creating through technology upgrades, and better insight into their business is moving them into a strategic role instead of just the “numbers position”. With all of the data that is being created at a much faster rate than before the CFO role is now including interrupting the data at a higher level. This includes a recommendation on vendors, quick reactions to locations or lines of business underperforming, and more. The CFO is now flexing different muscles because they are creating the recommendations and bring them to the executive team vs. just the reports. This also gives them immediate insight into where money should be spent for expansion.

 

The CFO role is ever-changing due to their ability to drill down into the business faster giving them the ultimate insight into what is working. This role is becoming as equally as important as the CEO in order for a business to be successful.

 

 

 

 

 



Does Your Accounting System Make the Grade?

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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.

 


Growing Internationally with the Cloud

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At rinehimerbaker we focus a considerable amount of time helping our customers grow within their currents markets and helping them achieve their growth goals. If their growth takes them into international markets we take steps to ensure they have the tools to succeed. Expanding into international markets brings communication and data sharing challenges if you don’t have the right technology in place.  Here are some of the ways cloud-based ERP’s can help alleviate the complexity of growing internationally.

Seamless Connection Around the Globe

The cloud is a set of servers that can be accessed over the internet. This eliminates on-premise hardware and allows a company or person to be anywhere with access to their data. There’s no need to set up your own internal networks or maintain security on your logins. Cloud systems protect your data and are constantly updated to ensure you can access it anywhere anytime. This is what has created the boom in remote employees and has given companies an easy way to expand their business. This includes going international because they can seamlessly add team members without missing a beat.

Real-Time Data to Monitor and Create Growth

With the anywhere anytime access companies also gain the ability to see real-time results for their business including net income, expenses, revenue, and more by total company or separate location. As companies add on new countries of business, they can easily create separate entities to track how the new area is performing. It also lets you easily see the difference in cost for vendors, profits, customer turnover, and more. A cloud-based solution also allows you to easily rollup that data for a total company performance. With the ease of insight into what is working and what is not working across all departments it allows a company to successful set up new branches no matter the location.

Multiple Currencies and Compliance

 

When growing internationally you may find your that your business has to conduct transactions in foreign currencies. Leading cloud ERP solutions can seamlessly handle transactions in multiple currencies which lessens the burden on your accounting staff. Compliance and tax laws can also become more complex for your business when you cross borders. Cloud ERP’s offer the ability to structure your company so that you capture all of your data and stay in compliance.

Expanding your company’s reach has never been easier, take full advantage of what the cloud has to offer by ensuring all the technology your company uses is cloud-based.


Create Growth for Your Hospitality Company in 2020

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Creating growth for any company is the number one goal. However, overall profit growth can be hard to create since total growth creates extra work and costs to your bottom line. We have put together our top three recommendations on how to downsize those costs.

Elimination of Your Automation Gap

Elevate Your Customer Experience

Streamline Your Team

Fill out the form below to gain access to our web series. We will be releasing one video each week for the next three weeks. Week one will focus on eliminating your automation gap.


outsource accounting partner

Selecting the Right Outsourced Accounting Partner to Drive Your Business

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When evaluating how you can better manage your time often executives face a decision between adding internal staff or finding an external partner to manage tasks. Internal staff not only adds additional salaries but also benefits, workspace/essentials, training resources, and more. Not to mention, it takes many months before new employees are proficient in their new roles. Alternatively, an outsourced accounting partner can provide an entire team that has an expertise in a given field and allows you to have the time back in your calendar to focus on what is important- expanding your company’s mission.

 

  • Consider what you are looking to outsource

 

The first step in deciding on an outsourced accounting partner is making a list of tasks that you are looking for an expert to take and complete each week, month, or year. For an outsourced accounting partner, this can include closing your books, building dashboards for your owners or managers, building and running reports, taxes, accounts payable, accounts receivable and more. The amount you wish to outsource depends on if you have a finance team in place or if the owner/manager is still completing those tasks daily. At rinehimerbaker, we have experts in each field that can quickly and efficiently get all your tasks completed and to you in a timely manner.

 

  • Align with a Proven Partner

 

As you assess potential partners be sure to ask for references, take the time to talk to active clients, and ask for case studies that demonstrate their success. All three of these resources are readily available with a partner that has been in business for any length of time. You can use these to access how to outsource partner works, and what they have been able to accomplish for other companies. Such as if you are looking to outsource your month-end close- how quickly have they been able to close other companies? Was it the same time or did they deliver results ahead of time?

 

When speaking with their customers or reading through case studies make sure to notice the type of technology the partner uses to complete your tasks. Is the software cloud-based or on-premise? Being cloud-based offers many advantages and you’ll want to be aligned with a partner who can leverage new technologies. The technology they use also lets you know how innovative they are and where they see the future going. You want a company focused on being best-in-class as this demonstrates they’ll be able to take the burden off of you and you’ll no longer have to worry about how to stay ahead of your competition.

 

 

  • Check for Culture Compatibility

 

The final step and probably the most important is checking company culture compatibility. Working with a company that is aligned with your core beliefs will ultimately make it easier to trust someone else to make decisions on your behalf. You also want a partner that works similar hours with the same expectations for deadlines. This doesn’t mean that you have to be in the same time zone but it does mean you have to look at a workday the same. That could be having expectations that deadlines are a hard cut off with no wiggle room or you are focused on a work-life balance where the cut off is 5 pm every day despite deadlines. This will help eliminate any potential disagreements or frustrations after the partnership has started.

 

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