Fiscal Doctor

Dramatically Accelerate Correct Fiscal Leadership Decisions!

revenues

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Which Executive Group Are You In – Group A or Group B?

Group A = less than 20% of Executives who achieve their 2018 career and company goals.

Group B = greater than 80% of Executives who DON’T achieve their 2018 career and company goals.

Sadly, there’s a strong indication you will end up in Group B, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Invest 2 minutes right now and discover how you can avoid multi-million dollar mistakes and gain the recognition you deserve and desire!

My name is Gary Patterson, and you can be among the successful executives I’ve helped in over 200 multi-million dollar companies by taking this one simple step.

“My credentials?” You ask. Yeah, I’ve got lots of them… Big 4 CPA, Stanford MBA with 30 years of success leading execs to higher levels of productivity and recognition. I consult and speak regularly on business growth, accountability, facilitation, governance, risk management, achieving corporate financial goals, building long-term wealth, yada, yada, yada…

But let’s not talk about me, this is about you! Just, 2 minutes invested right now can make or save your organization millions in 2018…and even more in the years to come. And, the recognition you can gain? Well, that will speak for itself! Take this one simple step now to set up our 20 minute phone meeting to ensure you are in Group A for 2018 and each year thereafter. I do not require a fee for this call, just your serious attention. You can reach me at 678-319-4739 or contact me at gary  @  FiscalDoctor.com.

P.S. I can also help increase your profitability like I have for other execs by providing access to 100 best of business experts who are often better and cheaper than your incumbents.

 

 

 

 

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Post-holiday gift for a small or SMB business you know

You can help a small or middle market company CEO or leader gain a free 25K+ package. This includes companies as large as $80 million, 3rd generation family businesses and nonprofits.

Someone you know may benefit from learning about the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business initiative to stimulate business growth and employment. I believe in the program enough to give back contributing time as a national Virtual Business Advisor (VBA) for an evening where any CEO can ask any questions they want about financial statements and how to better use them.

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses launched in 2009 as an investment to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing greater access to education, capital and business support services (in every state).

Companies that are accepted obtain free access to a 11 session blended learning program geared to helping them identify opportunities, develop leadership skills and maximize their business operations, including 2 fully paid groups trips for sessions led by some of Babson’s best professors.

http://www.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/10000-small-businesses/US/

A large number of current attendees do so after being told about this program by a prior graduate, or related organization. Since you may know an organization which would benefit from this, I thought helping someone you know benefitting from this program warranted one of my emails.

The FiscalDoctor part of me wanted to know an estimate of the value of the package that the winning entrepreneurs earned. I was told my guesstimate of at least 25 to 30k was definitely reasonable.

Let me know if you want to talk more about the value I saw the leaders I help receive or any other questions.
Or, if you know a CEO who is lonely at the top and would like to have coffee and ask what CEOs are learning in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business program, have them call me at 678-319-4739.

You can also contact me today at [email protected] to talk about your special situation or project that needs immediate attention. On that note, I look forward to serving you.

Gary

Gary Patterson
FiscalDoctor, Inc.
[email protected]
(678) 319-4739

Key member of 2 successful Inc. 500 international Companies always ready to help you next.

PS. Helps leaders increase profitability providing access to 100 insider ways to unlock cashflow often better and cheaper than incumbents. Gary can be reached at 678-319-4739 or [email protected].

WHAT I DO: Help you keep more money, with less risk. You know how your organization sometimes feels like it is a best kept secret, coasting on past success, or just stuck, so you have nagging under-performing or even a loss of control feeling?
WHAT I DO: Help you keep more money, with less risk. You know how your organization sometimes feels like it is a best kept secret, coasting on past success, or just stuck, so you have nagging under-performing or even a loss of control feeling?

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The Value of Knowing Your Most Profitable Customers: (778 words)

One of Five of the Most Common Mistakes to Avoid When Growing Your Business

By Gary Patterson MBA, CPA (778 words)

While numbers themselves are neutral, the way they are interpreted and manipulated can be misleading. Without asserting blame, where could your financial statements, projections, and results be interpreted more accurately? Besides giving you a more accurate picture of your company’s financial strength, accurate numerical interpretations will give you more reliable information. Hence, you can make better decisions, assess risk and effectively run your company.

After helping and strategizing with hundreds of leaders, I’ve identified five key risk areas that can provide strategic benefits when managed effectively, or explode into landmines if ignored. Let’s transform caterpillars into butterflies and address potential risk factors that can be lurking inside your company!

How does your company measure up to this first statement? Answer True or False.
My business knows who are the 10 most profitable customers, and has accurate information about these top clients.

The results on this question vary by size. If you are a middle market company (normally 50 million dollars and up), normally 75% tell me they accurately know their top 10 customers and are fairly comfortable on customer profitability. Consider this group often has reasonably sophisticated accounting software and a reasonably sophisticated accounting department.

If you are a 5 to 30-million-dollar company, that degree of comfort often drops to around half.
Both groups feel less comfortable about the accuracy of product or service profitability once the discussion goes deeper on where to help leaders improve their ability to obtain sustainable growth and profitability.

Whatever the size of your business or accuracy of your accounting information, let’s go deeper on the topic of profitability – for customers and products.

“If you find out who our 10 most profitable customers are, could you please let me know?” I can’t tell you how many times top executives ask me this question. Let’s help unveil this sometimes well-kept family secret and how it happens. Some companies define their top 10 customers in terms of largest revenue. At some point, that may have been a reasonable approach. Previously a narrow product line, minor customer service issues and stable costs of production may not have eroded profit margins.

However, in today’s competitive economy that can quickly change.

It is inevitable that changes need to be made when your business becomes more complicated and/or competitive. For example, this may require more modern software programs and/or compatible record keeping systems. Unfortunately, businesses may not have the resources to immediately upgrade information systems and have to settle temporarily. In these cases, I’ve found that accurately measuring your 10 most profitable clients means conducting a semi forensic type investigation to concretely understand the origins of company data.

For example, a large steel company client had invested substantial amounts in software and hardware systems to handle high volume manufacturing—but only for a limited number of products and narrow choice of options. When their industry rapidly became more competitive, customers demanded a wider range of customized product options including; color, length, and width. This dramatically more competitive environment required better operating systems to become more cost effective while meeting these new demands.

Information systems that had worked well could not meet rapidly changing customer demands. Murphy’s Law always seems to happen at the wrong time. Funds were not available for these new manufacturing and data systems.

Organizations (maybe yourself) solve limited supply of resources and outdated systems with unofficial excel spreadsheet systems. Excel’s flexibility solves rigidity inside official operating systems. After all, buyers want the product customized to their needs and delivered on their time schedule; consumers are not concerned with the inner workings of the company’s internal information system.

Even if the accounting department can deliver high level financial statements and reports needed for a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting, management must have the right detailed information to run the business successfully. Think of the last discussion or meeting you attended where a manager insisted they could not get the information that was requested. That’s simply unacceptable in business.

Often, the short-term answer is to throw bodies against the problem. Sometimes the mid-range solution is to get the right eight people in a room for a day. They see what information is needed and how it can be delivered. That focused working group can initiate the process to obtain necessary information and help clear red tape for management and their teams.

Which aspect of this real world story can help your business make more bottom line profits by better managing limited resources available to improve customer and product profitability?

© Gary Patterson, the FiscalDoctor® www.FiscalDoctor.com

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Known as the Fiscal Doctor, Gary W. Patterson has helped 2 INC 500 companies and over 200 companies in manufacturing, technology, service, construction and distribution in companies from start-ups to Inc. 500 to Fortune 500. Gary Patterson helps you grow top line revenues, keep more of the bottom line and make life more fun. Author of Find Your Blind Spot – Before It Finds You, and Million Dollar Blind Spots. Contact Gary when you need a speaker or consultant on strategic profitable growth while removing risk at www.FiscalDoctor.com

Downloadable filecustomer profitability – 778 words

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Accounting for Construction Contracts Under the Percentage of Completion Method

Welcome, I’m Gary Patterson. Let’s talk about the percentage of completion accounting method for construction contracts. What does that mean you may think? Well a lot of contracts extend over multiple periods, months, quarters even years and you have to do a really good job to understand where you are making money. Hence, the issue becomes what is the percentage of the job that’s done, not the money that’s been spent and why is this important? Well, construction people are extremely good entrepreneurs, they manage to draw, collect more money than they have really earned and you have to have timely estimates so that the accounting and the operational people know where they really stand and here’s the other issue, I hate to tell you this. If you don’t do a really good job on understanding where you are, you get in this situation where you lose control of where you are making money and the last 10% of the job costs 20 or 30%, not very good. So don’t go out and spend all the money on lake houses in Big Iron, you might need it. Thank you.

 

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/accounting-construction-contracts-under-percentage-completion-method-78097.html

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TOP Consultant endorsed

Middle Market Investors, CEOs and Board Members: Certified Growth Resource  

December 29, 2015 – East Greenwich, RI – Society for Advancement of Consulting® LLC (SAC) awarded Gary W. Patterson, Enterprise Risk Manageement (ERM) expert and speaker, an infrequently granted distinction of being re-certified for the eighth year as a “Board Approved” member in his specialty as Trusted Adviser for Growth Companies.

Re-certification signifies that Patterson has the highest continuous record of professional performance over an extended period of time as measured by SAC. To this end, Patterson has adhered to the ethics pledge of the organization and has provided client proof attesting to exceptional performance in his area of consulting. SAC was founded by Alan Weiss (Ph.D.), a consultant whose unparalleled reputation has advanced the prestige and standing of the consulting industry.

Fewer than five percent of SAC members are granted Board Approval, which represents a distinguished membership of fewer than five percent of all practicing consultants nationwide. Board Approval is granted only after detailed client evidence is received and reviewed. SAC’s CEO Weiss comments, “We already have as our membership the most elite consultants practicing in the world. To achieve this still higher level of performance in addition to our entry requirements is quite impressive. Clients who hire Board Approved SAC members have the assurance that they are working with the ‘best of the best.’ ”

When your organization feels like it (a) a best kept secret, (b) stuck or (c) coasting on past success, call Gary for a confidential brief 15 minute discussion.

About Society for Advancement of Consulting® LLC SAC is an international association of distinguished consultants who meet the following criteria: validated proof of high performance in their areas of expertise; successful completion of client engagements; testimonials from client executives; high income over a prolonged period; minimum of 25 clients; and adherence to the highest code of professional ethics. SAC members interact as an international community to advance the profession and consulting techniques in compliance to a strict code of professional conduct. To learn more about SAC, go to www.consultingsociety.com.

About Gary W. Patterson Gary W. Patterson, president & CEO of FiscalDoctor®, helps leaders uncover major blind spots, in time to assure profits and make the best decision. He has helped over 200 companies spanning supply chain, high tech, transportation, construction, and service industries. Patterson is a renowned speaker on growth, strategy, risk assessments, and leadership.

He authored Million Dollar Blind Spots: 20/20 Vision for Financial Growth , “Stick Out Your Balance Sheet and Cough: Best Practices for Long-Term Business Health”, The-Fiscal-Fitness-System, Understanding Balance Sheets, Income Statements, and Cash Flow”. For more information, visit his website at www.fiscaldoctor.com and his “free” fiscal fitness test at www.fiscaldoctor.com/fiscaltest.html call 678-319-4739.

© Gary W. Patterson. All rights reserved. ###

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Jump Start Your Next Quarter with Gary Patterson’s Crucial Best Practices

Gary’s incoming year strategies can help you help you turn greater profit (as you increase the likelihood of achieving targeted revenues) while managing risk (by spotlighting formerly invisible pitfalls like looming cash shortages) to help improve your cash flow (CASH will be emperor again this year), in a similar manner as I have also achieved with other organizations.

As I see it (and you may too), the economic downturn has been a transformative game changer, whereby the winners (real survivors) will be those business leaders who will pay attention to tomorrow and thoughtfully pursue the golden opportunities that are waiting to be discovered.

Here are 10 paths to CYA that you can follow in order to achieve a head start on making 2015 a surprisingly great year.

1. Review the 3 best opportunities you could create longer term, and assess in great detail what you need to do to pursue them.

2. Ascertain your company’s 10 top customers not only in revenue but in terms of profitability.  Ask yourself what complimentary or add-on products and services you can sell them to balloon your profits.

 3. Analyze your staffing levels and determine whether you should staff on a “green field” basis. Ask yourself these questions: “If I were starting a new company, would I hire the same employees I have today? If I were to hire them, would I have them in the positions they are in today?”  You may be surprised at your answers!

4. Learn which products are losing money and get rid of them immediately, or raise prices on these products/services.

5. Assess your short-term risk tolerance and develop a contingency plan to stop Murphy’s Law in its tracks — include as much detail as necessary to establish a clear picture in your mind.

 6. Examine the 3 top longer-term risk areas of your business today, and focus on how you will respond when those concerns materialize. Since J P Getty, one of the richest people in the world used this approach, it can benefit you too.

7. Evaluate the 3 most crucial infrastructure issues you will face over the next 2 years (key people or skill set needs, financing, or system and process upgrades).

8. Determine the cost of the risks you don’t know, such as potential inventory mismanagement, product defect or service quality problems, and inaccurate or unrealistic financial projection and statements.

 9. Evaluate and improve the speed and quality of your cash flow and key metrics monitoring in order to prepare for a fast moving year.

 10. Decide where you need an outsider to address the 800 pound gorilla issue everyone knows about, but no one wants to acknowledge.

I look forward to continuing our relationship in the next year and beyond, and also look forward to your success stories by implementing these upcoming year strategies.

Sincerely, Gary Patterson

 Million Dollar Blind Spots and Best Practices for Long-Term Business Health

Thought for managing risk during these challenging times: “What is the cost of what you don’t know? $300,000, $1 million, $3 million or more?”

P.S. See and hear the FiscalDoctor now! http://tinyurl.com/ku2bh7

I’m also available to speak on my favorite subject, Avoiding the 3 Biggest Problems in Growing Your Business, so if you know a conference or associations that can benefit from having me speak, I welcome the referral. Or call me at 678-319-4739.