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​In Pursuit of Profit

Read our expert article below or sign up to get articles sent to your inbox.​

3/28/2023

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What to do Before Selling Your Business to Maximize its Value

 
When you are looking at selling your business there is a lot to consider. However, the number one priority for businesses owners is typically maximizing the company’s value to get the most out of its sale. 
what-to-do-before-selling-your-business-to-maximize-value
Two people shaking hands over a business deal.
Our partners over at CFO Selections have a number of financial resources meant for executive leadership, one of which breaks down the business sales process and explains why a CFO (Chief Financial Officer) is important during the sale of a business. As you get closer to selling, we would suggest reviewing that resource and reaching out to them if you need help.

However, today we are going to look at some best practices for creating and preserving value in your business well before you start going down the path of selling it. Our team of accountants will give some tips on what you can do financially to set yourself up for success as you get closer to selling. 

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3/23/2023

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Do We Need a Chart of Accounts?

 
“What is a chart of accounts? Should we be using one? How do I create a chart of accounts?” These are questions we hear a lot from business owners. If you are confused about what a chart of accounts (COA) is exactly and what it can do for you, you’re in the right place! 
Picture
Hands at a keyboard with accounting and finance icons overlaid.
We’ll break down what a COA is and why you need one, give you some pointers on how to create a COA, provide an example of a chart of accounts for you, and give you some helpful reminders to be aware of as you create your own COA. Let’s get started talking about accounting chart of accounts fundamentals:

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3/17/2023

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Should You Grow? The Pros and Cons of Growing your Company

 
Most people assume that organizational growth is mandatory, but it isn’t. In fact, it may not even be the best idea! Find out whether you should grow your business or stay where you are.
The Pros and Cons of Growing your Company
Paper airplanes taking off like rockets.
What is Growth? 
For our firm in the early days, growth was not a given. In fact, we didn’t really plan to grow at all. Growth was much different in those early days. But because we had a very talented consultant group, we were able to land quite a bit of business and our team would get full. Unfortunately, at that point you have two choices – add to the team and grow organically or slowly lose market share as clients go elsewhere because you’re too busy. Now, 20 years later growth means somethings completely different. In today’s world growth for us means geographic expansion across the US. It is a very carefully planned strategy that we work very hard to execute. But our definition of growth may not be your definition of growth.

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3/13/2023

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Recruiting market Report - March Edition

 
Find out what we are hearing from candidates and clients and get our predictions for the future of the hiring market in the March edition of The ASP Team Market Report: 
Quinn Finnigan
Quinn Finnigan, Partner - Recruiting Services

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3/6/2023

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Balancing Accounting Objectives and HR Goals

 
An article in the January-February edition of the Harvard Business Review titled “How Financial Accounting Screws Up HR” recently caught our attention. 
Balancing-Accounting-Objectives-and-HR-Goals
A scale balancing money and businesspeople.
The author, Peter Cappelli, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Warton School of Business, highlighted the ways in which he believes that pursuing financial goals causes businesses distort their hiring and training objectives and deprive employees of the benefits they deserve. His summary for the article was as follows:
Many HR practices in the United States are bad for companies, employees, and shareholders. Firms skimp on training and development, for instance, and tightly limit head count even when they’re understaffed. They increasingly move work to nonemployees, like leased workers, and replace pensions with more-expensive 401(k) plans. They do such counterproductive things because U.S. financial reporting standards treat employees and investments in them as expenses or liabilities, which make companies look less valuable to investors.
​The solution he proposes is to change SEC reporting requirements, which would only help publicly traded companies, though he seems to indicate that these struggles are being felt by a broad array of business types and sizes.

​Unfortunately, it seems this article misses one very important point – the ways in which accounting and HR can work together to benefit the overall business. As a result, we’d like to cover that aspect of the discussion to help remind companies that their accountants are not the villains in the discussion of hiring and employee retention.

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2/27/2023

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55 Questions Every Business Should Be Able to Answer by The End of The Year

 
In today’s rapidly changing business environment business strategists from every industry and background have offered their input on what business owners should be doing to pivot, respond, reposition, and rethink their operations. And yet, what business owners are facing today looks an awfully lot like what they faced last year and 5 years ago and 10 years ago, although the specifics may vary. 
Questions Every Business Should Be Able to Answer
A stack of sticky notes with question marks on them.
We are in a time of change because that’s what the business world does – change. Whether innovation happens slowly or quickly and whether advancements are small or massive in scope, the world doesn’t stand still. 

Amid the ever sweeping winds of change business owners must return to the core of management – asking the right questions to keep their businesses moving along at the same pace. 

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2/21/2023

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How Can Your Accountant Help You Prepare for a Recession?

 
​It is no secret that a recession may be coming. Business news headlines are filled with analysts and business strategists talking about when a recession may occur and what kind of an impact to expect. As a result, the majority of small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) now expect that a recession will occur by the end of the year, though there does not appear to be consensus on the exact timing and severity.
How Can Your Accountant Help You Prepare for a Recession
Accountant standing in a downward trending graph looking ahead to see what is coming next.
Only time will tell if/when a recession will occur. Right now, business owners are collectively holding their breath as they wait to see how the economy will progress over the course of the next year, which begs the question: “What should your business be doing during this waiting period?”
​

Knowing what you will do during an economic downturn is an important part of any risk management strategy, especially when economists are warning that the nation may be headed for a recession in the near future. 

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2/13/2023

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Auditing your Accounting Functions to Improve Cash Flow

 
​Are your accounting activities hampering cash flow? When companies are looking for ways to improve their accounting department, they too often focus on the what and not the why. They decide to increase the frequency of bank reconciliations, look for cost cutting opportunities, and search out software that can streamline reporting. But what can get lost is why these activities are so important. 
Auditing your Accounting Functions to Improve Cash Flow
An accountant analyzing cash flow charts on a computer and clipboard.
It all comes down to cash flow management. Cash flow is the tie that binds. Everything your accounting and finance personnel do is centered around managing the company’s finances to ensure they can acquire customers, run daily operations, pay staff, meet financial obligations, make necessary expenditures, and reinvest into the company. Simply put, they ensure that cash will be there today and tomorrow to keep the business going (and hopefully growing as well!). 

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2/6/2023

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Playing Cupid – How Recruiting is like Matchmaking

 
I was recently thinking about the hit Netflix series, “Indian Matchmaking” and how much it reminds me of recruiting being like dating and finding the “right one.” In the series, Seema Auntie goes through her matchmaking process to bring together couples in matrimony. 
playing-cupid-how-recruiting-is-like-matchmaking
A magnifying glass centered over a heart.
Similarly, the recruiters at The ASP Team follow a process to help their clients find the right candidate who fits with their available accounting and finance position and culture – a work match!

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1/31/2023

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Recruiting Marketing Report – January Edition

 
Find out what we are hearing from candidates and clients and get our predictions for the future of the hiring market in the January edition of The ASP Team Market Report: 
Picture
Quinn Finnigan, Partner - Recruiting Services

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