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3 ways to uncover the future profit hidden in your firm’s financials

January 21, 2015

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A professional service provider’s customer base is the lifeline that feeds the company, so keeping your buyers satisfied and engaged is your highest priority. However, this effort has to be balanced with one that’s equally important: strengthening your company’s profitability and cash flow. How can you efficiently and effectively bolster your bottom line without sacrificing the service model that your customers appreciate? The answer could be buried in your current and historical financial information.

Did you know there is hidden data in your firm’s financial performance that can provide business-critical information, increase profitability, and help you strategically plan for the future? This data can provide a viewpoint of where you are, where you’re going, and how you’re going to get there. The most successful firms uncover what’s buried below the surface of their data, and use it to perform better.

Here are three ways you can look at your fiscal information differently to make your company stronger.

1. Understand what the data can do for you

A firm’s financial information is important because it provides the baseline for the company’s fiscal health. It allows you to:

  • Assess your current operations and position.
  • Make informed decisions about corporate strategy and operations.
  • Communicate financial metrics to your organization, its leaders and its stakeholders.
  • Evaluate your relative performance against those metrics.

But this only scratches the surface of what your financial information can tell you.

2. Use your past financial performance as a roadmap for the future

As we start a new year, all professional service firms should have a forecasted budget to project and understand what is expected for the next 12 months. This financial roadmap sets proper expectations for the entire organization and allows you to plan for the impact of the operations on the firm. The firm also needs to budget the capital requirements of its balance sheet accounts in order to illustrate the complete financial position of the organization. This provides an integrated view of the impact of a firm’s operations and the projected capital requirements for its investing and financing activities on the firm’s cash flows.

3. Use the right tools to translate the numbers into usable information

To help businesses uncover – and use – valuable information from their financial data, Clark Schaefer Hackett developed Viewpoint Business Solutions. We use analytics, forecasting and enhanced communication to provide clarity about your business’ fiscal position. This intelligence helps companies:

  • Evaluate current financial position and performance.
  • Make organizational and operational changes to improve profitability and cash flow.
  • Formulate and prepare an integrated forecasted budget.
  • Articulate and communicate the business’ story and performance to the outside world of key stakeholders.

With this insight, you can learn how yesterday’s decisions and events impact profitability and cash flows today and into the future. It allows your business to be proactive in its response rather than reactive.

When everyone in the organization understands the financial position and strategic direction of a firm; the organization will be aligned with consistent messaging, communication, direction, and focus.

To learn more about the advantages of CSH’s Viewpoint Business Solutions, contact Jay Murnen at 937.226.0070 or request an assessment.

All content provided in this article is for informational purposes only. Matters discussed in this article are subject to change. For up-to-date information on this subject please contact a Clark Schaefer Hackett professional. Clark Schaefer Hackett will not be held responsible for any claim, loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of any information within these pages or any information accessed through this site.

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