Financial Bits and Bytes

One of the largest challenges companies face when choosing an employee benefits package — other than the astronomical cost– is deciding how much of that cost the company should bear. The Kaiser Family Foundation Health Benefits Survey 2018 shows employees pay 17% towards employee-only coverage versus 28% for family medical coverage. The cost for the company is $5,711 for employee-only coverage versus $14,069 for family coverage. When creating your company’s strategy, give careful thought to these questions: How important are benefits in your company? Your benefits package must be aligned with your company’s culture and values. If you are a

You created your budget last fall, and you were relieved that you completed the task. You don’t need to worry about it for another year. But what is the reason that you created the budget? If it was just to put a target on your company’s back for this year, then you are missing the opportunity to have another planning tool at your fingertips. Let’s look at three major areas of your budget to see how it can help you through this next year. Revenue and Gross Margin There are a lot of factors that go into your revenue numbers:

Every business owner is buried by information. There aren’t enough hours in the day to read, digest and then decide what you should act on. So how do you decide what to deal with today that can’t wait till tomorrow? Many business owners have dashboards that tell them how their companies are doing. Some electronic systems continuously scroll information about the company. Some use reports that are created weekly or monthly for the management team. It’s nice to have that information, but all those reports and all those numbers could cause your eyes to glaze over. TMI – Too much

5 things to keep your eyes on this summer It’s summer, and you’re planning a three-day weekend or vacation with your kids. What does that mean for your business? Here are some things to watch during the summer months. Budgeting – Remember that your budget is your business plan for the year. Compare your budget to your actual YTD results. It’s important to make changes to your company operations so they will get you to where you need to be to meet your goals. Inventory Control – You should be continually evaluating your inventory. Do you have sufficient stock in

Have you developed your Strategic Plan?  Does it achieve your Vision for your company?  Setting Goals is actually critical to reaching them.  Whether it’s reaching a particular sales level, or being able to retire, unless you set a goal, you are being reactive, not proactive, and your result is at risk. Are you just planning for next year, or are you truly being Strategic?  Just as a budget defines WHERE you want your business to be at the end of the next year, the Strategic Plan defines WHAT you want your business to be in the future.  Here are the