I was quoted in the Society for Advancement in Consulting’s news release, “Global Consulting Group Anticipates Business Conditions in 2010″. It contains several interesting predictions for 2010 from a variety of global consulting experts. Why not get ahead of the crowd and see how your projections align with the experts? Read the entire article here.
© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.
Join us for a low cost, HIGH value APICS (Association of Operations Management) webinar on 12/2. You do not need to be a member of APICS to participate in this compelling topic – after all, in today’s economy, what could be more important than understanding where you stand and how to monitor the health of your organization?
See more information & sign up on the APICS Inland Empire website: click here.
I’ll also include a description below:
WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO DO A BUSINESS HEALTH CHECK USING YOUR FINANCIAL STATEMENTS?
We will demystify the financial statements into what matters for your business or operation. Join us for a webinar where we’ll explore the keys of the balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flow.
We’ll answer the following types of questions:
Can we pay our bills? Let’s check what’s happening with accounts receivable/ accounts payable
Is inventory as a percentage of sales going up or down? Why does it matter?
Do you know how to check your breakeven point?
How do you determine whether pricing is in line with costs?
Why are costs up?
Where did our money go? Or, preferably, where did it come from?
Which measurements are important to operations?
If you’d like your financial statement questions addressed, please send them in via email in advance to programs@apics-ie.org. We’ll also leave plenty of time for questions during the webinar.
Meet our speaker
Cheryle L. Steddom, CPA, CVA
Cheryle Steddom is the principal in Steddom Accountancy, A Professional Corporation in Temecula, California and now focuses entirely on business valuations and consulting for estate and gift taxes, buy/sells and mergers, and business management planning purposes.
Ms. Steddom also has extensive experience in small public accounting firms in the areas of individual and small business taxation and accounting. She was a partner of accounting firms in Anaheim Hills and San Diego before opening her own CPA firm in Temecula. Her career began in the corporate manufacturing sector before becoming a CPA in public practice.
Ms. Steddom is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the California Society of CPAs, the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts, and is a former board member of the National Association of Women Business Owners-Inland Empire Chapter. She earned her bachelor’s degree from California State University – Fullerton.
© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.
Absolutely…..I’ve posted a new whitepaper addressing this topic. After all, it seems quite appropriate to today’s world – why not get something positive out of crisis?
To give you a flavor, here is my introduction & three key points that I expand upon in the article: The current recession has thrust many companies and individuals into crisis – at a minimum, plans have been put on hold, and in many cases, it has been the worst crisis experienced since the Great Depression (if the company was around since then). This crisis has caused many companies and individuals to do the previously unthinkable. The “unthinkable” is significantly different from person to person and company to company; however, it is equally worrisome. Naturally, stress is at an all-time high. So, what can we do productively to deal with crisis?
Once you’ve assumed the positive, proactive approach, transforming crisis into real change boils down to three, key concepts:
1. Throw out continuous improvement
2. Relationships are #1
3. Ruthless prioritization
To read the full article, click here.
© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.
No! It isn’t part of the 80/20. I just wrote an article on this topic for Project Times: to read the full article, click here.
In essence, the article focuses on how there’s NO investment required to achieve the 80/20 of project management success. The bottom line is that I’ve found it to be imminently achievable to achieve project management results with current tools, software and resources. Instead, in 100% of the hundreds of projects I’ve either led or worked on in a diverse set of companies and industries, I’ve found that developing the critical path (whether manually or aided with project management software) has been one of the keys to project success.
Although project management software provides a few ease-of-use advantages (described in the article), the keys to success are available without software tools:
1) Focus
2) Questioning ability
3) Organization
4) Communication
Read more about these critical success factors in the full article.
© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.
Join business, banking & certified valuation experts in San Bernardino on Nov 19th for a free, interactive discussion and presentation on increasing your company’s value: click here.
It will be an interesting and timely discussion – after all, most businesses have taken a beating in the last year. This session will provide several strategies and ideas to build value. There are many reasons this can be essential to success: The higher the value of your business…..
- The more solid and profitable your business typically is.
- The higher the sale price you can achieve
- And many more….
© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.
I just read an article in CEO magazine about CEO confidence that I thought would be interesting to pass on. After all, I’ve written many times recently about one of the most severe issues of the last year have been a crisis of confidence. I’ve seen it in many companies, and it can have a detrimental effect on business results.
In essence, the survey said that CEO confidence rose 18.6% in August – it has doubled since its historic low in February 2009. This is encouraging news; however, the article does sum up the progress with the following quote by a respondent, “Optimistic on the economy, pessimistic on the speed of recovery”. In my perspective, these comments support my thinking that we’ve entered a “new normal” business environment. It is absolutely essential we learn how to thrive in the new normal, as it could easily be around for many years to come. For more information on my view of the new normal and thriving in the new normal, refer to my archived newsletters on my website: click here.
I also found the CEO’s comments about healthcare interesting: 80% thought it would be a disaster for the U.S. and 51% thought it would be a disaster for their company. If our business leaders are this passionate, we should dig deeper and think about what we can do to encourage business growth, which spurs job growth etc.
© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.
Interesting times………the unemployment rate is 10.2%; almost 13% in California, the stock market is at 2009 highs, etc.
After spending considerable time and having interesting discussions with clients across multiple industries and with service providers ranging from attorneys to CPA’s and bankers, my perception is that we are NOT going back to the “good ‘ol days of the last 10 years”. Instead, we are entering a “new normal”. And, given that new normal, the people who will succeed will think about THRIVING instead of surviving. My newsletter article provides tips and techniques for thriving in this new normal. To read the complete article, click here.
© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.
Taking a step back and reevaluating what you’re doing (whether personal or professional) and how it fits into the big picture is unbelievably important!
Just this morning, I thought I was highly organized and prioritized in how I was attacking my long to-do lists and what I focused on……..until I took a step back and brainstormed with a business colleauge. To our shock & dismay (at first), we both discovered that we were moving aggressively and happily down the path in the general direction of our goals but we didn’t realize that we were lopsided in our time allocations/ focus. The good news is that we both were allocated appropriately for the past quarter; however, we missed the boat in terms of the optimal strategy as of the 4th quarter!
Thus, I learned a few keys today:
- First, are your priorities focused on what’ most important in moving you or your business forward? (In this respect, we were both ok)
- Second, when you think about how much time and resources you are focusing on the different priority categories, does it make sense to achieving the overall goal? (We both missed the mark on this one)
- Third, should you reprioritize or reallocate? (Got this one)
Thus, we were 2 for 3 – not fabulous but not bad. The great news is that we realized this while only a month into the quarter and so we can adjust.
CONTINUALLY think about how you are spending your time. What should your priorities be? What are your priorities? (meaning, how do you really spend your time and resources) How can you reallocate? Reprioritize? Use leverage?
Nevertheless, I went home and started deleting items off my calendar and thinking about how to add focus on key items. How about you?
© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.