How to Turn Entrepreneurial Anxiety Into Confidence

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In your entrepreneurial life have you ever felt anxious?

We certainly have.

Anxiety is defined as a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.

It’s important to remember this is a natural emotion. However, chronic stress can result in some negative symptoms such as heart disease, lack of focus, headaches, and sleep disturbance to name a few.

Further, beyond impacting you as an individual, it has the potential to harm your Company too. 

Did you know that:

  • 33% of employees experience chronic stress
  • 28% of employees intend to change jobs due to stress
  • 75% of doctors visits are due to stress

This is costing businesses $300 billion per year per the American Psychological Association’s Work and Well-Being survey.

So what should you do? We have a few different thoughts on this that have some range.

entrepreneur anxiety

1. Know You Are Not Alone and Tap into Your Community

There are many entrepreneurs in the same situation and many who have experienced what you are feeling before. Be open and vulnerable to talk about your entrepreneurial anxiety to help you better process these emotions.

Try finding mentors or peer groups like C12, Vistage, EO, or another strategic group. These folks will help you to work through challenges and give you a different perspective.

Don’t forget to turn to your team and open up the conversation with them. Mental health is something everyone deals with. Working together through some of this, will strengthen trust and relationships and create a sense of team alignment. 

Overall community has many benefits. You can learn from each other, encourage each other and really support each other to work through the most difficult of times.

2. Build Resilience

Resilience is a powerful tool when it comes to the mind. It creates the ability to avoid chronic stress by effectively managing stressful events. 

Being more mindful is the premier way to build resilience. Pay attention to your present-moment experience with an attitude of openness and curiosity. Practicing the exercise of meditation is one of the many ways you can increase your capacity to be mindful throughout the day.

At New Economy, we practice building resilience together as a team. We started a program called Mindful Leader where we practice mindful moving, and work on learning how to focus our attention on specific areas. If this interests you, reach out to Jeff to join our next session.

3. Obtain Visibility in Your Business

As an entrepreneur, there is a lot of volatility, especially in these uncertain times. 

Think of it this way, if you are headed on a road trip you need a map to help chart your course.  During the trip, it’s possible that you take a wrong turn and get off course. But having a map and going back to the map will provide the information and knowledge to put you back on track to your original destination.

Our team at New Economy helps businesses do that from a financial perspective. In fact, our mission is to help entrepreneurs take control of their finances to make smart decisions.

How do we do that? We use a combination of proven financial tools. Here are our tops three:

13-Week Cash Flow Projection

Our cash flow projection tool provides visibility into your cash needs week by week over a rolling 13-week period. 

Having this information on hand removes any anxiety around not knowing if you can pay your bills, meet your payroll or tap into your line of credit. It’s a mini road map for all things cash related.

Financial Projections 

Financial projections provide visibility into where your overall business is headed and what financial resources it will take to get you there. This removes anxiety around taking a wrong turn and heading in a different direction. 

Each month, we layer the plan over the actuals to see if we are on track. And if you’re not on track, we work out a plan to get you moving in the right direction again.

Month-End Close

A solid month-end closing process provides you with accurate financial statements to assess the financial condition of your business. Each month you should receive a timely and accurate set of financial statements. As mentioned above this is compared to your financial projections to determine and access if you are on track or off track to your final destination.

entrepreneur anxiety

Turn Entrepreneurial Anxiety Into Confidence

We are in unprecedented times, and being an entrepreneur is difficult, even when times are good. 

However, there are steps you can take to mitigate the anxiety that comes with running a company. It starts with understanding you’re not alone, requires a ton of built-up resilience, and ends with gaining financial visibility within your business. 

At New Economy, our mission is to help unleash your full potential. So if you want to learn more about how we can help you do that, reach out to our Founder, Jeff. He’d love to learn more about your company and its goals. 

How to Create and Follow a Cash Forecasting Model

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To help you understand how to create and follow a cash forecasting model, let us paint a picture for you. 

The Hero

Every hero has a story. And we are big fans of the hero. You are the hero in this story. 

Picture yourself as Luke Skywalker. 

You are the entrepreneur working really hard and doing amazing things. You have guts, passion, and are willing to put it all on the line. We understand where you are coming from and have tremendous respect for you. 

But we also understand that it’s not easy. 

The Problem

In every story, the hero has a problem to solve. Some are more challenging than others, there is a problem we see over and over again. 

Entrepreneurs:

  • Don’t have the financial visibility to know when cash needs will arise
  • Don’t know how to be proactive to avoid these needs 
  • Don’t have the time to pull the information together
  • Don’t have the unique abilities to work through the issues

This is your Darth Vader and it can have massive implications on your ability to build and grow your business. Nobody wants to run out of cash.

The Guide

Another essential aspect of a good story is a guide.

New Economy, with its team of experts, financial tools, and trusted processes, is grateful to play the role of the guide. 

We want to help you solve the problem. We want to help you succeed. We are your Yoda.

In this article, we’ll take the opportunity to explain how we can help you solve this common problem i.e. get rid of your Darth Vader. Specifically, we’ll talk about the importance of visibility around cash flow and the projection tool we use to help our heroes become triumphant. 

The Cash Forecasting Model aka The Tool

Here at New Economy, we believe that entrepreneurs need a tool to see their cash flows out into the future. We like to provide this visibility over a rolling 13-week period. 

Our tool is very easy to use and is accessible by way of Google Sheets. 

It’s our goal to start simple and solve the problem at hand (lack of data for visibility and decision-making), only then will we introduce automated technology and dig deeper into your finances.

You can check out our free cash flow tool here. 

Getting Started with Your Cash Forecasting Model

Before diving head-first into your cash forecasting model, you need to do some planning, investigating, and info-gathering.

This can be a time-consuming process, so be patient and give it the time it needs, ensuring your records are thorough and complete. Keep in mind, hard work now has the possibility to make massive impacts on your business and help you sleep better at night :). 

Here are some simple steps you can take to get started:

  1. Analyze historical spending
  2. Understand spending needs
  3. Cut, reduce, and extend payments
  4. Identify cash flow gaps
  5. Identify solutions to cash flow gaps

As you gather this information, you’ll need to get deep into the “weeds”. Look at your accounts receivable and accounts payable journal and take a close look at historical bank statements since we are talking about cash. These are the source documents that will be utilized to build out the tool. 

We always advise clients to be detail-oriented because the more information you include in the tool, the better your results will be. 

The above data will be utilized to show the cash in and cash out needs of the business. We will be leveraging the historical results to predict the next 13 weeks. 

A great start is to sign up for that cash flow tool noted above which will walk you step by step through the process of building out the tool.

Your Transformation

Nailing down a cash forecasting model comes with plenty of benefits. You’ll gain stronger business processes and intelligence around:

  • Cash collection acceleration techniques
  • Proven effective collection policies
  • Proven effective credit policies
  • Proven effective payment policies
  • Building cash reserves
  • Preparedness on meeting obligations before they occur

Remember when we said a well-built cash forecasting model will greatly impact your business and help you sleep at night? 

We meant it. 

Ending with Success

What does success look like in your story? If gaining financial security establishes itself as a success indicator for your business, our team at New Economy has you covered. 

With our help, we’ll work to help you get the feeling of financial security based on the ability to predict cash flow needs. 

You’ll be able to: 

  • Know when, where, and how your cash flow needs will occur
  • Know the best resources for meeting cash flow needs (Debt, Equity, Factoring)
  • Prepare to meet those needs in advance
  • Set goals for building cash reserves
  • Set goals for paying down debt
  • Improve collection processes and techniques

Your success is important to us and as a recession looms, cash forecasting models need to play an even larger role in your financial management processes as they can prepare your business for what’s to come. 

If you want to learn more, schedule a time to meet with Jeff, the Founder of New Economy! We help entrepreneurs gain control of their finances to make smart decisions to build and grow their businesses.

We’d love to be a part of your story.

Use Efficient Data to Reach Business Financial Goals

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If you are a typical business owner, there’s a good chance you wake up at 2 am some mornings with an uneasy feeling – trying to crunch numbers in your head and get an accurate pulse of what’s going on in your business. But with out-of-date and tough-to-read data, things just aren’t adding up. 

So you take the pulse based on your gut. But deep down, you know this isn’t going to get your business where you want it to be. 

New Ecomony’s solution – formulate your data in a way that allows you to consistently and accurately take the pulse of your business so you can take effective action.

If this sounds good, read on.

business financial goals

Do You Have Business Goals? 

Goals are defined as a desired result that you, or a group of people, plan and commit to achieving. Does your business have them? If not, you should. 

Here are some of our best tips for setting goals for your business: 

Get Your Team Involved 

Your team is full of ideas and has an interest in the success of your business. Get them involved. Get their buy-in, and gather their thoughts and ideas. Lean into what they have to say and use it to help you build out your goals. 

Think Through Your Priorities

Think of your top 1-3 priorities in your business that need to be focused on to move it forward. This may take some deep thought and serious evaluation, but it will be worth it. 

Ask yourself:

  • Where is your business now? 
  • What are you trying to accomplish? 
  • Where are you trying to go? 

Your goals should help you accomplish your priorities. 

Create SMART Goals

Following the SMART goals framework helps you build good goals. 

Here’s what we mean:

  • S – Specific 
    • Make your goals specific and narrow.
  • M – Measurable
    • Define how you will measure your success towards reaching the goal.
  • A – Achievable 
    • You have to be able to accomplish your goal. Don’t set the bar too high. 
  • R – Relevant
    • Make sure your goals align with your priorities.
  • T – Time-based
    • Set a realistic end date for reaching your goals. 

Document Your Goals 

Once you’ve built out your goals, document them. 

Make them clear to your team. 

Hold yourself accountable. 

Having goals won’t do you any good if you are the only person who knows they exist. 

What Does Your Data Look Like? 

Financially speaking there are certain data components that can help to determine if you are on or off track. When you track the right data, you have the opportunity to make decisions to right the ship when things are off track.

Here’s what your data should look like: 

Every Business Should Have a 1, 3, and 5-Year Financial Plan

A strong financial plan will be broken into 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year segments. You’ll be able to refer back to your financial plan to bring the business you want to life. Think of it as a roadmap. 

You can break your financial plan down by month and measure it against actual financial results. This is the KEY. If something is off, you need to be able to gain an understanding as to why. 

Assign ownership to an individual to get to the root cause and offer up suggestions to get things back on track.

By following along with your plan, you can also narrow down what resources are needed as you go, like: 

  • Cash
  • Customers
  • Employees
  • Equipment 

As you build out your financial plan, use our top 4 financial tools to guide you. 

Use a Weekly Scorecard 

Every business should have a weekly scorecard. At New Economy, we believe a good Key Performance Indicator (KPI) in the form of a scorecard will help you manage data and provide you with a pulse of your business on a consistent basis. This will allow you to take prompt, effective action.

Here’s how you can create an effective scorecard: 

  • Identify and agree on the top 10 items to measure
  • Make someone accountable for each measure
  • Create goals for each measurable
  • Make the measurable time sensitive
  • Make someone accountable for getting the measurable and filling in the scorecard each week
  • Use it

Each Team Member Should be in Charge of a Measurable

Keeping track of your measurables is essential, but the task shouldn’t just fall on one person’s shoulders. Give everyone on your team a number to keep track of. Doing this: 

  • Cuts through murkiness between manager and direct reports
  • Create accountability
  • Provides clarity and commitment 
  • Produces results (this is a big one as we are trying to use data to drive towards our goals) 

For example, if you are a service-based company, you might measure revenue by employee, and each employee understands what is expected of them. If they achieve their measurable, which should be aligned with the business goals and overall measurables, then you have a high degree of alignment and can rest assured knowing team members rowing in the right direction.

business financial goals

Bring Your Data to Life, Achieve Your Goals

By having a Financial Model, Weekly Scorecard, and Individual Measurables, you are bringing to life the data road map which can be utilized to help you achieve your goals. 

A few final thoughts to remember before you put the plan into action:

  • Be open to learning. What is the data telling you?
  • Dig deep. Is something off track? Get to the root cause.
  • Apply what you have learned and get things back on track.

If you’re searching for a financial partner to help you use efficient data to reach your business goals, schedule a call with our Founder, Jeff! Our mission is to help entrepreneurs gain control of their finances so they can make smart decisions to build and grow their businesses, and we’d love to help you!

Prepare for a Recession with this Cash Flow Projection Template

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Unfortunately, a recession is on the horizon and if you want your business to weather the storm, it’s time to start preparing. 

 

At New Economy, we have 5 strategies we suggest focusing on to get through this tough time. Each strategy is important but you’ll soon realize that managing your cash lands high on the list. 

 

We’ll explain more below and let you know how you can use our cash flow projection template as a tool for success. 

Use These 5 Strategies to Weather the Storm of a Recession

1. Manage Cash Well 

Cash is the lifeblood of every business. This means managing it well is essential for survival. Here’s how our team at New Economy suggests you manage your cash:

Plan and Process

Your business needs a solid plan and fool-proof processes to properly manage its cash. You can do this by:

  1. Analyze historical spending
  2. Understand spending needs
  3. Cut, reduce, and extend payments
  4. Identify cash flow gaps
  5. Identify solutions to cash flow gaps

Transformation

The way your business is managing its cash now may not be sustainable through a recession. You’ll need to build stronger business processes and intelligence around: 

  1. Cash collection acceleration techniques
  2. Proven effective collection policies 
  3. Prove effective credit policies
  4. Proven effective payment policies
  5. Building cash reserves 
  6. Preparedness on meeting obligations before they occur

Ending in Success

Properly managing your cash is an ongoing process, but eventually, you’ll earn a feeling of financial security based on your ability to predict cash flow needs. To create this feeling, you’ll need to: 

  1. Know when, where, and how your cash flow needs will occur
  2. Know the best resources for meeting cash flow needs (debt, equity, factoring)
  3. Be prepared to meet those needs in advance
  4. Set goals for building cash reserves 
  5. Set goals for paying down debt. 

2. Know Where Your Business Stands – No Sugar Coating

As a business owner, you need to have a strong pulse on your business. This means diving deeper into a few key areas to ensure the needle is moving in the right direction. 

 

Not to be overlooked, the health of your team and culture play a major role in the success of your business. Team members need to be on board and understand how their work plays a larger role. 

 

Keep a close eye on your goals as well. Regularly take the time to ask yourself if you are on or off track with your goals and one-year plan. Understand why and what needs to change to get or keep the business on course. 

 

To no surprise, analyzing financial performance is key to understanding where your business stands. Are you meeting key targets, like: 

  • Revenue? 
  • Gross profit?
  • The budgets for operational costs?

 

Dig deep to know where you are at and what may need to change. 

3. Turn Up Your Leadership

Companies rise and fall based on leadership. Your role as a business owner is to serve as a leader for your team. 

 

Here are a few of the ways you can become a stronger leader: 

  • Give clear direction on the vision
    • Create openings and opportunities for the team to connect. Be compelling and bang the drum. 
  • Provide the necessary tools for the team
    • They’ll need training, technology, and most importantly time and attention to help the succeed.
  • Act with the greater good in mind
    • One of your roles is to focus on long-term outcomes. Help your team understand how their work now impacts the greater good of the company. 
  • Keep expectations clear and communicate well.
    • We can’t stress this enough – communication is key! 

4. Run Scenarios 

There are plenty of different directions your business could turn in a recession. To best prepare, you need to have the ability to do “what ifs”. Scenario planning, aka financial modeling, offers you the ability to get a glimpse of potential outcomes for your business. 

 

With good financial modeling, you’ll get future visibility by month to make decisions. 

 

Our advice: Play with the assumptions to determine the outcome. For instance, lower your revenue by 10% to see the implications on cash flow and profitability. Perhaps then, you reduce your operating expenses to achieve the same profit margin. 

 

Again, understanding where your business could be headed will help you make quicker, more educated decisions. 

5. Find Opportunities 

Just because a recession is typically a negative experience, it doesn’t mean there aren’t hidden opportunities. 

 

For example, layoffs are abundant, but this also means there is top talent being let go. Look for that talent and add them to your team. 

 

You may also run into a business that is not adequately prepared or is struggling. This may provide an opportunity for a merger or acquisition. Keep your eyes and ears open. 

 

Other struggling businesses may not be serving their customers well, providing you an opportunity to acquire new customers. 

As a reminder, our team at New Economy helps entrepreneurs gain control of their finances to make smart decisions to build and grow their businesses. 

 

One of our favorite tools to use to do this is our cash flow projection tool. It will help you understand how to plan your budget in advance and see how much money will be coming in and out over time. You can grab it for free here.

If you have any questions or would like assistance in preparing your business for a recession, schedule a call with our Founder, Jeff! He’d love to learn more about your business and explain how New Economy can help!

Startup Accounting: 5 Essential Processes for Success

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As a growing startup, your business will eventually need to implement several key processes to continue achieving your business goals. 

These processes will improve efficiency and help you complete the actions or operations needed to achieve your desired result. 

Here at New Economy, we focus our processes on data. This gives us the best results and positions us for success. 

We have identified five essential processes that are handled by our team of accountants, controllers, and CFOs. This article will dive into these processes and explain how they work. 

Startup Accounting

1. Bill Pay Process

Knowing how much cash (when and to whom it’s going) is leaving your business is important. This is where a bill paying process comes into play. 

Here are some key steps for this process: 

  • Establish a weekly rhythm to focus on this process. We like to use a schedule or calendar. 
  • Ensure all documentation has been received such as invoices, shipping documents, and purchase orders. 
  • Produce an accounts payable aging to show which amounts are due, to whom, and when. 
  • Establish an approval process for payment ensuring that the goods or services have been actually received or provided. 
  • Leverage technology to store digital documents and automate the approval process using technology like bill.com.

The bill pay processes are typically performed by staff or a senior accountant. The information is then leveled up into cash flow forecasting.

2. Cash Flow Forecasting Process

Attaching itself to the tactical bill pay process is a more strategic process in order to gain future visibility. Understanding your cash flow gaps is crucial to managing your business and achieving your goals. 

Here are some key steps for this process: 

  • Layer on extra time to your weekly bill pay meeting rhythm to get more strategic.
  • Download New Economy’s simple free cash flow tool at https://neweconomycpa.com/free-cashflow-tool/.
  • Load in all expected money due over the next 13 weeks and all money going out over the next 13 weeks. Then, verify the figure to your AR and AP aging.
  • Analyze and review for cash flow gaps.
  • Determine the next steps to cover the gap such as accelerating AR collections, leveraging a short-term loan, or extending terms on your accounts payable.

The cash flow forecasting process is a beauty. This process has helped many entrepreneurs sleep at night as it provides the visibility and data they need to make good decisions. This process is usually owned by a more experienced team member, like a controller.

3. Month-End Closing Process

All businesses need timely and accurate financial statements. Obtaining them each month allows you to determine how your business performed. This is beneficial as it will give you a snapshot of the financial condition of your business.

Here are some key steps for this process: 

  • Set up an agreed-upon timeline to have the books closed. This is typically by the 15th of the month for the preceding month.
  • Prepare a month-end closing checklist. This includes things like complete bank reconciliations, credit card reconciliations, and ensuring revenue is properly recognized.
  • Complete the month end closing checklist to ensure that the accounting policies are followed. To ensure the books are accurate, accounting policies must be executed.
  • Book all adjusting entries that are necessary for accurate books.

The goal of the month-end closing process is to ensure that your numbers are accurate. This is important as you’ll need to leverage your month-end financials to build and grow your business. This process is usually owned by a more experienced team member, like a controller.

4. Budget vs Actual Process

Attaching to the month-end close process is the budget versus actual process. This process allows you to understand, line item by line item, how the business is performing against plan.

Here are some key steps to this process: 

  • Load your budget into your accounting system.
  • Produce a system-generated budget versus actual report.
  • Review variances and determine if the variance is a timing issue or a real business issue that needs to be addressed.
  • Share the variances with department heads or others that can be held accountable to influence change.

The goal of this process is to determine where the business is over or underperforming. This is great data to have as points you in the right direction and gives you the opportunity to ask yourself if things need to change. This process is usually owned by a more experienced team member, like a controller.

5. Financial Model Process 

Building and maintaining a three-statement financial model by month, over the next 12-18 months, is crucial. It provides a picture of what the business looks like in the future and what resources are needed to bring that vision alive.

Here are some key steps to this process: 

  • Gain an understanding of the overall business model and drivers.
  • Review relevant contracts and agreements that are pertinent to the business.
  • Build out a three-statement model being a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow.
  • Adjust the model each month based on what you have learned about the business. 
  • Iterate, iterate, iterate as this is a living and breathing document.

The goal of this process is to provide you with a flexible picture, based on your assumptions, of the future financial condition of the business. Further, it will provide you with a road map of where the business is headed. This process is usually owned by a more experienced team member, like a CFO.

Startup Accounting

Build Out These Processes for Success

With due diligence and the help of these processes, your business will be well-positioned for success. 

If building out these processes sounds overwhelming or too time-consuming, reach out to New Economy. We help entrepreneurs gain control of their finances and make smart decisions.

Head over to our website for related blog postings and don’t forget to schedule a time to meet with our founder, Jeff. He’d love to learn more about your business and walk you through how New Economy can help it grow!

Outsourced Controller Services: Everything Your Business Needs to Know

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Have you ever felt frustrated, overwhelmed, and out of control with the financial state of your business? 

If so, you’re not alone. In fact, 66% of business owners say they are in the same boat, constantly scrambling to get the numbers right and things done on time. 

Let’s face it. You need help managing your finances, but don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.  

At New Economy, we believe the outsourced controller plays a key role in your financial team and serves a valuable role in growing your business. 

Let’s Define New Economy’s Outsourced Controller: 

They are just like you. 

Our outsourced controllers have passion and guts and are willing to put everything on the line. With their unique financial skills, they want to support people that believe they are changing the world and help them in that mission. That person is YOU! Our controllers are for you and your business!

They are accountrapreneurs at heart.

They will provide financial information that directly impacts your goals. They will manage and report on the accounting systems, financial statements, and budgets to bring efficiency and visibility to your operations. Their work is a vital foundation for allowing you to learn about your business and help it grow. 

They are team-focused leaders. 

They are leaders operating in a team environment providing numerous avenues for collaboration, problem-solving, and breaking through barriers. You will work with and tap into the knowledge of your outsourced controller on a regular basis. 

Why Do You Need an Outsourced Controller?

Outsourced controllers add incredible value to finance teams. Here are some of the reasons you may need an outsourced controller: 

  • You are looking to make smart, data-driven decisions.
  • You are looking to connect the financials to the business objectives and goals.
  • You are looking to have timely and accurate financial reports to make smart decisions.
  • You are looking to increase the depth of your accounting department with an expert.
  • You are tired and frustrated with the current accounting team’s output.

When Do You Need an Outsourced Controller? 

If you found yourself checking the boxes on “why” you need an outsourced controller, your next question is likely, “Is now the right time to bring one onto our team?” 

Here are the top five signs you need an outsourced controller: 

  • Your business is growing.
  • You are not getting timely and accurate financial reports to make business decisions.
  • You are overpaying your current full-time controller to do administrative tasks, HR, and other non-accounting functions.
  • Your systems and processes need to evolve to support the business.
  • Your current accounting team is not helping you achieve your goals.

Check out our article, “Top 5 Reasons to Engage a Part Tim Controller or Accountant” for more information on these points! 

What is the Cost of an Outsourced Controller? 

Another valid question refers to the cost of outsourced controllers. Let’s crunch a few numbers. 

First, run a salary benchmark for your location for a controller’s salary. You’ll find that this number typically lands between $90K-$125K for startups and small businesses. 

Next, add on 20% or more to cover benefits like payroll taxes, 401k contributions, and health insurance. 

Then, add time to manage, train, and develop this person; trust us, this is a lot! 

But then, reduce that overall cost by 20-30% by having the team member focus on very specific matters that require their expertise. For example, they focus solely on financial statements but do not spend any time on administrative tasks. 

Wondering If an Outsourced Controller Could Fit into Your Business? 

If all of this sounds great, but you’re still questioning how it could work for your business, check out the list below. More often than not, if you meet the following criteria, this strategy has a high probability of success:

  1. You leverage technology and are okay with a remote work environment. 
  2. You are an investor-backed startup with at least a year of runway OR a growing small business with revenues between $2-$40 million. 
  3. You run on EOS or have a culture that is collaborative, engaged, and values financial input. 
  4. You are looking to build the best possible team to set you up for success. 
  5. You are educated, business astute, and technically competent. 
  6. You have a pleasant, outgoing personality with a positive disposition. 
  7. You are motivated to have accurate financial systems, insights, and visibility. 
  8. You are willing and open to learning. 
  9. You are looking to invest in process and infrastructure. 

So, Why New Economy? 

Wondering why New Economy is the best choice for an outsourced controller as opposed to other companies? 

We believe we have three key differentiators: 

  • A team-based approach
    • We run on a team-based approach of proven accounting and financial processes that will help you grow your business. 
  • Technologically advanced
    • We use the top technology to provide you with the most agile financial reporting and insights. 
  • Accountrapreneurs
    • We are accountrapreneurs who understand your business’s challenges and speak your language. 

Our team at New Economy was designed to help entrepreneurs gain control of their finances and make smart decisions to build and grow their business. 

Schedule a time to meet with our founder, Jeff, to learn more about how the outsourced controllers at New Economy can help and fit into your business!

Using a KPI Scorecard to Grow Your Business

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Picture a small plane flying over the Pacific Ocean. Halfway across the pilot announces, “I’ve got good news and bad news”. 

The bad news is the gauges are not working. We are lost and I have no idea how much fuel we have left, what direction we are headed, or how fast we are going. The good news is we are making great time!

Sound familiar? That’s how most entrepreneurs run their organizations. 

They are flying blind with no data to help them assess if they are on track, headed in the right direction, and making progress. But they are always optimistic that things will go their way.

At New Economy, we believe a good Key Performance Indicator (KPI) in the form of a scorecard will help you manage data and provide you with a pulse of your business on a consistent basis. This will allow you to take prompt, effective action. Say goodbye to managing assumptions, egos, and emotions.

Creating an Effective KPI Scorecard

Creating an effective KPI scorecard takes some strategy. Here are several key highlights to consider as you build your weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual scorecard. 

Typically, we start with setting a leadership team. Your team will include your finance lead including your finance lead. If you don’t have an in-house finance lead, our article, “Does My Company Need a CFO?” will be helpful. 

For now, you can start working on the following to create your KPI scorecard:

1. Identify and Agree on The Top 10 Items to Measure

The success of your scorecard greatly depends on the items you choose to measure. 

These should be relevant to your business goals and provide you with enough insight to make essential decisions on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. 

We have suggested 10 financial metrics in this article, but keep in mind the metrics you track should be specific to your business and agreed upon by your team. 

2. Make Someone Accountable for Each Measurable 

As mentioned, your team should play a role in creating and carrying out your KPI scorecard. 

Assign someone a measurable and make them accountable for it. They will be the person responsible for getting it back on track if it goes off track.

3. Create Goals for Each Measurable 

Each of your measurables should have at least one associated goal. Once you’ve created a goal for each measurable, you’ll be able to track how they are performing in relation to your goal. 

4. Make the Measurable Time Sensitive 

At New Economy, we have measurables that are weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. This gives us a reason to continuously reference our measurables and ensure we are making progress in a timely manner. 

We recommend having time-sensitive measurables in your KPI scorecard as well. 

5. Make Someone Accountable for Getting the Measurable and Filling in the Scorecard Each Week

Accountability is a great byproduct of using KPI scorecards. Take advantage of the opportunity and assign specific measurables to each teammate. Ask that they gather the measurables and fill them into the scorecard each week.

Not only does this ensure the scorecard is being completed but it also makes the teammate feel involved, trusted, and responsible. 

6. Use it! 

Your KPI scorecard is only valuable if you use it! Meet with your leadership team regularly to determine if your business is on track or off track based on scorecard numbers. 

If things are off track, have the accountable person report back as to why and come up with some proposed solutions. This keeps the team involved and ensures you have a pulse on your financials.

A Few More KPI Scorecard Tips: 

As you begin leaning into this system, keep these last few tips in mind: 

  1. Push yourself to measure leading indications.
    1. These are the things that will get you the desired result. This ties back into point number one above. Focus on the most important measurables. 
  2. If things are off track, STOP. Figure out the issue to fix things.
    1. The point of the scorecard is to show you when you are on and/or off track with ample time to make adjustments. If you notice things trending in the wrong take action right away.  
  3. Consider creating a scorecard for each department in your company (Marketing, Operations, Sales, Accounting).
    1. Your scorecards will be more detailed and effective when you have one specifically created for each department. This allows for more relevant measurables to be tracked. 

Using a KPI Scorecard Has Grown Our Business

At New Economy, we know scorecards work because we’ve seen incredible growth since implementing them in our business. In fact, we’ve seen our top line increase by 40%. 

Which is why we suggest you use them too. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs gain control of their finances so they can make smart decisions to build and grow their businesses, so, schedule a time to meet with our founder, Jeff! He’d love to learn more about your business and explain how New Economy can help!

How Your Accounting Process Fits with EOS

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The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) is a framework for running a business. It uses strategic vision, systems/processes, and ultimately data to keep track of progress. The framework focuses on people and guides them toward a successful business with the help of simple tools and principles. 

EOS organizes the challenges you face every day by making them more manageable. With the help of this operating system, you can solve issues before they become problems, get the right people in the right seats, make meetings more productive, and build a culture of accountability.  

Many companies have started using this framework, however, they are not fully enjoying its benefits because they are still relying on an unorganized accounting system. It’s essential these are working together because good accounting, and even better – an accounting team that uses EOS – will help you get more out of your EOS. 

Let’s take a look at how good accounting can help drive the success of your EOS and overall, your business. 

Alignment with Strategic Vision

One of the primary functions of EOS is to clarify the vision of your business. It’s meant to get everyone on your team on the same page. Your accountant is not exempt. They should understand the direction you want your business to go so they can focus their work on achieving your goals. 

Every move you make can strongly impact whether or not you grow into your one, three, and even five-year vision. This is why it is important to align your strategic vision with the work your accountant is doing. 

For example, when your accountant operates under your EOS, they can frame your financial projections to connect to your vision. This ensures your finances are moving in the direction you need to go and the work you are doing now is keeping you on the right path to reaching your long-term goals. 

Moving beyond the numbers, this also ensures that leaders in all departments are on the same page and are completing tasks and working toward a like vision. 

1 Year and 3 Year Plan

Speaking of reaching goals, in most cases, goals are typically tied to revenue. Whether it’s increasing revenue or finding ways to generate new revenue streams, this is a primary focus for most businesses. 

In an EOS process, you create a 3 year vision and 1 year plan for your business. This eliminates a generic focus on growth for growth’s sake, and connects real results to your goals.

Profit versus Revenue

When you rely on good accounting, you can easily track and manage the relationship between your profits and revenue. This is essential because as you know, additional revenue is great, but additional profits are better. Profit leaves room for scaling and flexibility with your team and growth. 

Working with an accountant who not only has ideas and a strong understanding of the relationship between revenue and profits in your business but also frames those ideas in a way that helps you reach your goals keeps all aspects of your business moving in the right direction. 

Good Data for Accountability

Good data is another essential piece of accounting, but it can also be used as a tool for accountability. Scorecards are a great way to track and record this data. 

A scorecard will include a combination of the KPIs you need to reach your business goals. They are built specifically for your business and can be used to gauge your numbers for any set period of time (weekly, monthly, or quarterly). You don’t have to overthink your scorecard, try including just four or five of your most important metrics. 

Where they begin to work as an accountability tool is when you allow your team to help you build the scorecards. You will ask your team how they would measure a good week and include those metrics in their scorecard. From there they will update them and use the results as an accountability tool. 

Scorecards also allow you to quickly identify issues when you fall off track. You will be able to pinpoint discrepancies in your data and make swift adjustments to get it moving in the right direction again. 

Again, the idea behind this is to ensure everyone is on the same page and taking actionable steps to execute that vision. A scorecard matched with your EOS will help you do that. 

Consistent with Your Values and Approach 

As an EOS company, your processes should be driven and strive for predictable growth. In order for this to happen, your entire team needs to have a strong understanding of your values and approach to business.

Your accounting system is no different. It should be consistent with your overall business approach and focus on producing the results you need to see success. 

To achieve this consistency across your business, work with an accounting firm like New Economy. We are trained in EOS and understand the importance of incorporating your accounting system with all other aspects of your business. 

In fact, it’s our mission to help entrepreneurs gain control of their finances and make smart business decisions. Contact us today to learn how we can help you! 

 

What Will it Cost me to Outsource my Accounting?

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Outsourcing accounting is trending in the business world. 

Depending on the role you choose to outsource, entrepreneurs reap many benefits, like: 

  • Accurate and timely financial insight
  • Strategic support and guidance
  • More time to work on the business instead of in it
  • Cost savings

If you’re exploring this option for your business, one of your primary questions is most likely, what will it cost me to outsource my accounting? 

The following article will answer this question based on New Economy’s numbers so you can have a rough estimate of the total cost savings you’ll receive from outsourcing your accounting. 

Know What You Need

Before you begin to think about the cost of outsourcing your accounting, you need to be clear on the kind of service you need, whether it be an accountant, controller, or CFO. 

Each service has a different function, so you want to make sure you’re outsourcing based on your needs. 

An accountant is tactical in nature and takes care of the basic financial management that is required for compliance and business success. 

A controller is a bit more experienced and typically leads the accounting staff. They’ll have more insight into your business and have the ability to make operational improvements to your financial system. 

A CFO is a strategic partner and will work with the CEO to perfect the business model and ensure the business is meeting its financial goals. 

For more detail about each role, check out our article on the topic. It’ll help you select which service is the right fit for your business so you can properly outsource your accounting. 

Let’s Define the Cost Savings (Sorry for the data and detail, we are number crunchers!)

The cost of hiring a full-time employee can pile up, and this is before you even think about the time and salary. 

However, outsourcing your accounting to New Economy offers plenty of cost savings in a few key areas. 

Training Investments

IT and Technology

  • We cover all of the IT and technology investments which is roughly $5k per employee each year. 

Fringe Benefits

  • We cover all of the fringe benefits including payroll taxes, 401k match, and health insurance. To put this into perspective, this means we are investing between $15K-$20k per employee each year based on a $75k salary. 

Management Time

  • We cover all of the management time on each account which can be a bit more challenging to quantify. However, you are now valuing your own time. 

So as you can see, New Economy covers anywhere between $25k-$35k in costs that, when you outsource your accounting, you do not have to assume. And keep in mind, these numbers don’t include salary. 

Before we Jump into Salary, Consider the Time that You Need

When you take into account the costs above and include a salary of $75k per year, you’re now shelling out anywhere between $100k-$110K for a full-time employee. However, this begs the question, do you really need a full-time employee? 

We are learning that many internal accounting hires are pulled into operations or admin work. When this happens, they are being overpaid and under-challenged. And you run the risk of losing them.

To avoid this, you need to understand the true time needs in accounting. This will reduce your investment in this area. 

For example, a full-time controller could cost between $80K-$125K, but if you only need a 50% schedule, your cost will reduce dramatically. 

Now onto Salary, Keeping in Mind we are Focused on Growing Small Businesses and Startups

Let’s take a look at the typical salaries for hiring full-time: 

  • A new accountant can cost anywhere from $55K-$65K
  • An experienced accountant can cost anywhere from $65K-$80K
  • A Controller can cost anywhere from $80K-$125K
  • A CFO can cost anywhere from $125-$200K

In our experience, most growing small businesses and startups don’t need full-time accounting help. 

So the true cost savings of outsourcing your accounting while still obtaining top-tier talent would be: 

  • $25K-$35K on technology, training, and benefits
  • 20%-30% of the salary by leveraging the team member in their unique ability and removing all admin and operational type work

Interested in Outsourcing Your Accounting to New Economy? 

At New Economy, we believe outsourcing is a great way to help you gain control of your finances to make smart decisions to build and grow your company. 

Our team comes from a great culture where they are nurtured and developed and we are proud of the awesome service they deliver. 

Based on the above, you can see that there can be significant cost savings in outsourcing your accounting.

If you are interested in learning more about our service, reach out to us today!

Do You Know the Difference Between an Accountant, Controller, and CFO?

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Accountants, controllers, and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) can all play an essential role in a finance department.

However, the size of your business, your business needs, and your business goals, will all play a part in determining which role you need to hire for. Making the right decision is crucial and can completely change the trajectory of your business. 

This article will touch on the importance of knowing the difference between an accountant, controller, and CFO and cover the key differences between each. 

Let’s dive in. 

Knowing the Difference is Important

Accountants, controllers, and CFOs all provide different services. Each role fills different needs within a company, so before you make a hire, you need to be clear on exactly what areas of your finances need attention and which role will best fit those needs. 

This will ensure you are bringing on team members who have the skillset required to meet those needs. 

Knowing the difference and choosing the right role before making a hire also ensures: 

  • You are not overpaying
  • You are not under-challenging or over-challenging the team member based on their unique skill sets as compared to the functions needed
  • You are building a solid foundation for your accounting team 

When you are clear on your company’s needs and hire the right person to match the role, you’ll see better results.

Let’s Cover the Differences 

Here is a general overview of the role of an accountant, controller, and CFO so you can be aware of the differences and make a hire that best fits your company’s needs. 

Accountant 

An accountant is someone that is tactical in nature. They do the groundwork and basic financial management that is required for compliance and business success.

Accountants handle things like: 

  • Bill paying
  • Payroll 
  • bank recs
  • Invoicing
  • Expense categorization 

An accountant will be under you or whoever is in charge of your company’s finances and will likely need supervision and training. They will handle the tasks needed to keep everything in order while maintaining and compiling the information you need to make financial decisions.

Controller

A controller is someone who is more experienced than an accountant and has a solid understanding of GAAP and the business. They’ll take the time to really understand your goals and use that information to improve your finance department. 

Controllers typically lead and manage other accounting staff as well as select and implement the processes your financial system needs to succeed. 

Your executive team will benefit from a controller because they deliver timely and accurate financial information. This information is typically derived from historical results which, as you know, can be very helpful and identifying trends and spotting issues before they turn into larger problems. 

Overall, a controller will have more insight into your business and have the ability to make operational improvements to your financial system when needed. 

CFO

A CFO is a strategic partner. They take on the higher-level role of managing your entire accounting department and its processes. Everything that happens within your finance department will be overseen by your CFO, including: 

  • Cash flow strategy
  • Business strategy
  • Creating budgets & forecasting
  • Oversee the entire accounting team

CFOs work closely with the CEO and have a strong understanding of the business and its goals. They spend time perfecting the business model and supporting the strategic direction of the company. 

You’ll turn to your CFO for advice on the basics like improving profitability and building cash flow but also for strategic support regarding organizational changes like mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs and negotiating vendor contracts. 

CFOs will also prioritize capital, ensuring your business has what it needs to fully execute its plans and reach its goals. They are skilled in building relationships with investors and are well-versed in capital-building strategies and can apply that information to best serve your business. 

Pick a Role That Meets Your Needs

While each role can make a massive impact on the financial health of your business, they are all unique. 

Before making any decisions, you need to lay out your needs and sort through the areas where additional help could be of benefit. From there, refer back to the roles of an accountant, controller, and CFO to determine which best fits your needs. 

Ensuring the people you hire fit into the role you are looking to fill is the best way to set them and your business up for success. 

However, if you’re looking for a more cost-effective approach than hiring an in-house accountant, controller, or CFO, consider reaching out to New Economy. 

We aim to help entrepreneurs gain control of their finances and make smart decisions by offering each of these roles for a much lower price than a full-time employee. 

We would love to meet with you and learn more about your needs so we can direct you towards the right role for you. Contact us today to learn more!

What to Ask When Interviewing an Outsourced Firm (and How New Economy Answers)

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As your business grows, so will your financial needs. You’ll start to require: 

  • More time for financial management, 
  • A stronger understanding of your financial information,
  • Better tools and resources to ensure timely and accurate numbers.

 

At this point, many businesses choose to outsource their accounting, which solves and helps avoid the problems listed above. 

However, like hiring a new employee, outsourcing your accounting requires an interview process. You have to make sure you select the right firms – one that will grow with you and wants to see you succeed. 

The rest of the article provides several questions you should ask while interviewing an outsourced firm and how we, New Economy, answer them. 

How Do You Manage Capacity? 

Capacity management should be of utmost importance when choosing where to outsource your accounting. You want to be confident that your finances are a priority and that none of the work you are outsourcing is slipping through the cracks.

At New Economy, we take three extra steps to manage our capacity: 

  1. We have a second team member trained and take a team approach in case of turnover. This ensures that no matter what happens on our end, we are still able to prioritize your finances. 
  2. We leverage a schedule for time-blocking. Time-blocking allows us to dedicate time to your project so we accomplish what needs to be done. 
  3. We have an operations team in place. Our operations team keeps everything running smoothly, helps to eliminate bottlenecks, and is always looking for ways to improve workflow. 

How Do You Train and Develop Your Team? 

In the same way you care about building a strong team for your business, you should also care about the team you outsource your accounting to. 

They should be well trained, experienced in their field, and always working towards growing as professionals. 

Training and developing our team is key to best serving our clients. New Economy team members each get 40 hours of training upon hire. From there, we create quarterly development rocks to help each employee work towards their goals. 

Do You Have Any Industry Focus? 

Selecting an accounting firm that is experienced in your industry is a key factor in making your final decision. 

An industry-focused accountant will be able to help you track the right metrics, make strategic decisions, and plan for long-term growth. They’ll know what works in your industry and what doesn’t so you can avoid the what-ifs and start improving financially as a business. 

At New Economy, we work with investor-backed startups and growing small businesses. Most of those are technology and service-based companies that range from pre-revenue to $50 million in revenue. 

If your business falls into any of those categories, New Economy may be a good choice as your outsourced accounting firm, simply because we have a strong understanding of your industry.

How Do You Set Up Pricing and Fee Structure? 

Pricing is rightfully a major concern for businesses looking to outsource their accounting. Typically, accounting firms operate on one of two styles of pricing: 

  • Hourly 
  •  Fixed Fee

Hourly billing works as it sounds – you are charged by the hour for services.

Fixed fee sets a monthly retainer. The focus is more on the value of the service being provided, within the agreed time

You should select a firm whose pricing and fee structure best suit your needs.

New Economy has fixed fees as we are focused on the value delivered as opposed to the billable hour. Additionally, we revisit fees quarterly to make sure everyone is still benefiting economically. 

What is Your Proven Process for Service Delivery? 

Be sure to ask the firm you are interviewing what their process is like for delivering services. You deserve a clear understanding of how things work from start to finish. 

This will give you insight into their priorities and workflow management, as well as set clear expectations for the relationship. 

At New Economy, our process for service delivery is broken into three primary areas. 

The first is taking the time to learn about your business and its needs through several sales Zoom calls leading up to a signed contract. 

The second is an onboarding Zoom call to set timelines and expectations for our work. 

Finally, we will set weekly and monthly calendar check-ins to measure against expectations. 

Our goal is to help you get the most out of your business, and by following this process, we will be able to fully understand you and your business, create a customized plan to help you reach your goals, and provide deliverables with progress updates and more. 

Interested in Outsourcing to New Economy?

If after reading you feel New Economy might be a good fit, schedule a time to meet with Jeff, our founder today! 

We help entrepreneurs gain control of their finances and make smart decisions and would love to learn more about you, your company’s story, and how we can add value to your situation! 

Top Ways to Prepare for a Recession

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Talks of a recession are growing as the economy continues to feel the negative effects of the Corona Virus and the war in Ukraine. 

Both have led to lingering supply chain issues, inflation reaching record highs, capital markets tightening up, and talent shortages across nearly every industry. 

For small business owners, a looming recession can be frightening. The last recession, which began in 2007 and lasted through 2010, forced nearly 1.8 million small businesses to go under. 

Now, business owners are intimidated and again struggling to keep up and adapt to a market that is trending downwards. 

However, there’s no need to fear, there is still time to prepare and strengthen your business for a potential recession. Here are some of the top ways to do it:

Review Your Expenses in Detail

As you prepare to fight the storm of a recession, the first place to look is your expenses. You’ve likely already sifted through your expenses and cut back in places where you were overspending or spending unnecessarily, but now it is time to go back to the drawing board. 

Instead of starting with all of the expenses you can cut, start by defining your necessary expenses. 

  • Rent
  • Utilities
  • Inventory 
  • Insurance
  • Employee salaries
  • Etc. 

From there, crosscheck these necessities with your current spending habits. What expenses don’t fit into these categories? 

This will give you an idea of what expenses you can do without when the time comes to save money. 

Manage Your Cash Flow Weekly 

We’ve said it before, and we promise to say it again, cash flow is the lifeblood of your business. It’s a strong indicator of financial health and without a positive cash flow your business won’t survive a recession. 

You can build your cash flow by: 

  • Tracking related metrics and utilizing forecasts to produce better outcomes.
  • Keeping a close watch on your accounts receivable by collecting payments on time and knowing what you are owed.
  • Updating vendor and partner contracts to ensure you are not overpaying. 
  • Running a pricing analysis to ensure you are still charging the right prices. 

As you start implementing these strategies, remember to wrap your arms around your cash flow and manage it weekly. 

New Economy’s FREE Cash Flow Projection Tool can help you do just that. It was built to help you predict your cash flow and make smart decisions about spending and saving. With our tool, you’ll be able to see all of the inflows and outflows that affect your bottom line over time so that you can plan ahead with confidence. 

Run Scenarios in Your Financial Projections

Your financial projections can determine how well your business copes with the effects of a recession. They’ll use previous data to help you indicate where you may see problems down the road. 

As you prepare for a recession, you should create financial projections for what would happen if you cut expenses, saw changes in revenue, increase or decrease your prices, and so forth. This will give you better visibility as you navigate the downturn and help you make the right decisions to keep your business afloat. 

Revisit Financing Options Now

Before it’s too late, explore your financing options. Now is a great time to speak with lenders or investors, apply for grants, or even start a crowdfunding campaign. 

However, be clear with how much additional cash you need to raise before you dive in. You can use the free cash flow tool here, as well, to gain greater visibility and determine how much you may need to survive a recession. 

Get Accurate and Updated Financials

Knowing where your business stands at all times is key to preparing for and withstanding a recession. 

There are multiple tools you can use to get accurate and updated financials. The top four tools include: 

  • Cash Flow Tool
    • As we mentioned, this helps measure the inflows and outflows that affect your bottom line.
  • Weekly Scorecard
    • This includes the KPIs you need to reach your business goals.
  •  Financial Projections
    • These are predictive analyses you can use to help you make informed decisions. 
  • Month-End Close
    • This is a monthly recap of your financial statements. By following the steps needed to complete your month-end close, you’ll also be staying on top of your finances month-to-month, which is essential for preparing for a recession. 

New Economy Can Help You Prepare

For business owners, the thought of a recession can be intimidating. However, with preparation, you can ensure your business comes out on the other side. 

We’ve covered the importance of reviewing your expenses in detail, managing your cash flow weekly, running scenarios in your financial projections, revisiting financing options, and getting accurate and updated financials, but if you’re still struggling to prepare for a recession, turn to New Economy for guidance!

We help entrepreneurs gain control of their finances to make smart decisions to build and grow their business – and that includes before, during, and after a recession. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help!

CONTACT US

 (401) 256-2404

CONTACT US

 (401) 256-2404