An important question financial executives are often asked by the Board, their CEO and executive peers is where did our cash go? The folks making these inquiries know sales are being made while money is being spent on salaries, inventory and equipment, but they don’t really know how, when or where it flows.
You’ve owned your business for years, possibly even decades. You’ve built it into an enterprise you’re proud of, and you believe it has a bright future. However, you’ve never had a need for reviewed or audited financial statements.
Why would you? After all, you file your taxes and turn an impressive profit. However, now that you’re considering a sale, you realize your finances need a little work before they’re ready for the scrutiny of third-party buyers.
Turning an economic downturn into a financial upturn for your business.
Whether it’s a slow down in consumption due to inflation, asset bubbles about to burst in the housing and stock markets, a supply chain run amok, pandemic government relief running out or just a “long in the tooth” expansion; there are loads of discussions taking place on how our robust economy could be nearing a downturn.
How can you determine what this might mean for your business? Here are some thoughts I developed with a colleague recently. We applied the concepts to our businesses to help us prepare for a changing economy.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) has come of age at just the right time. Statistics show that password compromises are by far the most likely reason companies experience data breaches. The most recent Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report indicated that 81% of hacking-related breaches leveraged either stolen, default, or weak passwords. The time has come to “up the ante” and strengthen the way we prove identities beyond the plain old simple password.
