Make worthwhile and lasting change in your business that inspires people, delivers results and improves systems.
All in Cashflow
Over the last 10 years I have worked with Private Equity, in a CFO role, interim CFO role & through Private Equity firms as a consultant.
I love working with private equity, I’ll give you 5 reasons why.
Jo Hands writes all about driving value creation. Value creation is a word that’s used a lot, but what does it mean? Creating value - customer, consumer and financial. When a company buys a business, they focus on value creation. The business case assumes that there is value to create. This value can be created by pulling either strategic or operational levers.
Jo Hands asks the question - are you making money? It's a very simple question. Forget accounting standards and rubbish reasons your results look crap are you making sustainable earnings in your business. If your wondering how to know, here are a couple of tips…
Mark Easdown writes about forecasting. The prediction process starts with propositions, then verified, quantified and made actionable. A robust peer review occurs and 95% of predictions are modified along the way. Plummer routinely scrutinises predictions with actual events and these results are highlighted at conferences – championing the successes and sharing insights across those that were wrong. “Nobody here is hired because they’re psychic; there hired to generate insights that are useful – even if they turn out wrong. It’s useful to get you thinking”.
Private Equity firms must have a clearly defined playbook containing value creation initiatives in order to succeed. This 40+ page playbook by Whiteark is the ultimate guide to realising value in your Private Equity transaction. An asset’s full potential is realised through a holistic approach, that focuses on optimising operational performance, enhancing strategic capabilities and effective capital management.
The CFO role is not an easy one - there is a real struggle between short term financial objectives and long-term strategic outcomes. Both are very important but need to be balanced. Getting your priorities right will ensure you thrive and not just survive which ultimately is the goal for every organisation.
Return on investment is an overused phrase but an underused concept in business. What return are you going to make for that investment? What is the payback period and how confident are you on the return? Say a company can only afford to spend $20 million on investment each year how does it decide what to invest in?
It seems simple and makes sense but many companies struggle to track and measure their financial and strategic performance. At the beginning of the year, as you reset your priorities post covid-19, it is imperative that you understand a range of metrics and measurement tools. Having a weekly scorecard that measures your top 10-15 metrics is critical.
Browse and download the Whiteark guide to Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB). This is a method of budgeting where all expenses are justified at the beginning of each new budget cycle and all assumptions documented. We explore the benefits and challenges of ZBB and the 7 steps required to build your own.
It’s not complicated, confusing or easy to manipulate, it doesn’t lie and shows the real health of a business. Even non-accountants understand cash as they all have to manage their personal cashflow – to ensure there is more inflows than outflows and …
