The CFO'S Perspective

Dave Saporta

Dave Saporta

Dave Saporta has over 30 years of experience in a wide variety of business environments. He has served as CFO and Corporate Controller for large companies with international operations, as well as providing hands-on finance and accounting advisory skills to smaller, emerging businesses.

Recent Posts by Dave Saporta:

The Cash Flow Statement – The Forgotten Financial Statement

The Perks of Being Royalty

One of the best things about being the sole owner of a privately held company is that you have a great deal of discretion as to how your business is operated.  You get to make the rules.  It’s like being the King or Queen.

This includes deciding on the form and content of the financial information your accounting staff prepares. Particularly if you have no debt or outside investors, you can decide what you want to see and how often you want to see it.

Topics: Cash Flow Financial Reports

3 Paths to Making Your Independent CPA Audit a Success

Why Audits Matter

For many middle market, closely-held businesses, the annual independent financial statement audit is an important part of the financial reporting process.

Lenders, investors and the company’s board of directors rely on audited financials to validate the interim financial data they are receiving as well as provide a sense of security as to the assets they have at risk.

As a result, many loan and shareholder agreements require annual audited financials.

In the best run businesses, the audited results should not differ from the unaudited internal financials.

That’s because the finance and accounting team is closing the monthly books on an accurate and timely basis. The team is also staying abreast of potential accounting issues that may need to be dealt with before year end.

In many businesses, incentive compensation plans may be tied to audited results.

This means that a well-managed company can ill afford to provide the management team with financial data subject to significant audit adjustments. Accordingly, it is in everyone’s best interests that the audit be conducted in an effective and efficient manner.

Topics: Leadership Audit CFO Responsibilities

Your Business May Not Need a CFO

Many businesses don’t need a CFO.  Yours may be one of them.

To be clear, pretty much every business needs some form of finance lead, or at least a solid accountant.

But if you are the owner or CEO of a privately held, reasonably successful small to mid-sized business, it’s pretty unlikely you need a CFO.  Certainly not a full-time CFO.

Now, depending on some of the challenges your business is facing, you may have the need or desire for some form of interim, part-time or “fractional” CFO.  But a full-time permanent CFO?  There’s a good chance that just doesn’t make sense.

Why not?  Because in this type of business, the primary responsibilities of the true CFO are either not required or they are handled by the business owner or CEO.

Topics: CFO Hiring Controller

Finance and Accounting Transaction Support Considerations for Middle-Market Mergers and Acquisitions

Preparation, and expert guidance are key for a successful middle-market business transaction.

READY OR NOT?

Owners and CEOs of middle-market companies may encounter a business acquisition or divestiture opportunity without the benefit of prior transaction experience. Likewise, such organizations may be supported by a finance and accounting function that has not participated in the purchase or sale of a business.

While investment bankers and other advisors are well-positioned to initiate transactions, and provide guidance throughout the process, the company’s own management team – particularly in the area of finance and accounting – may need to be augmented by additional deal-experienced resources.

The assessment by a first-time buyer or seller of the transaction-readiness of its finance and accounting resources is an important step toward achieving the objective of accelerating the completion of a transaction while minimizing the disruption of the underlying business.

The sections that follow identify a number of concepts a first-time middle market buyer or seller may wish to consider in assessing its level of preparedness for a transaction.

Topics: Mergers and Acquisitions