Our firm is 100% virtual – everyone works from home. And, for my wife and I home can be Vancouver, Salt Spring Island, Naxos Island, Greece, and Kenya, Africa. My productivity even goes up when in Europe or Africa (ask me!). In order to connect seamlessly with my Team and with our clients we use…

We are in the process of hiring a new Team Member, and in interviewing her about her current work situation it struck me how great people get penalized in many businesses. This person is paid by the hour, and she is efficient, so her boss keeps loading her up with more and more work. Sound…

Every single touch point in your business is an opportunity to wow, or not, your customers… In a competitive business world, (when is it ever not?), often the only way to rise above the crowd and risk being a tall poppy is through awesome service. Yes, all businesses must DO great work, yet how they…

Is it Right? When I look at the account balance on a set of financial statements, I always ask myself this “rocket science” question – “is it right?” And the answer can take some time to analyze. Let’s take a simple example – accounts receivable. Assume your Balance Sheet says you have accounts receivable –…

Is it Safe? The first question people ask me when I suggest only an online bill payment service is this – is it safe? The question I ask – do you think it is safe to pay by cheque? And, if yes, why? Let’s look at the facts. The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), not…

Sticky Costs Happy 2019! Once a business reaches a certain size it’s spending habits can spin out of control. Costs tend to be sticky. Let me illustrate what I mean by sticky with a simple example… You want to get in shape, so you join a gym. The monthly fees are billed on your credit…

Everyone knows how digital distractions dominate and divert our attention. Beep-beep, ding-ding, bzzz-bzzz. It’s like Vegas 24/7. (By the way, ironically, the titans of most social media companies and cell phone manufacturers forbid, yes, forbid cell phone to their kids. Do you think they know something we don’t?). Arguably the biggest distraction for people in…

One of the most stressful situations to be in is when you are the owner of a business (or the employee of a business) is when there is more cash going out than coming in. On the surface there may even be healthy net profit, and consistently good growth. However, cash may be tied up…

Most business owners never look at their cash-flow statement. Even for me, as a professional accountant, they can be rather cumbersome to create and boring to look at. Finally, we have a cash-flow report format that you can really see. A cash-flow report that puts the color back in and takes the word flow placing…

Every business owner knows what it is like when you first start up in business… Any sale is a good sale. It is also known as the breath-test. Is the person breathing? Yes!! Great!! A potential customer!! Credit checks can come later. Personality tests, well so what if they are a toxic personality – we…