Business Planning
Business planning is forecasting developments for a specific period of time in order to formulate a course of action. Effective planning enables the organization to control direction and stabilize it. Planning is an effective way of guiding the organization through a changing environment. We can help put together a plan that will enable your company to achieve results on a broader scale rather than constantly reacting to events on a day-to-day basis.
Emerging Business Management Analysis
The need for sound management techniques, including adequate organization, good planning, and good operational information do not vary by the size of the business. Small businesses rarely have the management personnel to handle all the necessary functions.
Owners of small business have to apply limited resources to a variety of needs in order to achieve their business objectives. Leverage in this process is timely and adequate information to assess the status and direction of the business. We can help the entrepreneur, assess the management practices and make recommendations on items that are of major importance to you.
Evaluating and Selecting a Computer System
Because computers have become very common in business, many executives are asking themselves, “What computer system should I buy?” Before this question can be answered, a business person should ask a different question, “Do I need a computer system?”
There are two major activities in acquiring a computer system. The first activity is to understand the needs of the business and match the computer system to those needs. The second activity is to properly install the computer system with new procedures and training. An effectively installed computer system can translate into benefits:
- Order Processing – quicker deliveries and more accurate order statistics
- Accounts Receivable – faster routine billing and collection
- Inventory – reduced investment and faster availability
- Purchasing – better cash management and vendor analysis
- Payroll – timely processing and labor cost analysis
- General Ledger – timely financial reporting and exception analysis
- Production Planning – efficient use of production facilities
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Software Package Evaluation
The cost of in-house application system development continues to climb steadily, and the retention of competent programmer analysts is more difficult. It is understandable that proprietary software packages are receiving so much attention from management. Substantial savings can be realized by using generalized software wherever practical and allowing the in-house Information Technology staffs to concentrate on more specialized projects that cannot be addressed by using software packages.
In addition to the potential for reduced cost, other advantages of software packages over tailored systems include reduced risk and faster implementation. We can assist you appraising an application package’s processing features, controls, technical efficiency, other user’s experience, and the vendor’s reputation.
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Computer Department Effectiveness Review
There have been, and continues to be, major changes in information technology and computer departments in recent years. Substantial changes have usually occurred with respect to equipment, software, and human resources. In response to this change, we can perform a systematic review that can produce recommendations for the short-term enhancements and provide the basis for a 3-to-5 year information technology plan.
A comprehensive effectiveness review can benefit in a number of ways. It can:
- Improve short-term management decision making
- Identify new application systems
- Prioritize system development efforts
- Improve IT resource requirements allocation
- Identify opportunities for cost savings
- Improve communications between IT and user departments
We can provide you with a methodical examination of your computer department, which can contribute to management effectiveness and operational performance.
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Office Management and Automation Review
Whether an enterprise sells a product or provides a service, it must maintain an office. Office management is the coordination and direction of the resources – personnel, machines, facilities, supplies, funds – involved in office-based work. The management of an office can have a critical bearing on the efficiency and profitability of the entire enterprise. If the office is well managed, the cost in resources and losses in effective services can be extremely damaging.
Dramatic changes are occurring within the office setting. White-collar office labor is the fastest growing component of the work force. In order to improve the productivity of the office workers, automation is being rapidly introduced. This office automation is making use of sophisticated computer technology. It is being increasingly integrated to form networks of work stations, each with a variety of applications as well as internal and external data processing services and software.
We can help by conducting an office management audit and develop recommendations that are intended to enhance the client’s performance.
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Production Planning and Control Review
Production consists of transforming raw materials into finished goods. In other words, it is a process that creates form utility. The process is generally quite complex, since it involves (a) the use of direct labor and overhead and (b) a sequence of numerous steps in order to accomplish this transformation. Moreover, specific production processes can vary widely in their physical arrangements and bases of demand.
We can conduct a survey of production planning and control practices to develop recommendations intended to enhance your company's performance.
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Materials Requirements Planning
Most businesses maintain an inventory of product to sell or materials for manufacturing products to build. Few operations can produce products entirely made to order. Customers expect quick delivery, and slow order fulfillment means lost business. To the extent that excess stock is maintained, the company suffers a drain on resources (interest cost on capital invested plus carrying cost). Insufficient stock can mean reduced customer service or the slowing down of production, which eventually impacts customer service.
The appropriate level for materials and inventory is a function of numerous factors: turnover rate, time needed for replacement, and purchase price as a proportion of total inventory investment including carrying cost. We can assist in evaluating your materials planning to enhance this area of resource management.
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Project Monitoring and Control
Project control concerned with planning and monitoring of resource utilization to ensure that a project will be completed on time, will be within cost, and will produce quality results.
The real key to effective project management and control is monitoring projects and consistent status reporting. By understanding the “blocking and tackling” issues and applying solid tools and techniques, we can help you develop strong project management skills.
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Productivity Improvement Review
Productivity is defined as total output divided by total input, or total results achieved compared to resources consumed. In other words, it is a measure of effectiveness and efficiency with which resource are used to accomplish desired results. The highest level of productivity can be equated with the maximum performance achieved for the minimum expenditure of resources. Productivity is relevant to every aspect of an enterprise, from white-and blue-collar employees to office machines and plant capacity. It is important to the success of every enterprise. In particular, productivity is a vital concern for business firms since it has a direct effect on the level of their profits and hence their longevity.
We can help you address the means of improving productivity via the various human and nonhuman resources. A carefully conducted productivity audit will be used to develop recommendations intended to enhance your company's overall productivity.
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Human Resource Management Review
Human Resource management is concerned with human resources of an organization. Suitable human resource policies can lead to satisfied and highly motivated employees who identify with the organization’s objectives while gaining a measure of self-fulfillment and receiving adequate compensation for their contributions. Human resource management spans a wide range of activities, including planning, hiring, training, career development, compensation and benefits, labor relations, industrial relations, and safety and health services.
We can address these key areas within the area of human resource management. A carefully conducted human resource audit will be used to develop recommendations intended to enhance your company's performance.
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Marketing Audit
The essence of entrepreneurship is to convert an idea into a product that people will buy. Brilliant and Innovative ideas are useless unless someone can turn them into a marketable product. Marketing encompasses much more than sales. Marketing is an act of identifying and satisfying a need. The marketing function touches all parts of the company. A company’s success is tied to the potential market for the product, the market forces affecting the company, the segmentation of the market, and the company’s ability to sell and distribute the product.
By addressing the key areas of the company’s marketing activities, we can conduct a marketing audit and develop recommendations to enhance your company's performance.
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Financial Management Review
Financial management is concerned with the inflows and outflows of funds, both in the short run and the long run. Suitable financial management policies and procedures help to acquire funds as needed, to conserve invested and earned capital, to avoid cash shortages and excessive surpluses, to optimize the capital structure, to minimize doubtful accounts, to make sound investments and appropriate expenditures, to safeguard assets, to provide financial information for decision making, and to disseminate financial reports to the owners, creditors and the public.
We can help you address these key aspects of financial management by conducting an audit of the financial management functions and develop recommendations intended to enhance your company's performance.
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Operations Management: Billing Through Collecting Cycle and Purchasing through Disbursement Cycle.
Although it is true that no enterprise can succeed without a salable product or service, managing a business requires operating procedures and systems that address the order entry, customer service, billing/collections, purchasing, inventory management, and cash management. The accounting system and financial reporting are the vehicles by which the data to run the company are gathered, stored, and reported. Once these systems and procedures are in place, the ability to monitor the results means the difference between success and failure.
By reviewing each of the key operational areas, we will be able to use the findings to develop meaningful recommendations for enhancing your company's operations.
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Operation Budgeting and Financial Reporting
An enterprise must plan for the short-range future. This type of planning is known as tactical planning. Among the key concerns to be faced in the short-range future is the allocation of such resources as personnel, materials, machines, and money. The instrument that reflects the allocation of these resources over a coming quarter or year is the operational budget. Operational budgeting, one of the most important and time-consuming tactical planning processes, generally involves managers at all levels of the enterprise.
Operational budgets serve as one basis for evaluating the performances of managers, as well as reflecting the operational results of the overall enterprise and its principal operating segments. When the dollar amounts in the operational budgets are compared with the actual operating results expressed in dollars, they produce the variances that indicate favorable or unfavorable performances and results. Much of the financial reporting of an enterprise is concerned with presenting the actual operating results and these dollar variances
Approaches employed in developing operational budgets and in forecasting financial results have undergone dramatic transformation in recent years. Computer technology and financial modeling techniques have greatly enhanced the sophistication of the operational budgeting and financial processes; they are now accessible to almost every business enterprise.
We can help focus your business using the concepts and techniques related to operational budgeting, financial reporting, and financial modeling while developing recommendations to enhance your company's performance.
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Capital Investment Planning and Budgeting
An enterprise must plan for the long-range future. This type of planning is known as strategic planning. Among the key concerns to be faced in the long-range future are the investments that should be made in such capital assets as machinery, plants, product research, and executive development programs. Decisions relating to these types of investments are known as capital investment decisions. In some cases these decisions may affect planning horizons of as long as 30 years.
Generally, an enterprise has a limited supply of funds available for investment in capital assets. Thus, it must develop a procedure for allocating these funds among the array of investment opportunities. A procedure for this purpose is known as capital budgeting. It forms a part of the overall budgeting procedure of the enterprise and is facilitated by means of the management information and decision system.
Using proven concepts and techniques we can recommend a strategic plan to enhance your company’s long-range capital investment planning and budgeting future.
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Merger and Acquisition Analysis
An enterprise may grow in several ways. It may grow internally through product development, marketing expansion, new process and applications, and technological advancements. Alternatively, it may grow externally through corporate mergers and acquisitions. Mergers join together enterprises with mutual interests. They may be instigated due to a desire to pool resources and talents, or they may be motivated by tax considerations. Acquisitions are normally undertaken (a) to accelerate expansion by immediate entry into a new marketing area or (b) to obtain new facilities. A temporary type of combination, a joint venture, is formed when two or more enterprises desire to share the financial risks of some undertaking.
A main concern during a merger and acquisition analysis is to determine the valuation of the entities being merged or acquired. We can address the key facets of the valuation process and then survey the variety of capabilities and resources that affect the total valuation amount. Let us help you conduct the evaluation of the entities being considered for merger or acquisition. We will develop key recommendations for your management during this important process.
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