Quote “Intentionally fostering serendipity in a distributed company will help keep isolation at bay.” - Matt Westgate The finer details of this episode What brought Matt to Summit CPA Why Lullabot decided to become a distributed company The benefits of working with a distributed team Maintaining company culture when your team is distributed The evolution of the Lullabot leadership team How Matt pulled his company out of financial hardship Creating psychological safety in your company culture Epi...
Aug 10, 2020•34 min•Ep. 23
Quote “If you don’t have the gross profit to support the bottom line, then you aren’t going to have a bottom line.” - Kristen Reinking The finer details of this episode The three meetings every organization should have about their finances How often to have meetings about your finances Using the IDS model in your financial meetings Who is normally in each meeting How the size of your organization affects the frequency of financial meetings Episode resources Summit CPA website - www.summitcpa.net...
Jul 31, 2020•27 min•Ep. 22
Quote “The most important thing is to build a short-term cash flow forecast to know what you are working with.” - Jamie Nau The finer details of this episode Cash flow - the most common issues we help our clients with as CFOs What factors could contribute to your cash flow issues Preparing your firm for taxes Ownership issues and how we handle them with our clients Things to consider about partnerships before jumping into it How to plan for growth Episode resources Summit CPA website - www.summi...
Jul 16, 2020•24 min•Ep. 21
Quote “We split out the different types of profit in order to focus our conversations.” - Jamie Nau The finer details of this episode What “cost of goods” means for agencies and media companies How to separate your production costs on your payroll The most common conversations we have with our clients about gross profit Hiring contractors vs employees and how that affects your gross profit Episode resources Summit CPA website - www.summitcpa.net Email us with questions/comments- vcfo@summitcpa.n...
Jul 01, 2020•26 min•Ep. 20
Quote “It’s important to understand your company before setting your average bill rate. You might have an advantage if you can charge less and make more.” - Jody Grunden The finer details of this episode When it’s ok to lower your average bill rate How to use your average bill rate for pricing The importance of having a project manager involved in the sales conversation The difference between a standard bill rate and an average bill rate How to maintain your desired average bill rate Calculating...
Jun 15, 2020•28 min•Ep. 19
Quote “Documentation is key when it comes to calculating how much forgiveness you have.” - Jamie Nau The finer details of this episode Changes related to compensation of employees and owners Rules for bonus and hazard pay for your employees Limits on owner compensation Changes that self-employed and partner filers can expect What this means for you based on your number of employees Rehiring procedures and requirements Forgiveness of interest Utilities and expenses in loan forgiveness How to calc...
Jun 02, 2020•23 min•Ep. 18
Quote “We are trying to learn about a candidate, know how they are going to fit into the culture, and know how they are going to do the job in a very small amount of time.” - Zach The finer details of this episode How Summit CPA has struggled in the past with hiring The hiring assessments that Zach introduced to Summit CPA Why Emotional Intelligence is such an important factor in a potential employee How the EQ assessment works and how to read the results The Kolbe assessment and how to use it i...
May 19, 2020•27 min•Ep. 17
Quote “Don’t try to game the system with these. The government is going to be really scrutinizing the details with this.” - Jody Grunden The finer details of this episode Which expenses are included in loan forgiveness What you should do if your business uses contractors How to approach documentation What you need to know about the regulations and guidelines The timing and process to obtain forgiveness How to work with any loan that isn’t forgiven Do you need to pay taxes on the loan forgiveness...
May 05, 2020•18 min•Ep. 16
Quote “The first thing you want to do is identify what you think is going to happen over the next 2-3 months.” - Jody Grunden The finer details of this episode The main things to look at in your forecast when your business is struggling How often to look at your forecast when times are tough The 15% net income model and how you can use your forecast to achieve it A walkthrough of how we are serving one of our clients during the COVID-19 crisis Scenario planning to eliminate unnecessary worry Tip...
Apr 21, 2020•27 min•Ep. 15
Quote “You are not trying to just increase your top-line revenue. Your bottom line needs to be increasing too.” - Jody Grunden The finer details of this episode How Summit CPA used forecasting to help a client double their revenue What part of your business to work on in order to create growth Determining if you have the capacity to grow the way you want to The “Four Levers of Growth” that you need to cover in your growth plan How to manage a distributed team as your firm gets bigger Getting you...
Apr 06, 2020•36 min•Ep. 14
Quote “It doesn’t make sense to drain your cash in order to save for taxes” - Jody Grunden The finer details of this episode Tax laws and how to follow them Cash-based vs accrual-based What you can do to lower your tax bill How to forecast your tax bill What creative agencies need to know about their taxes Is it your location or the client’s locations that matter? Episode resources Summit CPA website - www.summitcpa.net Email us with questions/comments- vcfo@summitcpa.net...
Mar 23, 2020•31 min•Ep. 13
Quote “Creating a dedicated space for your work is one of the most essential things you can do when working from home.” - Adam Hale The finer details of this episode How Summit CPA became a virtual company Work from home tips from the Summit CPA team Perks of working from home Our favorite tools for working online How this can actually be a blessing in disguise for your company How to support yourself and your coworkers through this quarantine period How virtual teams can support business growth...
Mar 20, 2020•31 min•Ep. 12
Quote “The fact that you created a process is more important than what process you use. What matters is that you have a process.” - Jamie Nau The finer details of this episode How often you should be looking at your bank balance How to determine your inflow to start a cash flow forecast How to forecast your outflows Reasons you should reconcile your account as often as possible Why your business should have a line of credit as opposed to taking out loans Things you can do to make sure you always...
Feb 24, 2020•26 min•Ep. 11
Quote “When you have a lot of recurring revenue, you are able to increase your capacity for more projects and take more risks.” - Adam Hale The finer details of this episode How Summit CPA started with recurring revenue streams How the subscription based model solved many of the problems we faced early on in business Different ways that marketing firms can take advantage of the recurring revenue model Key things to remember when setting up recurring revenue in your business How recurring revenue...
Feb 10, 2020•26 min•Ep. 10
Quote “You know that it’s going to happen, but it’s not possible to predict exactly when, so the key is to prepare for it.” - Jody Grunden The finer details of this episode What is a recession? What happens during a recession Tips to prepare your business for a recession Why you should start planning now for the next recession The biggest tool you have against a recession The advantages of going into a recession strong and well prepared Things you can do right now to ensure your success in the n...
Jan 27, 2020•31 min•Ep. 9
Quote “Forecasting gives us the opportunity to reroute, so we can stay on track with the goal.” - Adam Hale The finer details of this episode The difference between budgeting, forecasting, and resourcing How Summit CPA began to implement forecasting with our clients How far ahead you should look when forecasting How forecasting can help you reach your long-term goals How to create a forecast for your business The importance of separating out your expenses in forecasts The best time of year to pu...
Jan 15, 2020•32 min•Ep. 8
“It’s important that the amount you have in your pipeline varies based on what your future outlook looks like.” - Jamie Nau The finer details of this episode How often you should look at pipeline metrics The different parts of the pipeline that can be measured and controlled The three inputs that should be evaluated regularly How to calculate Recognized Revenue and why that’s important Why looking ahead 3 months is the best way to look at pipeline metrics The formula to calculate the percent cap...
Jan 04, 2020•35 min•Ep. 7
“A service-based company should be making 15% net income, 10% is the break-even.” - Jody Grunden The finer details of this episode Why 10% is the new break-even How profit margins get smaller as your company gets bigger The sections of an income statement and why they are important How to calculate your actual gross profit and determine what it should be How much to invest in your employees outside of their paycheck The difference between overhead cost and production cost What you can do to incr...
Dec 26, 2019•31 min•Ep. 6
“Measuring something and then consistently looking at it really helps you understand exactly how you’re doing.” - Jamie Nau The finer details of this episode Production metrics 101. How to calculate your utilization rate. Standard rate vs. average bill rate. Where do service businesses fail? What is an effective rate? How to improve your average bill rate. A Summit CPA client success story. Episode resources Summit CPA website Production metrics guide Email us with questions/comments- vcfo@summi...
Dec 05, 2019•29 min•Ep. 5
“If the client knows you're going to reach out every time a payment is due and you do it, there’s no question that it will improve your receivables process.” - Audrey Giannini The finer details of this episode How much cash should you have in the bank? Understanding client concentration and why it’s important. The way Summit CPA looks at short term cash flow. Penalties and incentives for collecting account receivables. Suggestions for securing lines of credit. How to calculate tax payment and se...
Nov 24, 2019•30 min•Ep. 4
“Many times, it’s the last thing they want to deal with, but they know things could go so much further if they had the proper staff. The back of the napkin doesn’t work anymore.” - Michelle Lesifko The finer details of this episode How Summit CPA helped coin the term “Virtual CFO” Traditional bookkeeping and accounting vs. Summit CPA Should you hire a full-time CFO? How Summit CPA uses forecasting to hit milestones and goals Michelle takes a closer look into cash flow The three types of services...
Oct 29, 2019•27 min•Ep. 3
“We’ve put together processes and deliverables for our clients. They’ve seen a big impact on their businesses, so there’s tons of value.” - Adam Hale The finer details of this episode Adam’s shares his Jerry Maguire moment when leaving the previous firm What made Summit CPA stick with creative agencies as a customer base since The two types of ways Summit CPA works with creative agencies How one client made an extra $800K on a deal by asking a simple question The power of attending industry conf...
Oct 17, 2019•28 min•Ep. 2
“The strategy, speaking with the clients weekly and making sure they have enough cash in the bank to survive the next eight weeks or 12 months, that’s really the differentiator and why we’ve grown so fast.” - Jody Grunden The finer details of this episode How Jody and Adam started their careers in accounting What was Jody's philosophy when starting Summit CPA Group How to value clients and build long term relationships with them Fix-priced billing vs. billing per hour: how to price the clients i...
Sep 30, 2019•29 min•Ep. 1
