Steve Dance is part of the NSS team.  He brings over 30 years of high level financial expertise in Life Sciences and High Tech. Steve has raised over $500MM in capital.

Most Satisfying: In your CFO work you have done in the past, what is the most satisfying feedback you got from the CEO?

That the CEO could always count on me to be calm and focused during a crisis.

Most Inventive: Given that as CFO we understand the importance of providing our clients with more than just accounting and financial reporting, share with us a project that truly made you a value creator.

The sale of one of my previous employers to a major biotechnology company was a complex process, with many potential obstacles arising during the negotiation and due diligence process.  As CFO, I was part of the negotiation team and provided the bulk of the due diligence materials.  I was responsible for resolving the many issues that came up during the sale process.  I believe I was able to establish a strong level of trust with the acquirer’s team and we were able to reach agreement on all the issues, and the sale was successfully concluded.

Most Positive: CFOs have different skill set, yet often we are viewed as one of the same.  Tell us a story where your actions made a powerful positive change and why.

I was CFO for a biotech company in California that had 300 employees, over 200 of whom were located in Europe, principally in Lyon, France, following a recent acquisition.  Since I speak French, I was able to establish good relations with the finance group in France, and ultimately the rest of the management team.  I played a key role in ensuring that the needs of the European team were met and consequently was appointed President of European Operations in addition to my CFO duties.  The good relationships that I built with the European organization also enabled me to negotiate successfully with the French labor union to avoid a workers’ strike that would have halted manufacturing.

Best Business Book: What should every CEO be reading going forward in this tepid economy?

The Wall Street Journal – still a great way even in this digital age to keep on top of what is happening in the business world.

Funniest Fact: Tell us something funny about you.

I was raised in Wimbledon, England and when I was a kid I used to go and watch the tennis at Wimbledon every year.  In those days the players used to walk through the crowds on their way to the courts.  One time I got too close to a player and he accidentally trod on my foot.  My foot was sore for days afterwards; the player won his match.

Laurie Taylor joined the NSS team recently.  He has over 20 years of experience and has worked with multiple start-up as Controller. We are delighted to have him on board.

Most Satisfying: In your CONTROLLER work you have done in the past, what is the most satisfying feedback you got from the CEO?

Nineteen out of twenty client companies have offered me a full time position during the engagement.

Most Inventive: Given that as CONTROLLER we understand the importance of providing our clients with more than just accounting and financial reporting, share with us a project that truly made you a value creator.

I began a two person project to determine why a major bank’s ATM conversion had an out of balance total of $19M after the merger of the two banking systems.   The bank booked a 200k reserve to cover this reconciliation exposure.  I requested a Bank Tiger team to assist my current consulting team and at the end of the project we had completely reconciled the account and were only unable to account for $9k in bank funds.  We also discovered a major systems glitch that was the result of the systems merger and trained the banking staff to recognize the problem and how to correct the system if it occurred again.

Most Positive: CONTROLLER’s have different skill set, yet often we are viewed as one of the same.  Tell us a story where your actions made a powerful positive change and why.

I was assigned a project to take over for a Director of Finance at a specialized moving van company.  I first determined that there was a massive amount of misspending going on and no one was managing the AR accounts.  In 6 weeks we were able to make enough corrections that company was stable enough for sale to a much better funded and staffed regional carrier.  The sale of this business unit saved 250 staff member’s jobs as a result of the merger instead of a company closure due to prior management neglect.

Best Business Book: What should every CEO be reading going forward in this tepid economy?

The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win by
David Ulrich and Wendy Ulrich

Funniest Fact: Tell us something funny about you.

I am crazy about WWII aircraft that have massively supercharged engines that “go fast, stay low, and turn left!” also known as the National Championship Air Races held each fall in Reno, NV.  The only rules are that these planes must have a prop and straight wings.

Window of Opportunity | One Month!

Program Highlights:

• Life Science companies with fewer than 250 FTEs eligible
• Project expense years: 2009 and 2010
• Maximum cash or credit amount: $5M
• Multiple projects/applications can be submitted
• Forms and Instructions are now available
• Application decisions will be made within 30 days
• Applications are due no later than 21 July 2010

Introduction:

One of the results of the Health Care Reform Bill was the appropriation of a poll of $1 Billion in tax credits or grants to support the costs of research by small and mid-size life sciences companies paid or incurred in 2009 and 2010. This program is advantageous for companies without income tax liability.

Subject to some exceptions, the QTDP (Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project) credit or grant is available to any business with 250 or fewer employees at the time the application is submitted. No applicant will be allocated more than $5 million in QTDP tax credits or cash grants and because of the wide open application process most winning projects will receive less than the requested amount and completion is expected to be very intense.

Applicants will choose between the tax credit and cash grant during the application process.

The final deadline for application submission is 21 July 2010 and submissions after this date will not be considered.

Application Process and Selection Criteria

Life sciences companies must apply to the Treasury Department for an allocation from this incentive pool using IRS Form 8942. The Treasury will approve or deny applications within 30 days of submission.

A QTDP is a project designed to achieve any of the following objectives:

• To treat or prevent diseases or conditions by conducting pre-clinical activities, clinical trials, and clinical studies, or carrying out research protocols, for the purpose of securing approval of a product by the Food & Drug Administration or Public Health Service,
• To diagnose diseases or conditions or to determine molecular factors related to diseases or conditions by developing molecular diagnostics to guide therapeutic decisions, or
• To develop a product, process, or technology to further the delivery or administration of therapeutics.

In addition to the life science component of the selection process the financial impact of the QTDP will be reviewed to determine which submissions will likely:

• create and sustain (directly or indirectly) “high-quality, high-paying” jobs in the U.S., and
• advance U.S. competitiveness in the fields of life, biological, and medical sciences.

The following entities are not eligible for this program:

• Foreign businesses unless more than 50% of their income from the relevant project is subject to U.S. federal income tax,
• Federal, state, or local governments,
• Tax-exempt organizations,
• Partnerships or
• Other pass-through entities.

Additionally, the following are not eligible project expenses: CEO and other officer’s compensation, interest expense, facility maintenance expenses, service costs or such costs as determined by the IRS.

The QTDP credits and grants are subject to recapture if the patents or other resulting property are transferred within five years.

An applicant must complete a separate IRS Form 8942 for each QTDP for which it is seeking a QTDP tax credit or cash grant and this form is due for release 18 June 2010.

The following is a summary of the QTDP Credit Project Credit established in by the Health Care Reform and by IRS Notice 2010-45.  Interested applicants should thoroughly review IRS instructions and form 8942.

Please feel free to contact Lauriston Taylor at Next Stage Solutions; if we may assist you in any way.

Lauriston Taylor, Controller Consultant

o:  617. 449.7728, x-712

c:  978. 397.6412

f:   978. 339.5202

The GPS of Finance

IBM just published an extensive and insightful study about the global chief financial officer.  The 2010 IBM Global CFO Study reveals the importance of the CFO role today and how a financial advisor must be broader and more strategic. It surveyed 1900+ CFOs worldwide from a cross section of enterprise sizes.

Today’s CFO must bring a broad understanding for a business, more than ever.  Figure 1 shows the significant changes over the last 5 years on the importance of five company-wide activities. Notice the largest changes are around managing and mitigating risk (93% increase) and integrating information across the enterprise at 109% increase.

Figure 1

The study defines the CFOs into four groups:

1. Value Integrators
2. Disciplined Operators
3. Constrained Advisors
4. Scorekeepers

It evaluates the effectiveness of all four in multiple subject matters and shows the gap or discrepancy between the different styles.  For simplicity, we compare the two opposites, that of the Value Integrator and the Scorekeeper.   The Scorekeeper is defined as a CFO focusing primarily on financial reporting, compliance and accounting with some budgeting and forecasting.

The Value Integrator is viewed as a CFO who continuously improves the finance efficiency and provides broad business insights to the business.  They use technology to achieve greater data accuracy and develop better analytical tools for forecasting and scenario planning. Value Integrators understand the importance of managing enterprise risk and opportunities.  This study points out that Value Integrators consistently outperform the other 3 groups and have provided significant security to businesses in this recent downturn.

Figure 2 shows the 5-year effect most significantly around EBITDA, where the difference is more than 20X. Value Integrators also outperform on the REVENUE and ROIC side, with 49% and 30%, respectively.  These numbers are indeed noteworthy, the differences are truly impressive.

Figure 2

Multiple financial measures in this study are evaluated (see figure 3) and most impressively, Value Integrators achieved sustainability within their companies despite the economic recession.  The study also evaluates enterprise-focused effectiveness and how expectations versus executions show a widening gap. One of the larger gaps (34%) is integration of information across enterprises.  Today’s CFO must integrate information to understand which metrics are important and how often: weekly, daily or realtime.  Proactive CEOs demand proactive data support from their financial team.

Figure 3

The two key capabilities associated with the outperformance of the Value Integrator are:

1. Finance  efficiency – provides business-relevant information and strong analytics based on good data
2. Business Insight – enterprise focused  and risk-based decision making support in a timely manner

Figure 4 shows how Value Integrators outperformed on all aspects of CFO responsibilities.  Using Scorekeepers as the baseline, it is hard to avoid noticing the alarming difference between Scorekeepers and Value Integrators. Very importantly, combining the skill set of finance and enterprise knowledge has a multiplier effect and separates the Value Integrator by a large margin. Finance and risk are embedded in the company.  Risk management and opportunities are in fact a big focus for a forward looking CFO. The support and overall contributions from a CFO to an enterprise are becoming increasingly strategic.

Figure 4

Clearly CFOs need to master and control all tactical aspects of finance.  Historic data provides you with a historical view.  A current view is represented by financial dashboards important to all decision-making.  The forward looking view is vitally important for ongoing sustainability and growth of a business.  Only with the understanding and support of all three can the CFO be truly pro-active in the decision-making process, scenario planning, forecasting and risk management and mitigation.  The new, strategic CFO must possess the expertise and skill set in support of the CEO (figure 5).

Figure 5

The strong emphasis on tactical finance for the past 10 years is partly due to Sarbanes-Oxley.  CFOs have continuously been transaction driven leaving a significant gap between actual and aspiration (see figure 6).  CFOs continue to spend half their time around transactional processing.  NSS thinks that the future mix should be:

40% Decision-support
30% Transactional
30% Control

Today’s economic landscape demands increased worldliness, intellect and knowledge from CEOs and CFOs. This combination gives the CFO more enterprise wide responsibilities as a trusted business partner who understands finance, connects the dots, brings micro- and macroeconomic knowledge and is market and industry savvy.

Figure 6

NSS is interested in your feedback and in how you have navigated through this recession.  The 2010 IBM Global CFO Study shows powerful statistics in support of a Value Integrator as a CFO and why it is so important to drive your business in that direction.  Give us a call to discuss further in how we may support you and your business with our value driven strategic CFO focus and strong ROI.

Rudi Scheiber-Kurtz, CEO
Next Stage Solutions, Inc.
The GPS of Finance

NSS is co-sponsoring four CEO Seminars around the theme of “Moving Forward: A Roadmap to Growth and Best Practices in 2010″ .  The first one was successfully held March 23 at Furman Gregory Deptula.  Our next seminar is scheduled to be on Tuesday, June 15 and we are currently formulating the agenda based on the feedback from the CEOs in attendance at the March meeting.

NSS provided this hand out:

Flexibility

Keep your company nimble, lean and focused.  Just as large companies have divested non-core competencies, carefully consider which aspects of your business should remain fixed costs and which should become variable.  This keeps your business capital efficient and brings greater flexibility in moving your business forward.  Consider outsourcing non-core functions such as HR, finance, legal, sales and marketing.

Focus

Take a look at your lines of business in product/services and analyze closely which lines are using what resources.  If you have a product that takes 70% of your resources and represents 20% of your revenue, you have a problem.  Evaluate your customer/client revenue streams and determine what portion of total revenue each contributes.  Customers/clients that make up more than 30% of total revenue may in fact be a danger to your long term stability.  Stay diversified and avoid relying on one or two big clients.

Working Capital

Cash is always King.  In this recession, keeping cash flow positive has been harder and harder to achieve, especially for small businesses.  Where once monthly cash flow checks were adequate, today a daily/weekly Financial Dashboard is a necessity.  Financial Dashboards give you key financial indicators such as accounts receivable and inventory turnovers, working capital and current account ratios. Know at all time what your 6-month cash flow looks like and what action you may need to take.  Look beyond the ratios to get a regular pulse of industry trends and changes in technology.  Keep an eye on what the competition is doing, and check their press releases, stock prices and other activities that could impact your business negatively.

Equity/Debt Financing

Equity investors are still in flux.  With the financial meltdown, they have become somewhat more risk averse, leaving a bigger capital gap.  However, many are also making continuous investments and new, smaller funds are being created.  Bootstrap as long as feasible and build your revenue streams or user base.   This will enhance your business valuation over time.  Once you decide to raise funds from  equity investors, take the time for due diligence and investigate what type of equity funder would be the right fit, understand the investor’s needs and interests in terms of size of funds needed, industry expertise and support.

On the debt side of financing, try to diversify your banking relationships, the old ‘do-it-all’ approach is no longer an optimal solution.  Many local banks are starting to lend again, but mostly to businesses with strong balance sheets. There are various financing solutions to consider such as Accounts Receivable, equipment and real estate financing. Consider carefully all details in the term sheets and other agreements and evaluate the different options with extensive cost/benefit analyses.

Opportunities for Growth

With robust financial planning, a recession can provide opportunities.  Growth may not be achieved the same way as before, as direct sales may be impacted by the economy.  Consider the option to grow via merger or acquisition of a:

• technology  that brings greater efficiencies
• business with additional products diversifying your product line
• business with different distribution channels

Even a small company can gain greater market share, but this is only accomplished with a strong financial strategy and a solid understanding of managing and balancing risks.  If you are too risk averse you might miss a valuable opportunity and if you are too risky you may compromise the business.

Financial Strategy

Now more than ever you want to revisit your long term strategy.  In this current economic climate it is essential to have multiple roadmaps and be ready to take detours.  Being a productive CEO or business owner gives you a competitive edge.  Every downturn or recession brings opportunities; know what they are and plan accordingly by developing cost/benefit analyses of your options and revisit them regularly.

2010 will still bring some uncertainties and having the best team of experts will make it a better ride.  Have a 6-month, 18-month and 36-month strategy with milestones and execution points you want to accomplish. Share your short-term and long-term goals and objectives with your employees and create a culture where problem solving, networking and business development are everyone’s business.

We can help!

We thank you for attending this first of four seminars.  If you have any questions or specific issues around best practices in finance and growth for your business, we would be delighted to provide you with a consultation free of charge.  Please contact Rudi Scheiber-Kurtz, CEO of Next Stage Solutions, Inc. at 617-449-7728 ext 704 or email at scheiberkurtz@nextstagesolutions.com to set up an appointment.

NSS Ambassador Laura Kevghas of Mirus Capital Advisors will be one of the panelists.  We hope you can join us.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

8:00 a.m. – Registration and Breakfast
8:30-10:00 a.m. – Program

Whether you are a buyer or seller, there are opportunities in the current economic climate to maximize your return on a merger, acquisition, or sale of a business. Our panel will review the current M&A market including a discussion of the deals getting done, opportunities for both buyers and sellers, and a review of how to successfully sell or buy a business.

Topics will include:
The Current M&A Market and Trends
The Credit Markets and their Relation to Valuation
Current Business Valuations and the Impact on Estate Planning Opportunities
How to Prepare for and Pursue a Transaction

University of Massachusetts Lowell
MIL Conference Room
Wannalancit Mills
600 Suffolk Street
Lowell, Massachusetts
Directions

RSVP
nutterevents@nutter.com or 617.439.2622

We are pleased to announce the first of four

CEO Seminars  |  Tues March 23, 2010

7:30am -9:00am, 75 Federal Street, Boston

(offices of Furman Gregory Deptula)

RSVP: Rudi Scheiber-Kurtz at 781-929-9125 or scheiberkurtz@nextstagesolutions.com

The “new” economy brings its own set of challenges to companies who want to grow or plan an exit.

In the first of 4 seminars for CEO’s in 2010, we will begin by focusing the discussion on various ways of balancing the risks in our businesses.

• How can I build out infrastructure and create a model that is both flexible and adaptable, one that can constrict and expand with minimum costs?
• What value can I bring to my business by outsourcing any non-core competency to keep agile and nimble?
• What are the next-step tools and solutions in how I can achieve desired growth in a recharged economy and preserve cash with a conservative budget?
• How do I finance growth in today’s economy?
• What innovative strategies can I adopt to increase value in my business that may not involve raising capital?

Join us for a 90-minute interactive dialogue and take back valuable insights from other fast growth CEO’s.  Learn tools, tips and trends to help you navigate in this new economy.

Attendance will be limited to allow more in-depth and interactive discussion. Future seminars will focus on specific topics such as financing, sales and marketing, legal, partnering, and exits.

Why you should attend:

• Network with other CEO’s and gain visibility to best practices in the marketplace today
• Develop new partnering strategies for growing your business
• Learn how to avoid pitfalls of outsourcing key aspects of your business
• Gain critical insights into key legal, financial, and human capital issues in 2010 that will impact your business

Location: 75 Federal Street, 9th Floor, Boston, MA at the offices of Furman Gregory Deptula

Time: 7:30am Continental Breakfast

Program: 7:45am – 9:00am

RSVP: Rudi Scheiber-Kurtz at 781-929-9125 or scheiberkurtz@nextstagesolutions.com

Sponsored by:

Last month the Wall Street Journal published an article For Rent: Chief Financial Officer by Raymond Flandez, commenting in how more and more firms are outsourcing this high level function of management. For businesses small and large, especially companies that want to grow, the finances do get more complex. He points out that many of these ‘Rent a CFOs’ are also Certified Public Accountants.

I agree wholeheartedly with Flandez’  assessment  that an outsourced interim or part-time CFO is a capital efficient way to access this expertise and an outsourced CFO can be more objective and give a reality check. I also agree that many of the CFOs are indeed CPAs and this is partially due to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX)  that has driven businesses and their CEOs more to the compliance and technical side of finance enforcing the common belief that if you have a controller and an accountant your financial needs are covered.  That may apply to life style companies who do not intend to grow but simply run a sustainable business.

From this juncture, however, is where I begin to differ.  A company with expansion and growth in their forecast, the paradigm has to shift drastically from technical to strategic. In fact, not recognizing the importance of strategic finance and solely relying on your controller’s risk aversion, you may be holding your company back from that growth.  Here is why I think so.

For a fast growing company, the financial spectrum has to be broader and therefore more complex as pointed out by the author of the WSJ article.  You want to consider a broad based and strategic CFO, one that picks up where the CPA or controller leaves off.  The CFO is your business partner and brings a strategic organizational mind set to the discussion and understands the importance of mapping out the corporate strategy into multiple roadmaps.  Given uncertain economic times, this is more important than ever.  Finance for emerging businesses brings a complexity that is more than accounting and number crunching.

The CEO needs to fully understand the financial ramification and bottom line each decision triggers. SOX compliancy has driven us too far towards the tactical aspect of finance forgetting the importance of looking forward, checking your Financial Headlights.  The CFO plays an important role acting as conduit to growth and walking the fine line between the risk-averse controller and the visionary CEO.  Your future CFO needs to have average appetite for risk, not too little and not too much, understand how to translate the corporate strategy and be a true value creator and not a gatekeeper of growth.

Rudi Scheiber-Kurtz, CEO
Next Stage Solutions, Inc.

NSS has joined AIM as a corporate member this week.  In an earlier blog I wrote about the BuyMass.org website, the Massachusetts online business-to-business network.  AIM created this website along with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  It is all about creating jobs and bringing economic opportunity to Massachusetts.

We believe that NSS offers a unique value to emerging businesses of the Commonwealth with our CFO on Demand model.  Our CFO team is highly experienced not only in the arena of finance, but also in operations and management.  Today’s CFO needs to provide more than the governance piece of finance by bringing the organizational mind set to the table. We understand how to grow companies and hope to be of value to the other AIM members.

Rudi Scheiber-Kurtz, CEO
Next Stage Solutions, Inc.

What are your indicator factors as a sign of returning confidence in the economy? I posed this question to a few business colleagues in early summer.  Oscar Jazdowski of Silicon Valley Bank (Growth Companies Services) is looking for 2-3 consecutive months of flat unemployment.  Currently, unemployment is still going up, making it the highest in 25 years, but the Index of Leading Economic Indicators has shown growth each of the last 4 months.  So running a business, what should you be aware of and plan in the near future?

Laura Kevghas of Mirus Capital is beginning to see an uptick in the strategic buyers who have money in the bank and are beginning to consider acquisitions once again.  She states that strategics have seemingly had their wallets closed, but are now starting to consider making some acquisitions that fill a strategic hole or which will help grow their market share when business starts to turn around. Ms. Kevghas also points out to be on the alert if one strategic is interested in your business, there may be others as well; so it may be worthwhile to engage an investment banker to run a complete process.

Conservation of cash and strong management of your working capital is still a top priority.  Oscar Jazdowski recommends being ready for an upturn by having a pool of contract labor and more permanent hires that you can quickly engage.  Now is the time to work out several road maps or scenarios that will give you a competitive edge when the overall economy improves.

With this focus on cash management, you want to make sure you plan multiple scenarios over the next 6-12 months so that you can navigate optimally and be proactive.   You want to have these strategies mapped out financially to fully understand the ramifications of your future decisions. I call them your NSS Financial Headlights™.

Strengthen marketing and sales during this economic growth, albeit slow, and keep your business out in the market – visible and ready to respond, suggests Laura Kevghas.

In my opinion, it is also an opportune time to evaluate your exit strategy. Where do you want your company to be in 3-5 years?  Consider succession planning and optimize market value and consider this long term plan in your annual budgeting process.

Send us an email or call us at 617-449-7728 to discuss how we may help you build your business and give you  a competitive edge with our expertise in strategic finance.

Rudi Scheiber-Kurtz, CEO of Next Stage Solutions, Inc.