Does this describe you?

You are an entrepreneur. You own a small business. You have a passion for the product or service you provide your customers. That’s why you do what you do. But you may not be too enthusiastic about some of the nuts and bolts of running a small business—you know keeping track of all that financial stuff. There are balance sheets, profit and loss statements and cash flow statements. You realize you should be paying attention to your bottom line and using these financial documents to help guide your business, but for a myriad of reasons you haven’t been as attentive as you would like.

If this is a description of you and your business, then you need to attend the Opportunity Knocks seminar, Practical Finance:  What Financial Statements Can Tell You About Your Business &What You Can Do If You Don't Like The Answer on October 26, 2011 from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm at the Phoenix Inn. Come learn from these two experts: Greg Fowler, principal at Fowler-Summers Certified Public Accountants, LLC and Jason M. Moyer, principal of Cascadian Group, LLC, an executive management consulting firm.

You may not be passionate about the financial stuff, but these guys are—so let them show you how to achieve business success by understanding and using financial statements.

At the end of this seminar participants will be able to:

• Read financial statements
• Understand how financial statements fit together
• Identify key metrics that measure business performance
• Identify problems with pricing/margin
• Forecast breakeven and profitability levels
• Predict and influence potential cash constraints

You’re in business to make money and to make money you have to care about things like debits and credits, cash flow projections and how to account for the cost of goods sold. If you do your job out of altruism and love of what you do, it won’t exist long if you don’t simultaneously make money.

We’ve all heard career advisors say, “Follow your bliss and the money will come.” When I posed that statement to Jason Moyer, he responded, “Following your bliss leads to enthusiasm and increased skill levels, but if you don’t also find some way to make money then it’s really just a hobby.”

So let Fowler and Moyer show you how to use the financial measuring tools to determine if you’re profitable and if you’re maximizing your profitability based on your business model. They will cover the fundamentals of the three financial documents—profit and loss statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flow. They will teach you how to read each of them, how they interact with each other and how to use them to improve business performance.

Fowler will review each of these documents in detail. “You have to understand the foundation of what goes into these financial statements before you can synthesize that information to obtain financing or improve your performance measures,” Fowler said.

Moyer will focus on how to use the financial statements. His goal is to simplify what can be complex so that people really understand where they’re making money.  “Cash flow is one of the most critical issues with small businesses,” Moyer said, “I always joke that people can do pretty much anything they want—until they run out of cash.” The more small business owners understand the financials the more likely they are to make more money said Moyer.

Don’t miss this opportunity to let Fowler and Moyer put you on the straight and narrow path to understanding and using financial statements to help your business succeed. Call 541-318-4650 or visit www.opp-knocks.org to register. Cost is $30 for members and $45 for nonmembers.

About the Presenters:

Greg Fowler is a principal of Fowler-Summers Certified Public Accountants, LLC where he provides tax and financial consulting to business owners and investors. He has more than 16 years of experience in tax and financial planning at firms ranging from start up software to Ernst & Young, LLP. 
Fowler’s background also includes significant roles in business operations and marketing giving him a unique set of skills and perspective to advise business owners in a variety of issues including market strategy and business development, operational and management issues.

Jason M. Moyer, principal at Cascadian Group, LLC, has more than 15 years of professional experience, including senior roles in executive management consulting, strategy, business planning, corporate finance, new business development, and business valuation. During the course of his career, Moyer has interfaced with scores of companies and directly influenced business decisions representing billions of dollars. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Management and an MBA, and regularly serves as an adviser to executive management, small venture capital firms and large private equity funds. To date, he has personally started six businesses.

Reviewed by Kathy Oxborrow, Oxborrow Consulting