How to Monitor and Understand Budget Variances

The good, the bad, and the how-to for budget variance analysis. We cover what they are, and offer our best tips to monitor and understand your budget variances.

Three Signs Your Company Needs a Virtual CFO

Not sure if you need an in-house accountant, a CFO or outsourced accounting? Here are three signs that you need a virtual CFO starting with time, financial analysis and cash flow.

The Case for Zero-Based Budgeting for Profitability

Considering making the transition to zero-based budgeting? We break down the pros and cons of this cost-reduction approach to building your budget.

The Best Online Tools or Apps of 2018 for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are increasingly turning to the cloud for their business solutions. We give you our pros and cons of our favorite online tools and apps of 2018.

How to Lower Customer Acquisition Cost

Congratulations, you have managed to persuade a customer to purchase your product or service. In fact, you have managed to repeat this action over and over again. But, do you know the true cost to acquiring those customers and have you figured out how to improve that cost?

Clean Up Your Books: Six Bad Bookkeeping Habits to Break Now

New clients frequently ask us how to best organize their neglected books. The truth is, the sooner you clean up your books, the sooner your outsourced accounting team can focus on growth. Growth is awesome, bad bookkeeping habits are not.

Break these six bad bookkeeping habits before you find yourself drowning in disorganization.

Eight Business Lessons Learned from our Q&A with DUDE Products

We’re spilling the beans on one of our clients. These are the takeaway business lessons we gleaned from a recent interview with Brian Wilkin of DUDE Products, including a sneak peek of what’s in store next for the DUDEs.

How Detailed Does My Business Budget Need to Be?

I feel pretty safe saying that most, if not all, entrepreneurs know they need a business budget. Where business owners often get hung up is on just how comprehensive that budget needs to be. We, at Red Granite and ORBA, frequently get asked this exact question by clients: “How detailed does my business budget need to be?” And it’s another one of those “it depends,” kind of answers.

Questions to Ask Your Accountant Before You Expand Your Business

Think you are ready to expand your business? We often see startups attempt to expand too quickly before they are at the appropriate stage in their growth.

The Most Common Signs You Have Outgrown QuickBooks

When is it the Right Time to Say Goodbye to QuickBooks? We often get asked by growing companies whether or not they have outgrown QuickBooks. Let us preface this by saying when we get asked this, the honest answer is—it depends. It depends on your company size, it depends what industry you are in, and […]

Five Ways OmniChannel Retail Influences Your Accounting Processes

Strategies to use to ensure seamless accounting processes with an omnichannel retail experience. When “omnichannel” was first mentioned, Marketers everywhere were dubbing it as the next buzzword marketing term. Yet, as the years have gone by, its prevalence has increased considerably throughout publications. In fact, recent stats suggest that today’s consumers use an average of almost six touch-points across […]

Financial Evolution of a Start-Up

From checking it twice to predicting your future, these are the five stages of a start-up’s finances: Stage One: The Lone Wolf Transaction In the beginning of the evolution of a start-up, it is likely that the founder is in a lone wolf scenario. He or she is grinding away to get the business off […]

Budgeting and Forecasting for High Growth Companies

From best practices, to forecasting, to budgets gone bad, we recently hosted a roundtable discussion on budgeting and forecasting for high growth companies at The Junto Institute in Chicago, IL. One of the key takeaways from this discussion were the essential questions to ask for each stage in building a budget.

11 Lessons in Cloud-Based Etiquette

Have you been on the receiving end of some untoward cloud-based etiquette? At one point or another, I’m sure all of us has experienced a video conference with someone while their roommate was chowing down on Chipotle in the background. If not, count your lucky stars, as it’s not a pretty scene.

Three Things You Must Have Before Fishing for VC and Angel Funding

Let us start with a dose of reality. Very few, as in significantly less than 1%, of emerging U.S. businesses successfully secure Venture Capital (VC) funding. According to the National Venture Capital Association, less than 1,500 companies were the beneficiaries of first time VC backing in 2015. While angel funding is more available than VC investments, only about 2.5% of companies that apply successfully attain funding. If you think your company will be one of the lucky few, here are a few things you will need before pitching to VC or angel investors.

How Does a Growing Company Maintain its Innovation and Competitive Edge?

How does a growing company maintain its innovation and competitive edge? By hiring great employees? NOPE. It’s by keeping them. By employing open book management and offering a stake in profits you can retain great talent to help your company thrive. Learn the key concepts, metrics and incentives needed to curate your culture for growth. We […]

The Do’s and Don’ts of Pricing Your Product

Do lower costs to lower prices, but do not forget to overlook value. From freemium to premium, you have to decide what’s right for your company and its product and what fits industry standards. But, there are a few things that are universal no matter which pricing scheme you choose. Read this article, before you launch. Ready to […]

Financial Goals: Going Beyond “Keep Overhead Low”

These are the financial goals for every business that are actually worth making. We know we don’t need to convince you to make financial goals. We’ve all heard the: “don’t spend more than you make,” and “keep overhead low” advice. But those are a little obvious. These five approaches to goal-setting are actually attainable and […]

How to Become a Reseller in Illinois

There are any number of variances in reseller store setups, products sold and reasons why you may want to become a reseller. Maybe you want to supplement existing services you offer with related products. Perhaps you have an “in” on a good source or manufacturer for new merchandise that you are confident will sell well. Whatever your reason, our latest Cloud Services Group blog provides a bit of advice on what you need to know if you wish to become a reseller in Illinois.

Company Health Check: Is Your Business Financially Fit?

How do you know your company is financially fit? We all talk it to death: profit, profit, profit. And for good reason—your profitability, and therefore your profit margin, is the single best measure of company health. However, it is a mistake to think that is all there is to it. This article outlines a handful of other metrics you should be using to gauge company health.

The 28 Accounting Terms Every Entrepreneur Should Know

It happens more often than you might think. High-growth business owners that think they are “in the know” when it comes to finance and accounting jargon. But, in reality, they do not understand the most important accounting terms every entrepreneur should know.

Is it Time for Your Company to Draft an Expense Policy?

Still don’t have a written expense policy? Do not worry, you are not alone. Many businesses and startups overlook this item at the beginning. Initially, it may seem unnecessary because there are not a lot of travel and expenses incurred and, if there are, they are mostly incurred by a select few people. However, as your business grows, you will notice more of your staff are either requesting reimbursements or you are having to add more employee credit cards to your account. Worse, you may begin to be concerned that your employees are over-spending on certain expenses. This article provides a few considerations you should take when drafting your company’s expense policy.

Communicating Your Financial Performance to Get Noticed By Investors

It is not easy communicating financial performance for investors. Inc. recently published an article titled, “Seven Horrifying Mistakes Founders Make in Their Pitches,” and that got me thinking about what the best approach is, specifically when communicating financial performance to investors. This article provides a few considerations business founders should take into account in order to best convey their business’ financial performance to investors.

Don’t Apologize for Raising Your Prices

Price hikes are always a delicate business decision to make. You do not want to raise your prices too high and scare your consumers or clients off, but you want to address your business needs. Our latest Cloud Services Group blog looks at strategies you can deploy at your business to raise the price of your product/service.

Four Signs It’s Time to Outsource Your Accounting

When and Why You Need a Virtual CFO and Accounting Team As Entrepreneur recently pointed out, there are certain things a growing business should not “skimp out” on, a primary one being who you have looking after your finances. Number one on their list of three alternatives to hiring a full-time CFO? A virtual CFO! Enter ORBA’s Cloud […]

Meet the Team: Chris Arndt

In our newest feature, “Meet the Team,” we introduce you to some of ORBA’s talented accountants and tax professionals. In this edition, learn more about Chris Arndt, Director of the firm’s Cloud Services Group.

Using KPIs as Your Ticket to Growth

We see measuring analytics as an essential tool to scale your business. And, if you are a loyal reader, you know we never go too long without writing about our beloved metrics. However, do you know which metrics are essential to your business and the stage of growth you are in? In this article, we provide a breakdown of some of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for growth in common business models.

How the R&D Tax Credit Can Help Your Growing Business

Did you catch our post on prepping for year-end? We know you are busy, so if you happened to miss it, No. 10 on the list was familiarizing yourself with the new tax law changes. Wondering where to even begin? Well, the research and development (R&D) tax credit is one you will not want to miss. This article takes a closer look at the logistics to this tax credit and how it can benefit startup companies and growing businesses.

Year-End Tax Savings: What’s Better Than Saving Cash This Time of Year?

You may remember that we recently posted our essential year-end checklist. In this article, we take a closer look into the strategy of using up your end-of-the-year budgets to maximize your tax deductions in the current year.

An Essential Year-End Checklist for Your Business

Many business owners are coming up on what may be an especially hectic time: year-end. In light of this busy time of year, we polled our staff and came up with a checklist to consider as you approach the end of 2016.

New Overtime Regulations: Are You Prepared?

Confused by all the new overtime rules talk? We have had a number of clients ask questions about this, because let’s face it, it’s not as straightforward as it may seem! On December 1, 2016, the new Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Overtime Regulations come into effect. Our latest Accounting and Advisory Services blog has all the important details employers should know about the new overtime regulations.

Six Useful Steps to Evaluating Software and Cloud Solutions

We recently had a Tip of the Day in our bi-monthly newsletter, the Granite Scoop, that suggested you should “Invest in tech to succeed.” While that tip is, in our opinion, awesome – it perhaps leaves you wanting more. What technology should I invest in? How do I ensure I’m choosing the correct solution? Is it worth […]

Chicago’s “Cloud Tax”: Making Sense of the Personal Property Lease Protection Tax

The Personal Property Lease Protection Tax, or “Cloud Tax” as it is more commonly known, was implemented this year in Chicago. Our latest Accounting and Advisory Services Group blog delves into the specifics behind this “Cloud Tax” and help you lift the cloud of confusion you may have regarding this new tax law.

Forget That Old Saying ‘Fake it ‘til You Make it’ and Get Your Free Cash Flow in Line

Why is Free Cash Flow (FCF) important for scaling companies? Simple. FCF enhances shareholder value and is an attractive metric for investors compared to price-earnings. Discover how you can easily calculate your company’s FCF in our latest Accounting and Advisory Services Group blog!

Revenue Forecasts and the Importance of Funnel Velocity

As we may have mentioned before, we’re in the business of helping you grow! One crucial way to master your revenue forecasts is to understand your funnel velocity. I know what you’re thinking… “Say what now?!”  Put another way, you must perfect your sales funnel. In fact, some companies like Funnel Wise even suggest there […]

The Quintessential Tips to Scale Your Business

We love to save you time (& help you grow!) so we’ve scoured the internet for the best of the best tips to scale your business. You get the ultimate advice from across the web all in a one stop shop.

Are You Growing Yourself Broke? Don’t Forget This Important Metric

We figured we’re due to go back to analyzing some good old fashioned financial metrics for fast growing companies. This is a topic that is integral to our services and one our founder, Chris Arndt, is especially fond of. Chris presented a workshop on these three metrics and why many scaling businesses fail because they don’t put enough emphasis on the Payback Period.

Six Awesome Tips for Productivity

Output, yield, productivity. We’re always looking for ways to be more efficient and er, productive? So we’ve compiled our favorite, but perhaps, unexpected tips. Remember that this is not a ‘one size fits all’ list, but hopefully a few of these will be a good reminder of some ways to get more done in what seems to be those ever shorter days!

Motions vs. Action: The Skills Gap

Motion versus action. Words that appear to have similar meaning and yet have a different outcome. Blank suggests it’s the difference between cycling toward sealing that partnership versus being stuck on the perpetual stationary bike of “waiting to hear back.”

Seven Fundamental Qualities for Better Leadership in 2016

In, Some Thoughts on Leadership Going Into 2016, Mark Suster shines light on 7 solid guidelines for startup leaders. And if you’re a football fan, you’re in luck because Suster uses Chip Kelly’s failures as a coach to do so. How’s that for some light Monday reading?

Ten Things I’ve Never Heard a Successful Startup Founder Say

Highlighting statements that a “Successful Founder” would NEVER say, it takes an ironic, but truthful spin on this topic to get your mind thinking. Keep reading through the comments, and you’ll find some of the best. We promise that after skimming through this post, and comments, you’ll feel refreshed and may even get a laugh out of it.

When Valuation Does Not Matter

We enjoyed this article written by Mark MacLeod, and wanted to share, “When Valuation Doesn’t Matter.” The article highlights that we must find our own growth engine: “As soon as you find a repeatable and scalable growth engine, you can raise pretty much as much as you want on the terms that you want to mine […]

Spring-Cleaning Tips for Every Entrepreneur

Since we are the Entrepreneur’s CFO, we know that you are busy and want to keep you informed on what’s going on in the industry. Now that there has been some time for things to settle down from tax season, maybe it’s time to reassess your own accounting. Maybe you can call it an entrepreneur’s […]

Why Everything I Thought I Know About Churn is Wrong

Here’s a nice short article by Tomasz Tunguz about the intricacies of calculating customer churn rate and the related lifetime value. I like this article as Tomasz does not go too deep on the math behind this and instead focuses on high level scenarios where churn rate can vary dramatically. He then links to other […]

Three Problems With Your Business’ Financial Model

Does this sound familiar? “So tell me, how exactly does your business make money?” asks the inquisitive VC. “Um….what do you mean?” you ask, “Can’t you see our hockey stick growth projections on page 2? That’s how we make money, and boat loads of it!” The VC looks at the chart unimpressed and suddenly has […]

Looking Backward to Help Your Business Move Forward

Do you think it’s important to look in the rearview mirror of your car before merging onto the expressway at 65 M.P.H. (or faster)? Isn’t it smart to know who’s approaching quickly from behind and isn’t planning on changing lanes to accommodate you? It’s probably also a good idea to know how much fuel you have left before realizing the next gas station is 50 miles away. I think the obvious answer to these questions is “Yes.” But if paying attention to your gauges and what’s behind you is important in driving, then why do so many entrepreneurs choose not to pay attention to the same things as they relate to their business?

Tab: Startup to Shutdown – 10 Lessons Learned

I highly recommend reading the article that I’ve linked to below.  I wish more people would write about their lessons learned after their start-up goes belly up. Failure in the start-up space is inevitable, but we may be able to help others avoid our mistakes if we take the time to write about them. Additionally, […]

Trends in Exits for Start Ups

The article below is written by Jeff Carter, co-founder of Hyde Park Angels, which is one of the most active angel groups in the US. He specifically does a great job at identifying how family offices approach angel investing differently than other investors. Jeff  states that family offices are sometimes more interested in receiving on-going […]

How to Pitch Angel Investors

Chris Arndt is a partner in Red Granite, a Chicago-based firm that advises high-net-worth individuals and families—a roster of clients that includes several angel investors. From his unique advisory position, Arndt says he knows what entrepreneurs should be thinking about as they go about trying to get an angel on their side. What follows, then, are his tips to do just that.

Heavyweights including Pritzker, Mansueto launch tech investment fund

We get excited whenever we see more tech investing in Chicago. This fund’s investment in a start-up will serve as an immediate credibility booster for that startup. Family offices and other potential investors would be wise to make follow-on investments in the start-ups that are backed by this fund of experts. “Heavyweights including Pritzker, Mansueto […]

Three Signs Your Family Office Should Ditch QuickBooks

Just about every family office starts out with QuickBooks as its accounting system. And why not? QuickBooks is extremely easy to learn, and you can be up and running in minutes. Not to mention it’s dirt-cheap at only a couple hundred bucks.

Successful Businesses Take the First Step

There is no perfect time to make a change. There is no perfect time to start a business. There is also no perfect time to write your first blog post. However, it is always the right time to take your first step towards achieving one of these goals (or anything else you’ve been meaning to […]

Suspension of the Department of Labor’s Overtime Rule

If you weren’t quite ready for the new Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) rule regarding overtime pay, then Christmas may have come early! On November 22, a federal judge issued a nationwide injunction on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new Overtime Regulation set to take effect on December 1, 2016 stating that the new rule […]

New Overtime Regulations: Are You Prepared?

Confused by all the new overtime rules talk? We have had a number of clients ask questions about this, because let’s face it, it’s not as straightforward as it may seem! On December 1, 2016, the new Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Overtime Regulations come into effect. The threshold for employees eligible for overtime has […]

ORBA Joins Forces with Red Granite, Outsourced Accounting and CFO Powerhouse

CHICAGO — Ostrow Reisin Berk & Abrams, Ltd. (ORBA), one of Chicago’s largest independent accounting firms, is pleased to announce that it is joining forces with Chicago-based Red Granite, an accounting, bookkeeping and financial services firm specializing in providing outsourced CFO support. ORBA is a full-service audit, tax and consulting firm dedicated to helping clients […]