Glossary

Glossary of Financial Terms

Need to become more fluent in the language of finance? Look in our glossary of financial terms.

FinListics Biz-Tips

The Dash for Cash: Getting Your Fair Share

The key to getting your fair share of a client's excess cash is showing how your solutions help improve the returns on organic investments.  Despite facing challenges growing top line, a bright spot for many companies is that they're sitting on historically high piles of cash.  What do these cash balances mean for you as a seller and how do you get your fair share?...

Helping Clients Unlock Hidden Value

To navigate the tumultuous business environment and better manage financial performance, many clients have undertaken tough measures like headcount reduction and expense cutbacks in R&D, travel and advertising. They’re also delaying capital expenditures and tightening control of working capital. Still, there seems to be much untapped potential to Unlock Hidden Value...

Showing Your Clients how to Sustain Growth

Difficult times call for difficult measures. And many companies in almost every industry are being forced to make tough decisions, cut costs and reign in expansion plans.  Yet, even with such measures in place, growth and profitability remain stagnant or worse. While questions about the economy persist, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel.  That said, when recovery does occur, how will these companies fund the growth needed to capitalize on some of these cost reductions? ...

The Value of Knowing How your Customers make Money

How do your solutions align with your clients’ goals? And how do these companies make money? In today’s economic environment, it’s easy to assume a client’s primary goal is cutting costs. Yes, many companies have reduced costs and continue to do so. At the same time, however, more financially robust organizations are exploiting this recession to grow at the expense of less viable competitors. A CEO of a growth-focused company recently stated “We’d hate to waste a perfectly good crisis!”  Even companies currently focusing on slashing expenses are also planning for the future. Now more than ever, sellers not only must know their client’s goals, but also how the company makes money...

Can your Solutions enABLe a Powerful Value Proposition?

One of the most critical components to selling efficiency-improving solutions—and for that matter, all solutions—is a strong Value Proposition. This especially holds true today, since many companies scrutinize all investments more closely than ever due to deteriorating liquidity and cash flow positions, as well as access to credit. A robust value proposition answers an important question: Can your solutions enABLe a powerful value proposition?...

Prospecting for Better Leads

The real question is “What’s the prospect’s propensity to invest in your solutions?” Powerful insights into this question are provided by the Relative Cash Flow Opportunity (RCO)... 

Cashing in on Cash Operating Cycle

To meet the challenges of constrained and more expensive credit, companies are seeking ways to not only reduce operating costs but also better manage operating assets like working capital (accounts receivable, inventory and accounts payable). One less dollar invested in working capital is a dollar less a company needs to borrow. So what can you do to help your clients better manage working capital?...

Fast Financial Facts and Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Cash Coming From?

Knowing where your client's build up of cash is coming from provides insights into how much they really have to invest in your solution now and in the future. So, where is all this cash coming from? In order to analyze the increase in cash, we'll review three case studies...

Client Liquidity--- Why it is Important to You?

Why do you need to understand a client's liquidity? It provides insights into client's propensity and willingness to invest in your solutions along with what kinds of investments the client prefers...

The ABC's of Net Working Capital and Cash Operating Cycle

To boost business returns, many companies focus on better managing Net Working Capital. But what is it? Net Working Capital is the difference between current assets and non-interest bearing current liabilities...For many companies, the investment in Net Working Capital represents 20-30% of operating assets...

Clues to Reports: Exactly what's in Cost of Goods Sold and SG&A Expenses?

While the expense categories are never identical from company to company, several generalizations hold true in most cases. Cost of Goods Sold represents expenses related to the direct sale of products or services...

Clues to Reports: Steps to find more about your client's strategies and goals

Before you start researching company reports for details around financial performance, it’s imperative to know the company’s corporate and financial goals and strategic direction...

FAQ: What are A/R and DSO?

A. Accounts Receivable are balance sheet items and money owed to a client by its customers for products and services purchased but not paid for yet. DSO measures the average number of days (like 30 days) it takes to collect accounts receivable.  For many clients, accounts receivable is a critical component of managing financial performance...

FAQ: What is LTM?

If you have data that compiles the last 12 months of the company’s performance you gain a better understanding of how the company’s financial ratios have been affected by these challenging economics scenarios...

FAQ: What's and Interest Rate Spread?

A: You’ve probably heard on the news or from your client that it’s more costly to borrow money in the current environment. But what exactly does this mean and why is this important to you? ...

FinListics Fast Facts on our Methodology

What is the FinListics methodology and what can it do for you?

Articles and Presentations

FinListics Industrial Business Process Self Assessment

Retail Business Process Self Assessment

Three Steps for Improving Cash Flow Fast

View and utilize the presentations and documents made by Dr. Stephen G. Timme at the CFO Magazine, Master Class Webcast, July 30, 2009.

Benchmarking Financial Performance: A Top-Down Approach

Explore what client executives really want from your solutions in this articulate presentation by Dr. Stephen Timme of FinListics Solutions.  This presentation is part of our CFOEd, "Selling Value" online education. "Coming Soon"

Benchmarking Financial Performance: A Top-Down Approach

Are there pressures on your company’s profits margins? Pressures on margins, changes in the dynamics of how value is created, as well as, less patient investors are forcing companies to seek new solutions to increase financial performance. This applies to both publicly traded and privately held firms.

“The Financial Supply Chain Management Connection”

Supply chain management has the potential to provide higher returns to shareholders. Yet few companies use it to manage overall financial performance. Read how supply chain management (SCM) has the potential to improve the three key drivers of financial performance — growth, profitability, and capital utilization.

"Total Cost of Holding Inventory"

Management of inventory is a key driver of financial performance. Many companies today are exploring new ways to better manage inventory in response to slowing growth and pressures on profitability. This article explores the key factors comprising the total cost of holding inventory.