Boston Startup CFO

OCTOBER 13, 2015

It’s a growing pain that many small businesses have. Company founders and CEOs are rarely equipped to handle financing strategies, budgets and dealing with investors. But bringing on a chief financial officer is not cheap. If your company’s revenue is growing quickly, you have new investors and/or you’ve received venture capital, it could be time. When I started my online marketing company VerticalResponse, I made the colossal mistake of not hiring experienced people because I was so concerned a

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CFO Tax Planning GAAP Budgeting 52

Planful

DECEMBER 16, 2015

The nature and focus of private company boards are much different than in large, publicly held company boards. And this has an impact on the CFO’s role in relation to the board. The CFO Leadership Council’s NYC chapter held a panel discussion on this topic titled “Inside and Outside the Boardroom: Managing and Working with Boards.” The panel was moderated by Patricia Lenkov – President, Agility Executive Search.

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CFO Auditing Communication Risk Management 40

Boston Startup CFO

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

For many startups, the short answer is “no.” Some startups can create their own 409A valuation report for $0 using a DIY 409A calculator. Few regulations are more annoying to early-stage entrepreneurs than IRC 409A. This regulation requires that stock options be issued with a strike price equal to or above the value of common stock. This means that all startups — no matter how early the stage — must have a business valuation performed before issuing stock options to justify their choice of strik

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Valuation Startups Compliance Auditing 52

Planful

DECEMBER 10, 2015

EPM software gives you power and flexibility to play around during the revenue planning process to see how the changes you might make could affect your bottom line. It also gives you the ability to be more accurate, because unlike cumbersome and unwieldy spreadsheets, EPM software is smart and easy to use. Here are several ways that EPM software can improve your revenue planning processes.

Budgeting 40

Budgeting Planning Sales Finance 40

Speaker: Michael Veatch, Senior Director, Implementations & Ella Aguirre, Director of Solution Consulting

Embedding payments can be a transformative step for software companies looking to enhance their platform capabilities, boost customer satisfaction, and drive long-term growth. However, the success of payments hinges on a single thing: implementation. Drawing on real-world insights and experiences, payments implementation experts Michael Veatch and Ella Aguirre will explore actionable strategies that can lead to a transparent, friction-free launch and mitigate potential challenges like technical

Investments

Planful

DECEMBER 8, 2015

Many Finance teams continue to employ approaches to planning, reporting, and analysis that lack the speed, flexibility, and ability to provide insight necessary to support their companies’ growth goals. To help address this challenge, Planful sponsored a webcast with CFO Magazine titled “What Finance Can Do to Help Drive Company Growth.” Featured speaker was Paul Hamerman, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research.

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Finance Performance Measuring Budgeting Cost Management 40

Planful

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

The business world is going digital. It’s starting to use all of those digital breadcrumbs that you, your cell-phone, your social media posts and your sensor-enabled world are leaving behind. Your employer is likely using these digital artifacts to its benefit, too. Is this a fad? No, it isn’t as no one’s giving up their smartphones and businesses are just beginning to wire up the planet in a giant Internet of Things network.

Accounting 40

Accounting Finance Financial Systems Budgeting 40

Planful

NOVEMBER 17, 2015

His session was titled “Getting Future Ready: How to Master Business Forecasting.” I recently connected with Steve to learn more about his research and the Beyond Budgeting Roundtable. Here’s what he had to say. John: Steve, can you start by talking about the mission of the Beyond Budgeting Round Table (BBRT)? Steve: Sure, John. The BBRT is a member-based consortium of companies who have joined together to find better ways to plan and control operations.

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Budgeting Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) Forecasting CFO 40

Planful

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

A CFO.com webinar highlighted current developments in EPM technology, the role CFOs should play in evaluating EPM solutions, and tips and recommendations for implementing EPM solutions. CFO Playbook on Performance Management. Planful sponsored a webinar on CFO.com titled “The CFO Playbook on Performance Management: Realizing ROI with EPM Improvements.

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CFO Budgeting Finance Planning 40

Planful

OCTOBER 20, 2015

Here are five ways to know when you’ve outgrown Excel for financial close and consolidation and it’s time for EPM software. 1. Closing in Excel is Too Time-Consuming and Tedious. As the business grows and expands, Excel spreadsheets quickly become too large, cumbersome, complex, and error-prone to close out with confidence. When you begin the process of closing, you start by exporting trial balance data out of the general ledgers or ERP software and collect the data into spreadsheets

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General Ledger Accounting Standards Auditing Currencies 40

Speaker: Amanda Adams, Fractional CFO, CPA

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Amanda Adams, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.

Accounting

Planful

OCTOBER 2, 2015

How are cloud-based enterprise performance management (EPM) solutions helping companies in the Life Sciences industry address the challenges they face and take advantage of new market opportunities to drive growth and profits? Challenges in Dynamic Markets. Companies in the Life Sciences industry are facing major challenges. On the positive side, aging populations, chronic/lifestyle diseases, emerging-market expansion, and treatment and technology advances are driving growth in the Life Sciences

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Leverage Pharmaceutical Budgeting Financial Analyst 40

Planful

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

1. Choose the Right EPM System. Selecting an EPM system that doesn’t meet your current and future needs is short-sighted and can lead to the need to replace the system within a few years. When evaluating and selecting an EPM system, organizations need to consider their current as well as future requirements. Ask yourself the following questions; Will we need to heavily customize the system to meet our immediate needs?

Finance 40

Finance Compliance Forecasting CFO 40

Planful

SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

Despite some advances in the application of new costing techniques such as activity-based costing, are management accountants adequately satisfying the needs of managers and employee teams for decision-based cost information? Or is the gap widening? That is, are the accountants still just counting the beans, or are they helping to grow the beans? There is a difference between what management accountants report and what managers and employee teams want.

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Accounting Business Analytics Valuation Economics 40

Planful

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

When you’re first getting started, ensure that your EPM system is designed for high performance and scalability and that you won’t outgrow your next EPM system. A mistake that many organizations make is selecting an entry-level EPM solution that meets current requirements but provides limited functionality and scalability to meet future ones. The system is quickly outgrown.

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Budgeting Leverage Startups Finance 40

Speaker: Abdi Ali, Sr. Lease Accounting Consultant

Join this insightful webinar with industry expert Abdi Ali, who will discuss the challenges that can arise from managing lease accounting with spreadsheets! He will share real-world examples of errors, compliance issues, and risks that may be present within your spreadsheets. Learn how these tools, while useful, can sometimes lead to inefficiencies that affect your time, resources, and peace of mind.

Accounting

Planful

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015

While on the surface it may sound like these software systems overlap in terms of features and functionality, these are entirely separate types of systems. Which is most useful? Which is easier to implement? Which will deliver the most value for the expenditures of time, money, and effort? Defining and Describing Enterprise Resource Planning. What is ERP?

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Planning General Ledger Accounts Payable Budgeting 40

Planful

AUGUST 26, 2015

Robert Kugel, SVP of Research at Ventana Research , published an article about the new product and its ability to help customers simplify their planning and reporting processes. Take a Test Drive. Citing Ventana’s research about the domination of spreadsheets in corporate planning, Kugel noted, “Software vendors and IT departments have been trying – mainly in vain – to get users to switch from spreadsheets to a variety of dedicated applications.

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Planning Budgeting Forecasting 40

Planful

JULY 28, 2015

Useful Big Data Isn’t Just Lots of Data, It’s Lots of Types of Data. Big data isn’t just valuable because it’s large. The value lies in its complexity, depth, and breadth. In other words, the more types of data you can integrate from different sources, the more valuable your data analysis processes will be. By integrating data from all of the various sources (financial systems, production systems, customer relationship management software, etc.), you can get a much broade

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Analyzing Data Data Analysis Financial Systems Finance 40

Planful

JULY 22, 2015

EPM is essentially a combination of the concepts of strategy maps, balanced scorecards, profitability management, activity-based costing principles, driver-based budgeting, and a few others. When you are a CFO, everyone looks to you for all the answers. EPM is a method to glean deeper, more meaningful insight by collecting and aligning all of the data from various software and applications and combining it for a richer, more comprehensive view of the status of the enterprise.

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Benchmarking Budgeting CFO Marketing 40

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Join us in this webinar, where we share best practices on how to think about the reconciliation work each month, when best to do reconciliations, how they should be prepared, and some common pitfalls to avoid. Learning Objectives: This course objective is to understand how to properly prepare and review balance sheet reconciliations and its impact on the financial statements.

Reconciliations

Planful

JULY 1, 2015

A growing number of organizations are moving away from the annual budgeting process and finding better ways to plan and control their resources. Get the Best Practices Guide. Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the 2015 Beyond Budgeting Round Table Conference. There, I heard case study presentations from a few organizations who have moved “beyond budgeting.

Budgeting 40

Budgeting Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) Forecasting Value-Added Analysis 40

Planful

MAY 27, 2015

The Transaction Advisory Services Practice Leader from Grant Thornton moderated a panel. It also included senior Finance executives from private equity companies as well as portfolio companies. The panelists discussed the value that private equity companies bring to the table in terms of active management of companies, contrasting it against the hands-off approach of passive investors.

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CFO Auditing Data Analysis Forecasting 40

Planful

APRIL 28, 2015

In the last few decades, management accountants have made significant strides in improving the utility and accuracy of the costs they calculate and report. The gap is being caused by a shift in managers’ needs – from just needing to know what things cost (such as a product cost) and what happened – to a need for detailed information about what their future costs and profits will be and why.

Accounting 40

Accounting Cost Analysis Forecasting Budgeting 40

Planful

APRIL 22, 2015

Business Performance Management (BPM). Corporate Performance Management (CPM). Financial Performance Management (FPM). Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). Many practitioners and experts in the industry have positioned all of these labels as basically meaning the same thing. They see each as a process and software system designed to link strategies to plans and execution.

Budgeting 40

Budgeting Finance Planning Manufacturing 40

Speaker: David Warren and Kevin O’Neill Stoll

Transitioning to a usage-based business model offers powerful growth opportunities but comes with unique challenges. How do you validate strategies, reduce risks, and ensure alignment with customer value? Join us for a deep dive into designing effective pilots that test the waters and drive success in usage-based revenue. Discover how to develop a pilot that captures real customer feedback, aligns internal teams with usage metrics, and rethinks sales incentives to prioritize lasting customer eng

Sales

Planful

MARCH 31, 2015

Scenario 1 – A fast-growing company has outgrown its ERP system and needs to upgrade to a more scalable solution. The company is also looking to replace the Excel spreadsheets it’s using for financial reporting, planning, and forecasting with a packaged EPM solution. Scenario 2 – A medium to large company has multiple legacy ERPs to upgrade, replace, or consolidate.

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Budgeting Forecasting Planning Accounting 40

Planful

APRIL 27, 2015

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