The document summarizes a presentation given by Kelly Leonard of Taylor-Leonard Corporation titled "Balancing Finances During Emotional Times". The presentation discussed strategies for financial measurement and management, achieving market growth, working through a business slowdown, and effectively reducing business costs. It provided tools like balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements for financial measurement and discussed tactics like activity-based costing, creating new income streams, and customer segmentation. The presentation also suggested reducing costs through exploring alternative labor sources, bartering, renegotiating contracts, improving processes, and advance purchasing.

1. Northern Anne Arundel County
Chamber of Commerce
“Balancing Finances During
Emotional Times”
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
presented by
Kelly Leonard
Taylor-Leonard Corporation

2. What Executives Are Thinking
“Maybe we should …
diversify our
product and/or
consider lowering service offerings.”
our labor costs
(outsourcing, off-
shoring).”
identify ways to
collect receivables
faster.”
slash operating costs by
closing/consolidating
offices.”
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3. We Will Discussion …
 Financial Measurement & Management
 Strategies to Achieve Market Growth
 Ways to Work Through a Business
Slowdown
 Effective Ways to Reduce Business
Costs
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4. Financial Measurement & Management
Three important financial measurement tools are:
1. Balance Sheet,
2. Profit and Loss / Income Statement and
3. Cash Flow Statement – Cash is king!
MASTER THE FUNDAMENTALS & CONSIDER DRIVERS
Activity-Based Costing (ABC)
 Isolates the cause and effect relationships to objectively assign
costs to each product/customer
 Magnifies high overhead costs per unit (cost drivers)
 Helps to control the costs at an individual level and
departmental level
 Isolates unnecessary costs
 Helps fixing price of product/service scientifically
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5. Strategies to Achieve Market Growth
• Create New Income Streams
 Teaming / Partnerships (leverage Chamber relationships)
 Complementary products and services
 New ways to sell and promote current products
 Creative pricing
• Acquire Small Business Designations & Identify Opportunities
 Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)
 Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)
 Local Small Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (LSDBE)
 8(a)
 Veterans, Service-Disabled Veterans
 HubZone
 Women
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6. Working Through a Business Slowdown
• Have reserve capital (not just cash, could be strong receivables) .
• Focus on retaining your customers. Increase customer loyalty by
 Finding out customer needs
 Emphasizing your value proposition & services offered
 Offering discounts, samples & giveaways
• Segment customers
 High margin – continue building loyalty (help them to help their
customers)
 Acceptable margin – up-sell and cross-sell
 Low margin – shed these
Receivables acceleration (incentives, reciprocity, payment terms,
factoring)
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7. Working Through a Business Slowdown
• Get outside help.
 Use consultants
 Leverage banking relationships
 Emulate successful competitors ~ Avoid mistakes of others
• Learn more about & take advantage of government stimulus.
 Access to working capital
 Owner-occupied commercial real estate refinancing
 Microloan programs
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8. Working Through a Business Slowdown
• Change your own role. Focus on being a financial architect and
strategic thinker.
• Socialize/Network.
 Leverage Chamber membership & referral groups
 Define a social networking strategy
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9. Effectively Reducing Business Costs
• Tap into alternate sources of human capital. Diverse and plentiful
talent pool.
• Barter goods & services
• Renegotiate
 Landlord
 Banker
 Suppliers & vendors (change fixed fee  performance based
contacts)
Reduce/Eliminate ancillary, non-core fees
• Manage your inventory
 Buy wholesale/bulk
 Trim inventories
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10. Effectively Reducing Business Costs
• Improve processes
 Lean Thinking – focus on eliminating waste and increasing
customer value (adding value = generating revenue)
 New payment methods
 Reduce collections cycle time
 Replace paper-based invoicing  electronic/paperless
• Borrow/Rent business equipment.
• Plan Ahead. Make purchases of supplies when they go on sale, in
advance of your need.
• Search. New suppliers, lower prices, and better quality.
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11. "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done
what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no
doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with
your old nonsense."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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12. Contact Us
Kelly Leonard, CPA, CITRMS
Group Benefits Specialist & Small Business Consultant
Bus. (240) 683.6336 | Mobile. (240) 994.4861
kelly.leonard@taylor-leonard.com
www.workforcecare.com | www.gosmallbiz.com
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13. About Kelly Leonard
Kelly Leonard received her bachelor's in Accounting from Virginia Commonwealth
University in Richmond. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified
Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist (CITRMS).
Kelly’s finance, accounting, and risk management experience spans more than 19
years; encompassing federal government, private and public accounting environments,
to include Fortune 100 companies with specialization in internal audit, healthcare, and
financial services. Her extensive client list includes such recognized organizations as
Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association, Kaiser Permanente, and the World Bank. Kelly
oversees the Risk Management practice of Taylor-Leonard Corporation (T-LC); a
family-owned information technology and risk management consulting practice.
Although T-LC’s client list includes nationally recognized non-profit organizations as well
as large publicly traded organizations, Kelly’s passion rests ultimately with helping small
to medium size businesses to protect and grow their enterprise.
Kelly maintains professional affiliations with The Institute of Fraud Management and
Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce. She also serves as Past President
for Stedwick Elementary School’s Parent-Teacher Association, volunteers regularly
within her community, and is an active member at Church of the Redeemer in
Gaithersburg, Maryland.
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