Lavoie Secures Kelley Michalski as Partner and Vice President of Operations

Lavoie Secures Kelley Michalski as Partner and Vice President of Operations

by | Jan 11, 2021 | Accounting, Community, Entrepreneurs, Finance, Financial Services, Growth, Lavoie, Planning, Services, Small Business

Lavoie secured Kelley Michalski as Partner and Vice President of Operations. Lavoie is excited to welcome Kelley Michalski to our team as our new Partner and Vice President of Operations in Charlotte, NC. In this role, Michalski will be responsible for managing client operations, maintaining internal control structures, and providing strategic support to our clients and organizations. As Lavoie continues to grow exponentially year over year, Michalski’s leadership will be an invaluable asset in reaching our goals.

“I am truly looking forward to being a part of an established market leader in the finance field,” said Michalski. “I’m excited to become a contributor to the growth of Lavoie.” 

Michalski brings with her over 20 years of experience leading strategic financial planning and implementation. Her wide breadth of practice includes everything from overseeing financial performance and organizational governance to managing risk and compliance. She has excelled in creating sustainable, data-driven financial strategies by developing a foundation of analytics to fuel tactical and long-term business decisions. Michalski’s leadership and expertise will be valuable additions to the Lavoie team.

“We are delighted to have Kelley become a Partner with the company. Through Kelley’s involvement with our team over the years, she has shown herself to be an exceptional leader in the industry,” said Sharai Lavoie, Lavoie’s CEO/Managing Member.

Prior to joining Lavoie, Michalski was the Chief Financial Officer for a subsidiary of a Fortune 15 organization and the owner of a small business located in Charlotte. A graduate of Iowa State University, Michalski brings with her an entrepreneurial mindset to support organizations of all sizes.

More information about Kelley Michalski is available at Lavoie’s Executive Team page. 

About Lavoie: Founded in 2009, Lavoie has served as a reliable Charlotte CPA firm that specializes in strategic financial and operational planning for businesses of all sizes. By delivering state-of-the-art strategic support, Lavoie’s clients can focus on growing their business and soar to the next level of greatness. In addition to providing customized solutions for clients, Lavoie prioritizes social justice issues and is extremely involved in the local Charlotte community.

LAVOIE + BESPOKE SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT CASE STUDY

LAVOIE + BESPOKE SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT CASE STUDY

by | Dec 7, 2020 | Accounting, CFO, CPA, Entrepreneurs, Finance, Financial Services, Growth, Services, SMBs

See why this award-winning Charlotte Sports & Entertainment Marketing Agency uses Lavoie CPA as their financial strategy partner

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Company: Bespoke Sports & Entertainment

Founded: 2014

Specialty: Sports and entertainment consulting and experiential marketing agency

Location: Charlotte, NC

With over 50 years of combined experience in Sports & Entertainment Marketing, Bespoke’s founders, have seen their fair share of agencies come and go. They have worked with some of the largest names and most complex brands in the sports and entertainment industry. So, when they started their venture, they knew they needed more than just an accountant to supervise their financial stability. They needed a financial strategist that could confidently run major investor meetings and take control of the company’s future; and a firm that could manage expenses while also augmenting human resource needs.

Download the case study to learn how Lavoie helped the company grow year over year and work with award-winning brands.
DOWNLOAD CASE STUDY

“It’s simple, Lavoie helped us create the infrastructure we needed. From setting up accounts payable and HR policies to recommending affordable technology, Sharai Lavoie and her team were there to give us the day to day insights we needed to keep cash flowing, flexibility to focus on sales, and proactive recommendations that enabled us to scale at the right pace.”

Mike Boykin

CEO & Cofounder

A CPA firm that does NOT provide Tax or Audit services?

A CPA firm that does NOT provide Tax or Audit services?

by | Feb 4, 2020 | Accounting, Big Data, Blog, CFO, Cloud, CPA, Finance, Financial Services, Metrics, Outsourcing, SMBs, Software, Startups, Technology

The value in not providing traditional accounting services

When most people hear CPA they immediately think tax and audit.  Lavoie CPA does NOT provide either service.  So, what do we do?  We provide world class accounting bundled with leading technology (Accounting as a Service) to help our clients succeed . But why don’t we provide tax or audit services?

  1. Our focus is helping grow your business.  We provide financial intelligence you can rely on to make informed financial decisions.
  2. We don’t want to become tax experts.  Staying on top of changes to tax laws and regulations is an exhaustive process. We rather partner with tax professionals and focus on what we do best – help grow your business!
  3. We can’t audit ourselves. Since we provide leading finance and accounting services, we can’t audit our own work.  However, our clients are always audit ready!

Why do clients come to Lavoie CPA since we don’t do tax or audit?

  1. We help grow sales.
  2. We turn finance into a strategic asset.
  3. We keep cost under control.
  4. We eliminate distractions and let our clients focus on what they do best.

Want to learn more? 

10 Benefits of “Accounting as a Service”

10 Benefits of “Accounting as a Service”

by | Feb 2, 2018 | Accounting, Blog, Cashflow, CFO, Cloud, Entrepreneurs, Finance, Financial Services, Growth, Outsourcing, SMBs, Software, Technology

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are often driven by a passion or cause – not spending hours on accounting and financial management.

SMBs face many financial challenges that affect cash flow including hiring new employees, increasing profits, employee healthcare, growing revenue and properly managing expenses.

Fortunately, technology has changed the game for SMBs. In the last decade, new technologies have enabled SMBs to compete with large enterprises.

Technology is only part of the equation.  Accounting as a Service (AaaS) is a hybrid solution that combines services with software; thus, the client can enjoy the benefits of professional expertise and leading cloud technology. This lays a great foundation, allowing companies to focus on revenue generating activities.  They are able to focus on future growth instead of being stuck analyzing the past.

10 Benefits of  Accounting as a Service

  1. Real-time visibility to your business performance via dashboards
  2. Reduce financial risk
  3. Increase productivity
  4. Be audit ready at all times
  5. Improved process flow and automation
  6. Eliminate staff turnover
  7. Cost savings
  8. Increased security
  9. Reduced IT headaches (upgrades and maintenance)
  10. Integration with your other applications to eliminate information silos

Interested in learning more?

3 Things Millennials Want from Accounting Firms

3 Things Millennials Want from Accounting Firms

by | Jun 13, 2017 | Accounting, CFO, Cloud, CPA, Financial Services, Technology

Bill.com recently presented results from a survey they conducted with more than 1,000 business owners on services, technology and billing. The 2017 Millennial Business Owner-Accounting Firm Survey primarily focused on accounting expectations from Millennials and other cohorts as it relates to their roles as business owners.

Why Is the Focus on Millennials?

Well, as of the beginning of 2015, they are the largest cohort in the US labor force. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to figure out how and why this cohort is fundamentally different from earlier generations. Based on insights from the survey we have summarized the 3 main things millennial business owners want from accounting firms.

1. Go Paperless

Paperless is no longer an expectation, it’s the norm. Filing and storing paper is cumbersome. We live in a digital world. Electronic and cloud-based services offers access anytime, anywhere and from anywhere. 82% of respondents said they would be “very pleased” or “pleased” if their accounting firm offered paperless services.

2. Strategic Guidance

52% of millennials in the survey indicated that they need a firm that offers insight as it relates to strategy and guidance. Thus, they want services such as fractional CFO or controller services.

3. Respond in a Timely Manner

An overwhelming majority of millennials (72%) said that the most important trait of an accounting firm was to respond to their communications in a timely manner. We live in a world where businesses no longer have regular business hours. The Internet has extended the hours that businesses are operating and also changed consumers’ expectations. Consequently, millennial business owners expect prompt responses from their accounting firms.

So What?

The insights from Bill.com’s survey are not surprising. Cloud-computing is predicted to continue growing at a steady rate. Additionally, consumers continue to expect more as the digital climate continues to develop and empower consumers. Thus, the takeaway from this should be that accounting firms need to be experts on what their customers expects. The bottom line is – you want your customers to be happy – and to do so you need to make sure you are meeting their expectations. If your main customer base consists of millennials, then three things you should consider doing are going paperless, offering CFO services and oversee your processes on response time with customers.

To learn more about what millennial business owners want from their accounting firms, download the 2017 Millennial Business Owner-Accounting Firm Survey special report or infographic.

Accounting Solutions for Early Stage Companies

Accounting Solutions for Early Stage Companies

by | Apr 17, 2017 | Accounting, CFO, Cloud, Financial Services, Outsourcing

The Struggle for Early Stage Companies

Early stage companies can often struggle to keep up with their day-to-day accounting requirements. This is especially true, as founders and management try to handle accounting in addition to all their other responsibilities. This challenge is compounded as business activity and business complexity increase. Accounting solutions for these types of companies vary of course depending on their industry; however, outsourcing accounting services can be beneficial in order to keep staff focused on core competencies and revenue-generating tasks.

Solution: Outsource

Nothing is more important or sensitive to your business than your financial position. That is why you should invest in both people with deep experience and an infrastructure with enterprise strength. Early stage companies can find solutions to their day-to-day accounting requirements by outsourcing the following services:

1. Transactional Requirements

This includes accounts payable, accounts receivable, bank reconciliations, payroll processing, asset tracking, etc.

2. Financial Control and Decision Making

This could be for a short term engagement to review processes, set up budgets or refine financial reports or on a continuing basis. Additionally, early stage companies can hire a consultant to act as the CFO/Controller that oversees daily activity, managing cash flow, communicating with tax advisers and presenting financial status at board meetings.

By leveraging resources and enterprise quality accounting applications, you will have the controls, confidence and focus to help drive operational improvements in your business. Companies in the early stages usually need to spend most of their attention on acquiring clients, developing business and performing their core competencies. The day-to-day accounting requirements can add to the stress of all the other challenges of being in the starting phase of growing your business. Deciding whether you should outsource or not depends, of course, on your situation and business; however, it undeniable that outsourcing services that are non-revenue generating can be extremely beneficial and valuable.

Lavoie Secures Kelley Michalski as Partner and Vice President of Operations

by | January 11, 2021 | Accounting, Community, Entrepreneurs, Finance, Financial Services, Growth, Lavoie, Planning, Services, Small Business | 0 Comments

Lavoie secured Kelley Michalski as Partner and Vice President of Operations. Lavoie is excited to welcome Kelley Michalski to our team as our new Partner and Vice President of Operations in Charlotte, NC. In this role, Michalski will be responsible for managing client...
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LAVOIE + BESPOKE SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT CASE STUDY

by | December 7, 2020 | Accounting, CFO, CPA, Entrepreneurs, Finance, Financial Services, Growth, Services, SMBs | 0 Comments

See why this award-winning Charlotte Sports & Entertainment Marketing Agency uses Lavoie CPA as their financial strategy partnerEXECUTIVE SUMMARY Company: Bespoke Sports & Entertainment Founded: 2014 Specialty: Sports and entertainment consulting and...
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Sage Intacct’s 6 Key Performance Metrics For Subscription Businesses [INFOGRAPHIC]

by | October 29, 2020 | Accounting, Analytics, Blog, Budgeting, Business Intelligence, CFO, CPA, Entrepreneurs, Growth, Intacct, Planning, SaaS, SMBs, Software, Startups, Technology | 0 Comments

How Healthy Is Your SaaS Business? These 6 Metrics Will Help You Figure That Out As a Sage Intacct certified accounting and implementation firm, Lavoie CPA is excited to share the latest findings for SaaS businesses to become successful in 2021. From startups to...
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Lavoie CEO Named Goldman Sachs NC Hill Week Captain

by | September 22, 2020 | Blog, CFO, Community, Corporate Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurs, Growth, Mentor, Planning, SMBs, Software, Startups, Technology | 0 Comments

As the election season draws closer and the concerns of small businesses continue to grow in the wake of the pandemic, SMB’s are joining forces to make sure their voices are heard in congress. According to a Goldman Sachs survey released on September 8, 88% of small...
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Race Talks in Sports

by | August 31, 2020 | Blog, CFO, Community, Corporate Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurs, Growth, Mentor, Planning, SMBs, Software, Startups, Technology | 0 Comments

Charlotte Business Leader Sharai Lavoie joins Jerrold Kinney, De’Marcus Miller, and DeAndrae Watson for a discussion on race and the role the sports industry can play in creating positive change within the business community.  This captivating conversation explores...
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A CPA firm that does NOT provide Tax or Audit services?

by | February 4, 2020 | Accounting, Big Data, Blog, CFO, Cloud, CPA, Finance, Financial Services, Metrics, Outsourcing, SMBs, Software, Startups, Technology | 0 Comments

The value in not providing traditional accounting services When most people hear CPA they immediately think tax and audit.  Lavoie CPA does NOT provide either service.  So, what do we do?  We provide world class accounting bundled with leading technology (Accounting...
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Finance’s Elevated Role and Other Critical Trends for 2019

by | January 18, 2019 | Accounting, Analytics, CFO, Cloud, Competitive Advantage, Forecasting, KPI, Technology | 0 Comments

The beginning of a new year always signals a time for trend spotting Which financial opportunities, challenges and changes should companies prepare for now? Below are six soon-to-be realities that you should consider for 2019.  .   CFOs take on more responsibility....
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Modern Digital Workplace: 5 Current Trends Making Waves In The Office

by | January 8, 2019 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments

Improving workflow is guaranteed to improve morale and modernize your workplace. But with all the tech on the market, it’s tough to know which solution is right for you. At Lavoie CPA, we know it’s a tough decision. We’re here to help.

With Microsoft cloud solutions, increasing employee connectivity–not only to each other but to the many Microsoft services offered–is a key element in being able to maintain flexibility while accessing data wherever you are.

With a little help, you can leverage Microsoft cloud solutions today. Contact us to find out how we can speed your transition to the cloud.

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Customer story: Hershey

by | January 8, 2019 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments

Hershey built their brand with data, using insights to come up with creative ideas. But to foster that creativity in the digital age, they needed to modernize their IT infrastructure. Doing so can seem daunting, even for a company like Hershey. At Lavoie CPA, we want to help your business make that change so you can begin to create.

With Microsoft cloud services, Hershey was able to connect employees together with insights gained from Azure, creating an agile modern workplace. Your business can leverage these same tools to modernize your workplace.

Contact us today to find out how we can help.

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3 ways to protect yourself from a ransomware disaster

by | January 8, 2019 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments

There’s no cure for ransomware. As the attackers grow more powerful each day, it’s up to every business to fight back by being prepared and keeping important data safe. At Lavoie CPA, we can help you do just that.

Microsoft’s approach to privacy and data protection is grounded in their commitment to customers’ ownership of and control over the collection, use, and distribution of information.

Leverage the security of Microsoft tools to safeguard your business and the data that makes it run. Contact us today to find out more on how we can help.

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