Sage Intacct’s 6 Key Performance Metrics For Subscription Businesses [INFOGRAPHIC]

by Tara Fusco | Oct 29, 2020 | Accounting, Analytics, Blog, Budgeting, Business Intelligence, CFO, CPA, Entrepreneurs, Growth, Intacct, Planning, SaaS, SMBs, Software, Startups, Technology

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 organizations ready to scale each one of these indicators is an invaluable piece of information to evaluate your company’s overall health — not to mention prep you for that looming board meeting in the near future.

In this infographic we will dive into why each of these metrics is the difference between getting your next round of funding, scaling year over year, or hitting the wall.

Get the infographic and learn why you should care, how to calculate, and an interesting fact about the following KPIs:

CARR (Committed Annual Recurring Revenue)
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
CLTV (Customer Lifetime Value)
Churn
Free Cash Flow
CCS (Cash Conversion Score)

DOWNLOAD THE INFOGRAPHIC

Lavoie CEO Named Goldman Sachs NC Hill Week Captain

by Tara Fusco | Sep 22, 2020 | Blog, CFO, Community, Corporate Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurs, Growth, Mentor, Planning, SMBs, Software, Startups, Technology

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 business owners have exhausted their PPP loan funding; with 43% of Black small business owners depleting their cash reserves by the end of the year.

To help amplify US small business needs, Goldman Sachs is using its 10,000 Small Businesses (10KSB) Initiative to serve as a policy platform and community resource center. However, prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the 10KSB alumni collectively represented $12 billion in revenues and employed 175,000 people. More notably, 44% of these businesses are family-owned and 66% are minority and women-owned businesses.

“The 10,000 Small Businesses Voices initiative is designed to help small business owners in the United States advocate for policy changes that will help their businesses, their employees, and their communities,” according to Goldmansachs.com. “We provide the 10,000 Small Businesses Voices community with the tools, resources, and training needed to make their voices heard and drive tangible impact against real issues.”

Among the many tools to assist small businesses, the program includes surveys, open letters to congress, and ongoing virtual events to help guide owners through ongoing challenges and the most recent policy changes.

One of these events was the Virtual Capitol Hill Day held on June 9th -11th. Over three days, 2,100 small business owners connected with Members of Congress through 434 online meetings across all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Lavoie CEO, Sharai Lavoie, was named a NC Hill Week Captain and lead discussions with congressional leaders and small businesses across the state.

Lavoie led three discussions one of which was with Congresswoman Alma Adams, representing North Carolina’s 12th District. Discussion topics included:

- Increased Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) flexibility
- Allowing small businesses to apply for the second round of PPP funding
- Strengthening financial safeguards for small businesses by providing a temporary liability shield for litigation related to COVID-19 [Interesting fact: Congresswoman Adam and Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidate, Kamala Harris, joined forces one month later to announce a new bill ensuring anti-racism training for medical professionals and health service providers. – Want to learn how to move the equality needs in your organization? Check out our blog on how business leaders can lead positive change in their organizations.]

“I was thrilled to participate in this initiative,” says Lavoie CEO, Sharai Lavoie. “It’s programs like these that will give SMBs a fighting chance and help promote policies that positively impact the everyday American business owner.”

To learn more about the 10,000 Small Business Voice initiative, check out the website to access resources or participate in the many surveys to inform congress of US business owners’ ongoing needs.

Race Talks in Sports

by Tara Fusco | Aug 31, 2020 | Blog, CFO, Community, Corporate Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurs, Growth, Mentor, Planning, SMBs, Software, Startups, Technology

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 systemic racism and the vital dialogue that should exist between equality advocates and business leaders.

Watch the full video below, and check out a few of the highlights!

Key Takeaways

Simply put, we as a society are at the crossroads of cultural advancement and organizational ineptitude. The topic of systemic racism, workplace inequality, and homogenous decision-making can no longer be ignored. However, the definition of the “talk” changes from colleague to colleague as do the continuous actions that need to follow.

Over the years, sports professionals have championed those difficult conversations (“talks”) and been at the nexus of sustainable change and political progress. And now, with unparalleled access to recorded footage of police brutality and the confluence of back-to-back violence on black men and women, professionals and companies have an obligation to drive national momentum and activate the diversity conversation.

Here are some very real tips on how to move the equality needle from our Race Talks in Sports panelists:

Are you an athlete or a professional in the sports industry? Here’s how you can influence or participate in sustainable change:

Continue to be active in your communities… every day
Have your beliefs front and center… literally wear them where the cameras will see
Always participate in the conversation… no matter where you are
Get over your anxiety and fears surrounding communication… no matter what environment you’re in, someone can learn from your experiences
Bring your full, authentic self to the workplace… the court, the field, or the office

A company’s commitment to diversity

How to do more than just check the box

Unfortunately, most organizations check the diversity and inclusion box by creating an internal group, announcing it on social media, and that’s it. Committing to diversity means providing your employees the opportunity to be mentored and propelled into their desired industry or professional stature. Companies need to rethink how they can use these diversity and inclusion groups to present goals to leadership, and, over time, show what has actually been accomplished. This allows for true accountability and a way to track how quickly programs are progressing and identify ways to continuously improve.

Start improving your diversity and inclusion initiative by focusing on these 5 areas:

Evaluate Your Organization & Find The Right Skills That Can Lead Change
Build A Community With Accessible Communication Channels & Resources
Educate Everyone In The Company From Leadership to Interns
Create Transparent Goals That Can Be Shared & Tracked
Drive Accountability That Can Be Analyzed On A Consistent Basis

Ways to Get Involved

Join the Charlotte Sports + Business Networking Group

Charlotte Sports+Business is a free networking group connecting sports industry executives in the Queen City.

Join the Racial Equity Institute

A Greensboro based organization, the Racial Equality, Institute helps individuals and organizations develop the tools they need to challenge patterns and grow equity within their communities.

Watch Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man

Emmanuel Acho sits down to have an “uncomfortable conversation” with white America in order to educate and inform on racism, system racism, social injustice, rioting & the hurt African Americans are feeling today.

Moderator

Sharai Lavoie
CEO
Lavoie CPA

Participants

DeAndrae Watson
Vice President
Octagon

De’Marcus Miller
Senior Marketer

Jerrold Kinney
Senior Marketing & Strategy Professional

How to Improve Your FP&A Process Right Now

by Madeleine Wallmon | Aug 2, 2017 | Analytics, Big Data, Finance, Planning, Software

FP&A Teams Have the Wrong Focus

According to a recent report by Adaptive Insights, CFOs want their employees to spend less time on collecting and preparing data and more time on forecasting and analysis. The survey revealed that financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams are currently spending 53% of their time on reporting and data gathering alone.

“Reporting, whether it’s on actuals or forecast or planning should be quick. We shouldn’t be spending a lot of time on that,” says Jim Johnson, CFO of Adaptive Insights. “We should be spending much more time on the model that’s supporting it. The predictive analysis, the key performance indicators and the stuff that is really important for the company.”

There is a good reason why employees should spend more time on analytics. Oracle found that businesses who were effective at integrating financial and operating data, using analytics in processes and utilizing predictive analytics outranked their peers by 70% on profit and revenue.

How Can You Improve Your FP&A Process?

Implement a Dynamic Planning Process

First of all, your business need to incorporate a FP&A process that allow for flexibility. Rolling forecasts, for example, is one way to ensure you are adapting to market forces. Since rolling forecasts ultimately is an approach where you add or drop data on a rolling basis, you consequently have real-time insights to your performance against your predictions. APQC reported that an organization can save a median of 25 days on the annual budgeting cycle by using rolling forecasts.

“It makes no sense to use a 19th-century tool to manage 21st-century company in a volatile global economy,” argues Steve Player, a program director at the Beyond Budgeting Roundtable. “In the old days, the CFO sat in the back of the ship recording what happened. Now, the CFO stands on the bridge looking forward and adjusting for variables.” With Lavoie CPA, you can tap into the expertise of our experienced outsourced CFO services, which bring a wealth of knowledge and industry-specific insights to guide your financial decision-making.

Traditional annual budgets have limits. They often take too long to prepare, and when completed the data is already out of date. Rolling forecasts offer continuous updates to your data and a longer horizon with data up to 12-18 months ahead. Thus, you have much more accurate data and reliable insights. This, as a result, allows you to take more strategic decisions about your business.

Make it Easy for Employees to Collaborate

Collaboration among employees and management is crucial for your business. First, they help you realize your goals, but they can also aid in reducing hidden costs. According to research by CEB, hidden budgeting and forecasting costs may prevent companies from realizing their full potential of investments in FP&A improvements.

How do businesses encourage collaboration? There’s one simple answer. Leverage technology. Cloud-based accounting software is a great solution for companies that have data that needs to be shared and aggregated by more than one employee. In addition, cloud software also allows for employees to access the same data from virtually anywhere. Finally, most cloud-based software providers offers integration with other enterprise systems, which allows you to have one source for your performance management.

Conclusion

While you may think your business is doing well enough, your competitors are advancing by implementing better FP&A processes like the ones discussed above. Don’t wait, instead, invest in FP&A processes that will help your business achieve outstanding results and reduce hidden costs.

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Sage Announces Acquisition of Intacct for $850m

by Madeleine Wallmon | Jul 28, 2017 | Cloud, ERP, Intacct, Software

On Tuesday, Sage Group, a U.K. based technology company, announced that they are acquiring Intacct Corporation. It is the largest ever acquisition by Sage, who will be purchasing Intacct for $850 million. The transaction will close within the next few weeks.

Going forward, Intacct will be known as Sage Intacct, and according to Sage, Intacct’s management team will stay the same and continue to be in charge “thereby ensuring continuity for customers, partners, and employees.”

Strategic Acquisition

Strategic consolidation is a way of life in the software industry, as is true in many other industries. But, this combination is exciting because it means more innovation and more paths to efficiency and the next level. Sage and Intacct have branded the acquisition as “the combination that delivers the first and last cloud

Financial Management Solution your business will ever need”.

Some advantages that will result from this acquisition are:

Current customers (of either companies) will now have access to additional resources and product functions as a result of the combination
Sage will further their reach in the US market
As pointed out in Diginomica; “Intacct gets close to top market dollar for its IP in the sense the sale price is equivalent to around 8.8x revenue, a price it could not get in today’s IPO environment”

In the press release by Sage, the CEO of Intacct, Robert Reid said “We are excited to become part of Sage because we are relentlessly focused on the same goal – to deliver the most innovative cloud solutions for our customers”.

In conclusion, this acquisition is a good thing. The combination of two of the leading companies in cloud accounting and financial management software will bring innovation and efficiency. As a result, customers will have more options for leading solutions that supports their business. Thus, everyone involved ends up benefiting.

Read more about the acquisition here, and find the full press release here.