Expected Results

What's it like to work with CFO.CA Consulting? On this page we'll tell you the kinds of results that our clients have experienced and we'll also give you a sense of our guiding principles, our approach to client projects and how we're different than most business consulting firms.

When you work with us, you will see how you can still grow your business while working fewer hours and improving the quality of your life. We'll help you to see where your business is really strong and where it is consuming too much of your time and too many of your resources.  We'll help you to identify potential time wasters that don't fit your business strategy.

You can expect to see desirable and sustainable changes in your financial performance and the value of your company.  You will understand your true costs better, identify your profitable customers and service lines and learn about drains on your cash flow. We'll help you to focus on your most profitable activities and opportunities, both seen and unseen. You will determine which strategy is best for your company.

We'll help your managers to manage. You might be very busy working IN your business and not spending enough time working ON your business. We can help you and your management team work ON the business by developing plans and thinking about the future. This can help you to transition your ownership and managerial duties to others and begin the difficult task of letting go.

You will see how compensation and performance management can align your employees' behaviours with your strategy. We make performance compensation a win-win for both your business and your employees. Performance-based compensation allows you to pay higher compensation to higher performers. It attracts and rewards those who make the largest contribution to your business and to your customers.

Attracting and keeping good employees is extremely important as the baby boomers begin to retire and take their knowledge and skills with them. We help you to develop a human resources strategy that is aligned with your overall business strategy. This clarity of focus and purpose helps people to understand how their roles and daily tasks contribute to the overall business. Your small business culture is a definite asset in terms of flexible work arrangements and maintaining employee loyalty. However, we can add some standard best practices to you such as performance management, coaching and career development that can further strengthen your employee loyalty and performance.

What do the numbers mean? Your accounting and information systems contain important data that, when analyzed and presented in different formats, can show you how your business is really operating. This information will help you to make better decisions, improve business results, and communicate more effectively with bankers and other advisors. Improving the quality of your information can help you build credibility with the bank, obtain additional financing, get better tax advice from your accountant, increase the value of your business and help to maximize and protect your wealth.

Growing a business requires more cash and, sometimes, more financing. As receivables and payables grow, so does the need for additional operating lines or lines of credit. Larger projects and larger customers result in longer delays until your receive payment. However, your employees still need to be paid every two weeks, and you have to keep the lights on. We'll help you obtain the right type and right amount of financing so that you can run your business today and grow your business tomorrow. We have relationships with a variety of banks and lending institutions that can provide traditional as well as innovative financing to help you improve cash flow and pursue profitable growth in a controlled and confident manner.

What's your exit strategy? Have you started your succession plan? Who will take over your business? What is your business worth? We'll quarterback the succession planning process and work with your team of professional advisors. We'll help you examine your alternatives that best fit with your personal goals, objectives, timelines and requirements for cash. Employees are a potential exit strategy as they have the best knowledge of your business and customers. Unfortunately, they may have less cash available to purchase your business than a larger competitor or consolidator, which is another exit alternative.

We'll help you raise the bar. There is always an abundance of basic problems to be solved but solving them doesn't take you to the next level. Dramatic improvement doesn't come from fixing your weaknesses. It comes from leveraging your strengths to pursue opportunities. It comes from the courage to have a strategy and go for it.

Guiding Principles

I grew up in a family business. Every year, my parents and uncle and aunt went to the accountant's office to receive the financial statements. Every year, they expected business advice and an assessment on their performance. Every year, they didn't ask, and the advice they wanted wasn't offered. That is why I first became a chartered accountant, then a certified management consultant, then completed my MBA: to help people run their businesses better and understand how they could grow their businesses. Once I began my accounting practice, I really enjoyed working with business owners and helping them to develop and implement strategies that grew their businesses and improved the quality of their lives. I enjoyed this work so much that I went into consulting full-time and now focus exclusively on helping people build their businesses.

You run your business for a lot of reasons. One of them is to provide you with a quality of life. Another is to earn a profit. Profitability is not optional, it's mandatory. Profits generate cash and cash supports your business, your quality of life and your future. We work very closely with our clients to do everything possible to improve their profits quickly and effectively.

Your business not only supports you, it supports your employees and their families. By making your workplace fun and safe, you can enhance your employee loyalty. This helps employees to improve their performance, which improves profitability, which strengthens your company, which improves the future livelihoods of all your employees. We help you to maximize the investment you make in your employees. We help you to develop a workplace culture that focuses on your employees. After all, it's your employees who take care of your customers.

We believe people on the front lines know best what is happening on the front lines. You can't lead from the back of the pack. By involving your front line employees, you're gaining information and knowledge that no one else has. And, by asking them how to solve problems, you're gaining their commitment and buy-in to the solution. Open, respectful communication is a powerful strategic weapon that can give you great advantages in the market place and help you to engage and retain your employees.

You can't be all things to all people. This is not a strategy, this is the absence of strategy. There are only three viable strategies: low cost; differentiation; or focus. Small and medium businesses don't have the economies of scale to be low cost. But they have the expertise and flexibility to differentiate themselves from larger, slower, competitors and focus on specific sectors. Strategy requires choices on your values, vision, product/market focus and your core competence. You know what this is. You just need the courage to have a clear strategy.

Our Approach

We do our homework. We work intensely on your business, analyze your data, talk to your employees and your customers, compare your results to our experience and research in a variety of industries, and then make proactive recommendations that are based on benchmarks and sound best practices. We work really hard and long hours on the front end of your project so that we can quickly add value and relevance to your organization. We don't shoot from the hip and we don't offer flippant solutions to issues that you've struggled with for a long time. We are focused on your business and your future, not on the past.

We customize our approach for every project so that we can produce sustainable results for your company as quickly and effectively as possible. Different clients have different goals and need different things. One size does not fit everyone. We want you to be better off when we leave and also to possess the knowledge and skills to deal with future situations.

We don't write lengthy reports that get dusty sitting on the shelf.  In the owner-manager world, you want results fast. We quickly focus on your critical success factors and how to improve them. We look for factors that are common across your company - these have the greatest impact in the shortest amount of time. We use our broad training and generalist background to assess all the areas of your business: strategy, systems, human resources, operations, marketing, finance and management.

We believe in transferring skills and knowledge. Our consulting projects are designed to help you learn and grow as well as take your business to the next level. That way, you won't need us forever. Even when we are providing outsourced management services on a retainer basis, we are continually transferring skills to your management team so they can advance in their positions and strengthen your company.

Our quick response is guaranteed. Nothing is more frustrating than waiting for days for a response from your advisor. We don't just try to be responsive, we guarantee we'll return your calls within 2 hours and return your emails within one business day during normal business hours.

We're going to tell you the truth. We will be candid with you at all times. And, we're going to tell you what's causing a problem. As a fresh set of eyes, we bring our independence and objectivity to bear on your situation. We're not mired in organizational politics or the old way of doing things. You don't need a ‘yes man.' And, we're not conflicted by trying to sell you a methodology to keep our people busy and meet our hourly sales goals. We're there to help you raise the bar.

We like to have fun.  Having fun goes a long way in helping people deal with stress, especially since changing how we do things can be stressful. When people are happy, they are actually more open to learning new things. Having fun makes the workplace more enjoyable and the consulting process more useful.

Our Uniqueness

What makes our consulting services stand out is our deep understanding of strategy and our relentless pursuit on improving your profitability. We understand the psychology of pricing and how it's human nature to (often, overly) react to complaints about our prices. We also understand how to analyze the strategic value that you contribute or can contribute to your customers and how this can be factored in to your prices. We develop strategic services where your customers view you as a partner who can help them achieve their business goals thus making you more valuable to them.

We have a track record of excellent results in business to business industries. For example, industrial maintenance, manufacturing, professional and technical services are among our specialties. We can help your business maximize the value of your services to your customers thus improving customer satisfaction and your profits.

You deal directly with the principal. We deal directly with your people in a respectful, professional and effective manner. There is no loss of value of information as it gets filtered through different levels. We can assess what is really going on by talking to your customers, your employees and your managers and then seeing what is common, and missing, from all their comments. We can quickly and accurately identify opportunities that can help you to take your business to the next level.

We don't have hourly rates. Our fees are based on the value of our services and how we positively impact your business results. That way, you're encouraged to pick up the phone and call us on any matter that you think is important to your business. You know your investment up front. Value pricing avoids the inherent conflict in time billing where you want results as quickly as possible and the service provider wants to increase time to increase billings. You don't pay for inefficiency. We don't unload a busload of junior people to come to your business, disrupt your staff, and learn about your industry at your expense. We don't charge for telephone, fax, courier or photocopying. We don't like being "nickeled and dimed" and we won't do it to you.

We have experience and expertise. We've earned our credentials in the school of hard knocks as business owners, members in family business and working in industry as bankers and managers. In addition to our 17 years of experience, we hold the professional designations of chartered accountant and certified management consultant to compliment our formal education of Bachelor of Commerce and MBA degrees. We also have a network of experienced professional advisors including accountants, lawyers, bankers, financial planners, insurance advisors, human resource specialists and valuators that become part of our team. We provide high level professional advice with small firm personal service.

Next Steps

Now that you have a better understanding of how we work with our clients and how we help them to achieve superior business results, please go to Our Services to learn more about specific services and programs.