pro tip

Pro Tip: Perfection in Strategic Planning

Nicole Sithithavorn Blog, Pro Tip planning, pro tip, Strategy

Even the best laid plans will not go perfectly. Part of working on strategic growth is an acceptance of this fact and a willingness to pivot when results indicate the need to. Developing a strategic plan that hinges on perfection in execution or results is a recipe for failure. The best path? Create a plan that is both aggressive enough and that allows for lever pulls when things don’t go right. Identify where you have alternatives and when you might elect to put them into place. Empower your team to be resilient and take charge in the tough moments through proactive scenario planning.

Pro Tip: Happy New Year 2026!

Nicole Sithithavorn Blog, Pro Tip pro tip

Happy New Year! The new year is exciting, it can also be a lot of pressure. How was 2025 for your business? Was it great? Was it challenging? Was it just really hard? Was it all three, somehow? Many business leaders could answer yes to all of those questions. The big decision now though, to start 2026, is how will you take what you learned in 2025 and leverage it to create more of what you want in the future? Where do you even start to answer that? Go back to your data, of course! Analyze how you created value in 2025, use that information to plan 2026. Good luck, you got this!

Finance is Storytelling

Nicole Sithithavorn Blog, Pro Tip pro tip

Finance is subjective. Yes, there are rules and regulations and some of that is black and white, but Finance is also storytelling. It is making sense of data and communicating that story to people to help them understand the cause and effect relationship of decisions and results. In any situation where outside funding is needed this truth is that much more important, but for internal, non-financial managers, it is also vital. The Finance leader has a job to do in helping the management team understand how their choices create financial results. It can be the difference maker.

Pro Tip: Questions to Plan 2026

Nicole Sithithavorn Blog, Pro Tip 2026, planning, pro tip, Strategy

Sometimes planning for next year is best started by asking yourself and your management team questions, here are some suggestions:

– What available capacity do we have now that we should try to make the best use of?

– What have been the key barriers for growth in the last year?

– What service lines do we have that are most profitable?

– What geographic areas do we have more opportunity in?

– What are potential service lines that we can offer to our current clientele in our current area?

– Where are we efficient with staffing and where are we not?

– What do we need operationally to meet our goals?

Pro Tip: Letting Go

Nicole Sithithavorn Blog, Pro Tip Business Tips, pro tip, Small Business

It can be hard, as a small business owner, to let go of control of essential tasks in your business. Trying to determine how to do this is a constant topic of conversation with clients. How can you begin to move forward with it?

1. Create documented processes for essential tasks you complete.

2. Develop standardized methods to keep a pulse on the tasks you’ve handed off.

3. Ensure your financial controls and reporting processes are set up well and timely.

4. Create a standard schedule for yourself to watch these things and meet with people that allows you to let go and be confident.

Best of luck!

Pro Tip: Month-End Close

Nicole Sithithavorn Blog Financial Reporting, Internal Controls, Month-end, pro tip

Why does it matter if you have a defined month-end close process? Because you need to have consistent financial reporting practices in order to have reliable financial reporting results. The top three issues we see that indicate a lacking month-end close are:

1. Inconsistency in prior period balance sheet account balances. This means that items are being recorded in prior periods after the fact.

2. Unreconciled items outstanding from prior periods in bank/credit card activity.

3. Stagnant accounts on the balance sheet period after period.

These items could indicate that your data is inaccurate!

Pro Tip: Accountability of the team

admin Blog, Pro Tip Accountability, Growth, Leadership, Management, Margins, pro tip

An often overlooked area of value building for businesses is accountability of the team. Particularly in management, setting up the job descriptions, workflows and compensation structure to allow for transparent accountability that aligns with the company and its strategic trajectory is key for increasing margin. Holding team members accountable is not a negative thing, done right it can be an empowering experience, giving them the tools for growth both within the organization and in their skill set, and allowing them the agency to use them. Unsure how? Let’s talk!

Pro Tip: When to Start Planning for 2026

admin Blog, Pro Tip Budgets, planning, pro tip

When is the right time to start planning for 2026? Now! While 2025 is only halfway through, sometimes the legwork to make way for big returns next year takes longer than you might expect. This is particularly true if it involves an evolution in staffing and/or changes in how your data is recorded, either financial or operational, or both. Often, for metrics to be valuable, they need to be developed for at least a short historical period. So, whatever date you intended to start your 2026 planning, move that forward by at least 30-60 days. You can’t be too early, but you can be too late.

Pro Tip: Growing enterprise value doesn’t happen by accident

admin Blog Growth, pro tip, Scaling, Value

Growing enterprise value doesn’t happen by accident, it centers on a few main principles:

1. Identify how you create value now and in the past, do this granularly, understand the value of each segment of your business.

2. Build an effective management team that understands how value is created and can make strategic decisions on maximizing it through growth, without your constant input.

3. Once you have a recipe for scaling, duplicate it either in more revenue verticals, more geographic locations, or both.

Sure, there are more caveats, but this is the main idea, and it works. We can help!

Pro Tip: Get More Control Over Your Future

admin Blog, Pro Tip Business Tips, planning, pro tip

What are three practical things business owners (regardless of industry) can do today to get more control over their future?

1. Begin an ongoing dialogue with significant suppliers to understand their economic risk exposure and how it is likely to pass through to their customers.

2. Plan out your cash runway. Attempt to do this based on some variables building in revenue and collection timeframe fluctuations as well as efficiency changes to extend runway.

3. Identify alternative offerings to reach new types of customers or meet new customer needs.

Be intentional and plan to win. Your CFO can help.