Author: GoingConcern

Customer Relationship Management – Know Your Customer, Know Yourself

The first rule of business is “know your customer.” So, how do you do that?

This is the question that brings you into the field of CRM (Customer Relationship Management). I remember working in a tax firm back in the early 2000s and all client correspondence was hardcopy in the file. Our “CRM system” was rows of filing cabinets.

A sales forecast? rked at a company where the sales forecast was an excel spreadsheet that physically gave me vertigo just looking at it. Updating that thing was like a game of Tetris.


A “real” CRM system consolidates all of your company’s customer interactions and sales activities into one database. It enables sales and marketing to detail the entire sales process from Lead to Close. And now it’s the difference between “knowing your customer” and living in the dark ages.

I only started seeing these systems spring up in mid-sized businesses a few years ago. How much are you guys seeing CRM out there now? Does your CRM system integrate with your other business systems? Or is it more of a Contact Manager?

For example, I have seen an instance where the CRM software operated as its own sphere of information. Then, we had the company financial information as its own separate sphere. To connect the sales pipeline info (from the CRM) to the financial results was a manual task.

I’m throwing it out there because my own experience with CRM in the SMB/SME space is limited to using Salesforce.com. I spoke about them briefly when I introduced Saas and Cloud Computing a few weeks ago. I must sound like a Salesforce salesperson but I’m not. I just found that Salesforce 1) put CRM on the radar for the SME I was working for at the time and 2) was inexpensive and easy to deploy.

The other main Saas CRM play is Sugar CRM. Both Salesforce and Sugar CRM have free versions. A very small business could probably operate on the free version for ever. Most mid-sized businesses could use the free version to test the fit of the product’s process flows before committing to rolling it out throughout the business.

In large enterprise, the CRM is probably big enough to just be called “the system”. Let’s say you are working for a bank or an insurance company. “The system” knows things. Next time you are speaking to a call center representative, ask for a summary of your own history. You might be surprised what details are lurking within the system. These can be simply contact histories or can also incorporate decision-making capabilities (i.e. loan or credit card approvals).

Retailers capitalize on this technology through the use of Loyalty Programs.

The real power behind CRM, for those not currently using this type of software, is the ability to clarify the sales pipeline and to consolidate customer interaction. You can detail right from Cold Call to Close and you can get the analytics to visualize the process too.

We’re right on the cusp of even bigger innovations in this field. Just look at some of the things Google is doing right now with respect to data and data visualizations (Google Trends – Google public data – Google Analytics). Sentiment analysis is appearing to gain traction as well. To blow all that out into the CRM realm means really powerful insight into customer behavior.

The success or failure of the CRM is linked directly to the quality of data in the system. This is where the “know yourself” bit comes into play. Where you can automate, do so. Trusting a salesperson to voluntarily do data entry is like trusting your road-trip navigation to a poet. Not good. Again, great strides continue to be made here. Between the increasing migration of transactions and activities online, and the tools allowing for Salesforce Automation (SFA), the direct maintenance on this type of system can be minimized.

For those of you unfamiliar with CRM technology, maybe you’re working in smaller companies or companies with a legacy of paper-based CRM, Saas solutions like Salesforce and Sugar CRM are worth checking out. It’s a place to start. And it’s free to start.

We would really like to hear from you on this issue as well. What has your experience been with CRM?

Geoff Devereux as been active in Vancouver’s technology start-up community for the past 5 years. Prior to getting lured into tech start-ups, Geoff worked in various fields including a 5 year stint in a tax accounting firm. You can see more of his posts for GC here.

Job of the Day: Asset Management Company Needs a Controller

An asset management company is looking for an experienced accountant to fill a controller position that will oversee its accounting department and report directly to the CFO.

The position requires a CPA with a minimum of seven years experience, including partnerships and foreign currency. This position is located in Kirkland, Washington.


Title: Controller

Compensation: $140,000

Location: Kirkland, WA

Description: The firm manages $1.8 billion of long-only funds invested in Japanese publicly-traded companies through three separate funds each having a focus area of large-cap, mid-cap or small-cap companies in Japan. The firm is planning expansion into other Asian markets in the near-term for which substantive discussions are underway. Currently located in Monterey, CA, the firm is relocating to Kirkland, Washington in July 2010. The firm is seeking a Controller based in their Washington Offices. The position will report to the CFO and work closely with the CFO on all matters.

Responsibilities: Responsible for the integrity and accuracy of the general ledgers of each fund and the fund management companies; Directly manage the Fund Accountant position, reviewing all work performed by the Fund Accountant; Oversee certain aspects of the Accounting Manager’s work with regards to payables and other general accounting matters; Manage the month-end closing and reporting for each fund, reviewing all journal entries prepared by the Fund Accountant ensuring that fund financials are prepared and submitted timely to CFO; Review all journal entries prepared by Accounting Manager for the fund management companies; Review and help prepare the computation of partner allocations; Oversee the Fund Accountant’s daily computation of NAV and daily trade reconciliation process, including the internal reporting of daily performance for all funds; Step in as a back-up for the Fund Accountant to complete Fund Accountant responsibilities as required; Prepare the annual financial statements and all supporting documentation for the auditors; Prepare tax supporting documentation for the fund tax returns; Monitor tax filing deadlines and FBAR filings and coordinate with tax firm; Coordinate and interface with auditors on year-end audits SAS 70 Type I (and possibly Type II in the future) engagement, and annual GIPS verification; Assist on special projects for internal or external reporting, as requested by the CFO.

Qualifications/Skills: CPA with 7-10 years of experience in investment management industry with strong preference for experience in public equities (including Asian public equities).; Experience in all aspects of partnership accounting for funds, including foreign currency experience; Strong experience in various financial reporting systems required. The firm currently uses Axys (Advent), Moxy and Peachtree. The firm is evaluating the potential for a technology platform for its accounting area which would integrate general ledger, investments, trade recording under a single solution. To this end, strong knowledge of financial reporting systems is a requirement; Experience in budgeting, payroll, general HR and accounting matters as they relate to fund management company; Experience supervising accounting team staff; Working knowledge of Advent Axys and Moxy software systems preferred.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Will Self-insured Companies Bear the Brunt of Rising Healthcare Costs?

This story is republished from CFOZone, where you’ll find news, analysis and professional networking tools for finance executives.

The employer-sponsored health care system provides health insurance to more than 60 million people–but it does not exist in a vacuum. Employers are often reminded of this fact when their health care costs go up each year. Factored into that cost increase are premiums employers pay to hospitals to help those institutions provide care to the uninsured.

Two years ago the actuarial firm Milliman put a price tag on this cost-shifting: employers pay an additional $1,115 more for a family of four’s health insurance to make up for this loss. That totals about $88 billion annually.


This cost-shifting is once again becoming an issue as the federal government looks to provide insurance to people who cannot otherwise get it because they are considered high-risk.

States have for years created high-risk pools to separate the people with especially high health care costs from the rest of the population. Normally these folks can’t get insurance. The high risk pool absorbs some of the cost to insurers.

Now the federal government is getting in on the action, in large part to address the issue that insurers regularly refuse to issue insurance to some people or they do so at rates that are prohibitively high.

A new analysis on so-called high risk insurance pools that the federal government will set up as soon as July as a result of health reform makes the point that the money allotted will run out much sooner than originally thought. Instead of covering as many as 7 million people who could qualify there will likely be enough money to cover about 200,000 annually. This is not surprising. The need is always greater; the funds always inadequate.

So what does this all mean for employers?

It appears one step removed. But, as employers know, the health care system is fragmented yet, in the end, someone – either the federal government or employers – ends up paying the cost. In the analysis, published by the Center for Studying Health System Change, the authors point out that states with high risk pools currently do not assess self-insured employer plans.

Under the federal law this will change. Employers will face an assessment. One possibility is that the assessment will have to go up in order to increase the amount of money in the pot. The other of course is to limit who can get access to the high risk pools.

It remains to be seen what kind of conflict this issue will provoke. Like many other aspects of the new health care reform, it has the potential to fade away or to metastasize into something problematic.

But one thing remains likely: costs will continue to go up. The question is who will pay for these costs? If these assessments are any sign, it will be insurers and self-insured employers.

Job of the Day: Credit Suisse Needs a Controller of Expense Management

Credit Suisse is looking for an experienced professional to join their IB Expense Management group as a Jr Controller – Expense Management in its Raleigh, North Carolina location.

The position requires four to six years financial reporting or financial services experience, preferably in investment banking.


Company: Credit Suisse

Title: Jr. Controller – Expense Management (ENO/AVP)

Location: Raleigh, NC

Responsibilities: Develop, execute and deliver monthly and ad-hoc non-compensation expense reports and analyses to support critical strategic and day-to-day decisions for various segments of the Investment Bank; Assist, when necessary, in the overall IB month end and with various ad hoc requests; Foster relationships and liaise with IB Finance, COO Finance and business COOs to ensure timely delivery of management reports; Collaborate with the Expense Management Efficiency project teams to identify valid assumptions and monitoring metrics for project savings; Partner with Global COOs and IB Finance to construct product-level budgets by region and to understand monthly non-compensation expense forecasts at a granular business level; Present forecast and budget information and commentary to senior management, coordinating with internal and external teams to aggregate data from disparate systems; Identify and implement enhancements to the non-compensation expense forecasting model and system reporting and analytics.

Qualifications/Skills: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent; 4 – 6 years Financial Services or Financial Reporting experience; Investment Banking and/or Capital Markets experience in one or more of the following areas: Financial Accounting and Control; Expense Reporting and Analysis; Financial Planning & Analysis; Experience with general ledger systems, data warehouse applications and reporting tools such as Essbase and Business Objects is preferred.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Job of the Day: A Global Bank Needs a Private Equity Controller

Nevis Recruiting has a client in New York that is looking for someone to fill a VP/Controller position in their private equity business.

The position requires eight years experience in private equity reporting or at a large accounting firm and a CPA license is preferred.


Recruiter: Nevis Recruiting, LLC

Title: Private Equity Controller

Location: New York, NY

Description: Global Bank looking for a VP/Controller to support their growing Private Equity businesses.

Responsibilities: Supervise a team responsible for the accounting and financial reporting oversight for PE funds; Coordinate quarterly financial statement preparation with external administrators; Support investor and regulatory reporting; Coordinate the production and audit of annual financial statements; Liase with multiple teams within the Firm; Assist in the launch of new products; Support team, department, and business managers on various special projects.

Qualifications/Skills: 8+ years of experience in Private Equity reporting or from a large public accounting firm with significant PE clients; CPA preferred

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

People Need to Calm Down About the FASB’s New Fair Value Proposal

This story is republished from CFOZone, where you’ll find news, analysis and professional networking tools for finance executives.

The accounting change for reporting the value of banks’ loans, which got the New York Times all hot and bothered yesterday morning, really amounts to a hill of beans, once you take a closer look at it.

In fact, the description in the article left me scratching my head on a couple of counts. How, for example, do banks write down the value of non-performing loans, as accounting rules require them to do, if they don’t mark them to market?


And what’s up with the tortuous explanation of how the Financial Accounting Standards Board decided to have banks mark to market the loans for purposes of the balance sheet but not for earnings? While I’m as big a fan as anyone of Jack T. Ciesielski, the accounting expert who publishes the investment newsletter, the Analyst’s Accounting Observer, his quote calling the decision a “smorgasboard” doesn’t really mean anything without some sort of context.

That context is pretty easy to provide, at least in the eyes of Charles Mulford, a Georgia Tech accounting professor and advisor to CFOZone.

As Mulford sees it, FASB simply is bringing information that’s already contained in the footnotes onto the balance sheet, specifically into the line item on that statement known as “other comprehensive income.” And this quite naturally has no impact on the earnings bank report on their income statements.

Currently, banks’ balance sheets carry loans at historical cost, less an estimate of the portion that is uncollectible, with fair value information in the notes, the accounting professor explains. The proposal would move the fair value information to the balance sheet by reconciling the cost of the loan with its fair value, he continues. But Mulford adds that there would be no change in the income statement, since that already includes any loan impairments. Instead, adjustments to fair value would be accounted for as a component of other comprehensive income, which is reported on the balance sheet.

“I view it more of a change in presentation than a change in accounting,” says Mulford.

In other words, investors who pay attention already understand this, so any complaints on the parts of banks should be seen as just an attempt to continue to fool those that don’t.

Accenture, Looking for Fresh Ad Campaign, Makes the Right Choice to Launch Review

As CEO of Avidan Strategies, an agency search firm, we constantly conduct reviews for clients who wish to switch ad agencies. The reasons for conducting a search cover the span of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Sometimes clients resort to spurious explanations for a review. Sometimes, the arrival of a new chief marketing officer is enough to precipitate a review, as its ties to the CMO’s predecessor taint the incumbent agency.

Yet, the Accenture agency search, as reported in this story by Advertising Age, is appropriate and well timed. Until the wee hours of last Thanksgiving, when Tiger woods slammed his SUV into a tree, Accenture had a solid ad campaign. Using Tiger as spokesman and symbol of the consultancy dedication to excellence was effective. Although not exactly relevant to Accenture’s offerings, Tiger was magic. He was the ultimate professional, an athlete that not only transcended his sport, but one that transcended all sports. Tiger was a rock star.


To its credit, Accenture reacted fast to the unfolding scandal. Within weeks it dropped Tiger as a spokesman and launched a new campaign, featuring animals in unusual situations to illustrate aspects of its service. For example, a surfing elephant to depict nimbleness. The marketer is trying to downplay speculation that the animal campaign was a “hail Mary” pass, and suggests that it’s agency, Y&R, had pulled it out of a drawer. I doubt it. When you sign up Tiger Woods to be your spokesperson, you don’t need a Plan B. You know that this is the horse that you are going to ride.

That said, Accenture is smart to call a review. The animal campaign was a good stop gap measure, but now it is time to look beyond the horizon and come up with the next big campaign idea that can last 7,8,9 years. Y&R has been Accenture’s agency since Accenture was formed in the mid-90s. While longevity is not necessarily a bad thing, relationships can get stale. So it’s smart of Accenture to cast a wider net. As a matter of fact, more and more companies now conduct mandatory periodic reviews, previously conducted only by governmental agencies, to insure that services provided are best in class.

I hope that the winning idea will not be apologetic. Tiger’s mess has nothing to do with Accenture, and unlike Nike, they acted ethically and wisely by dumping him swiftly. The new agency should focus on Accenture leadership equity, it’s commitment to research and it’s ability to manage complicated systems. As we are coming out of the recession, glitz is being replaced by authenticity. Businessmen, Accenture’s target, are under tremendous pressure in a tough bottom-line environment. The animals campaign is funny and warm, but perhaps too cartoonish for our time. A more straightforward campaign, with Accenture traditional warmth and humanity, is more appropriate.

Avi Dan is President & CEO of Avidan Strategies, a New York based consultancy specialized in advising professional service companies on marketing and business development. Mr. Dan was previously a board member with two leading advertising agencies and managed another.

Job of the Day: Natixis Global Associates Needs a Fund Administrator

Natixis Global Associates is looking for an experienced tax professional to fill an AVP – Fund Administrator role in its Boston office.

Primary responsibilities include tax matters related to their mutual fund products. The position requires eight years experience with a CPA or advanced degree preferred.


Company: Natixis Global Associates

Title: AVP – Fund Administrator – TAX

Location: Boston, MA

Description: Reporting to the Deputy Treasurer, this individual will be responsible for overseeing, reviewing and completing certain department responsibilities. The focus will be on tax matters related to mutual funds.

Primary Responsibilities: Coordination and review of the department’s and vendor’s work on the following tax related items: Distribution schedule; Year end tax provisions; Fund distribution calculations; Tax related information included in the Financial statements and Form N-Q; Fund tax returns; Shareholder 1099s and related year-end shareholder reporting; Trustee and vendor 1099s; Research on the tax implications of new security types; Research on regulatory requirements and other tax matters; IRS compliance results; Communication between State Street, Tax Auditors, Marketing, Sales, and Product Departments.

Qualifications/Skills: Bachelor’s Degree in Finance or Accounting; An advanced degree or CPA is recommended, but not, required; Minimum of 8 to 10 years experience in the mutual fund industry is required, including direct tax experience and knowledge of fund administration, fund accounting and fund transfer agent functions and responsibilities; Project management experience is a must.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

CFO: Philips’ Efforts Have Company Moving Up the Outsourcing Ladder

This story is republished from CFOZone, where you’ll find news, analysis and professional networking tools for finance executives.

As a follow-up to last week’s blog on Molson Coors’ experience with outsourcing, the CFO of the Latin American division of Dutch comglomerate Philips provided a different perspective Thursday morning at the Hackett Group’s best practices conference in Atlanta.

While Molson Coors’ CFO Stewart Glendinning expressed disappointment over high turnover rates at the outsourcing company the beer company signed up with, Philips’ Latin American CFO Ronald Eikelenboom said he planned on high turnover when he inked a deal with Indian outsourcer Infosys in late 2008 to expand the two companies’ relationship to Brazil, where Philips’ Latin American operations are based.


Eikelenboom told the audience (and me in a follow up video interview that will be posted shortly) that high turnover was central to Infosys’ business model, as the outsourcer keeps salary costs low by rotating from older to younger workers. But that turnover was priced into the terms of the deal, which at $250 million (for, I believe, the global contract, not just the Latin American part) is considered one of the largest of all such transactions. Too, the terms set a minimum level of performance, so it’s up to Infosys to manage the downside of high turnover.

Infosys had few qualms about Philips’ demands, said Eikelenboom, because the company was eager to expand into Brazil and the Philips deal gave it an entrée. So the CFO had enough leverage with the outsourcer to reassure himself about the potential risks.

“We’re building something together with Infosys,” he told the gathering. “We share the same aspirations.”

For that reason, Eikelenboom also expressed less concern than Glendinning did about outsourcing complex financial processes. And he said that was important for Philips as labor cost advantages in emerging markets dwindle over time as wages rise, and innovation and process improvement thus become more critical to the value that outsourcing creates.

“We’re moving up the ladder in BPO,” he said, referring to business process outsourcing.

With outsourcing, as with everything, I suppose, it’s different strokes for different folks.

Job of the Day: Jefferson Wells Needs Internal Auditors

Jefferson Wells is looking for internal auditors to join its Financial Institutions team.

Candidates need a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and at least five years professional experience in internal audit, Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Work. Professional designation such as CIA, CPA, CRCM, CFSA is a plus.


Company: Jefferson Wells

Title: Internal Auditor

Compensation: $90,000+

Location: New York, NY

Responsibilities: Prepare tax returns for S corporations, C corporations, and partnerships; Preparation of accounting records, and financial statements and tax returns for several investment partnerships; Reviewing and preparing yearly tax filings for Hedge Fund, Private Equity Funds, Real Estate Funds, and Funds’ general partners and investment managers; Performing security analysis and calculating various Fund tax adjustments; Preparation of Tax Form 1065 income tax returns and related K-1s and supporting schedules; prior experience with form 1120; Recording all accounting transactions of the fund and ensuring all investments are booked accurately; Preparation of limited partner capital calls and capital distributions; Researching tax treatment of complex financial instruments and corporate actions of Funds.

Qualifications/Skills: Enterprise Risk Assessment and Management Services; Financial Reporting Audits, Operational Audits, and Regulatory Compliance Audits; Fraud and Forensic Investigations; Internal Audit Co-Sourcing and Outsourcing; Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Work; Bachelor’s degree in accounting, or business related curriculum; 5+ years related experience; Professional designation such as CIA, CPA, CRCM, CFSA is a plus; Compliance, Bank Secrecy Act Compliance or Loan Review.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.