Our Philosophy

We work hard to be:

Concerned

Our partnership developed from assignments in which we worked closely together. We learned that we share the same basic business values – tell the truth and do something good – help make things work. While we are not a non-profit organization, we have done well in our careers. So, financial incentive is not the be all – end all for us. We like to dig in with clients, providing another set of eyes – helping make things work.

Competent

While we are advising clients now, we have spent much of our careers helping run businesses with annual revenue from tens of millions to billions and in a variety of industries. We have the education and professional background to help you handle a wide range of business challenges including reorg, business planning and turnaround, interim executive officer, merger & acquisition, debtor and creditor advisory, crisis management, 3-year strategic planning, annual budget and etc.

Collaborative

Our services are collaborative with our clients. This means that rather than preaching or simply admonishing folks, we work together with them and their employees in the business – in a “give and take” relationship. They learn from us; we learn from them. We are looking for our clients to become familiar with – indeed, master, and keep refining – their command of the key disciplines we are sharing with them. This, rather than receiving a one-time fat, fancy presentation or report. Our “deliverable” is what they have learned – and put into action.

Note: On the give and take and working collaboratively side, the most important thing we can do together in an engagement with our clients is to be totally honest – to tell each other the truth. If we do that, we can together solve almost any problem.

Connected

In our background operating businesses, we have “been there” on the ground. So, we will work closely with our clients – getting to know them – getting connected with them, their employees and their business. We are a two-person team. So, in the engagement, the client is working with the two of us…

Comprehensive

We have spent years working with and solving the overlapping and interwoven problems and challenges that companies face. Here, we are the reverse of “siloed” – tunnel vision – cookie cutter. We will look at every part of the business with our clients (we have pretty much “seen it all…”) and see how they connect. What needs attention? It may turn out to be something beyond expectation. We are generalists- not specialists. We go through the list with clients.

Controlled

We bring with us a strong bias toward – call it an enthusiasm for – good accounting and control systems. Perhaps this is because we have been in too many situations where accounting and finance weakness made for trouble. We have solid accounting backgrounds and are glad to work with our client’s accounting firm to get things in this area where they need to be.

Cost-effective

From our operating experience, we know that every enterprise, no matter the size, has limited sources and must make the money they spend count. So, we are super sensitive about the fees we charge. We take what we call a “fair trade” approach to pricing. That means we evaluate each client situation and set the engagement pricing so that it is fair and fits. We sincerely believe that, with our credentials and experience, we can provide national firm quality consulting – at a fraction of their prices.

Continuous

We like to stay in touch with clients. We want them to succeed; so, there may be times where, with or without a paid engagement, we can help. We are willing to do that.

Creative

While are first and foremost finance professionals, we have learned that, these days, to survive and succeed, every business must think outside the box. We do this with our clients. It is often the key to unlocking value. We highly value intellectual honesty. We have learned: “No bad questions – no bad ideas.”

Conservative

We have learned through long experience that businesses need to be set up to survive, as well as grow. Our leaning is to help our clients set their businesses to do just that. From both a financial structure and business model point of view. To have the staying power to take advantage of opportunities in down markets – and to be there strong for a sale, if and when the time comes. While having the chance to make a lot of money is great – having a solid plan to create positive results year in, year out is where we want our clients to be…