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15 Practical Ways to Strengthen Your Cash Flow Management
Cash flow challenges don’t happen overnight. They build quietly through pricing decisions, expense creep, and inconsistent revenue streams. In this episode, I walk through 15 practical ways business owners can strengthen cash flow management, improve financial stability, and create a business that supports sustainable growth.
Subtle P&L Trends That Signal Bigger Profit Problems
Small changes in your profit and loss statement can quietly turn into major profitability problems. In this episode, I explain how trailing twelve month trends reveal early warning signs so you can protect margins and strengthen your business.
Outsourcing for CPAs: Scale Your Firm Without Burning Out
Struggling with talent shortages or tax season burnout? In this episode, I explore how outsourcing for CPAs can help you scale, increase advisory time, and build a more profitable, less stressful firm.
Subtle Changes in Your P&L Statement Mean Alot
“It’s just a little bit so I don’t have to worry about it.” A little change in the trends on a trailing basis means a lot. You should be concerned if the trend is going the wrong way. Investigate why. The Profit and Loss graph above demonstrates a “subtle change” and...
A ChatGPT Horror Story
A bookkeeper, who should have known better, didn’t like the profit number on the financial statements that she produced. So, instead of asking the owner or someone like me who knows the financial health of the company, she uploaded these confidential statements into...
How to Prepare for and Lead a Financial Advisory Client Meeting
In this episode, I explain how one simple question can transform your client relationship: What is the end game for your business? I walk you through how I prepare for a financial advisory client meeting, use financial statement trends to uncover hidden risks, and confidently position monthly advisory services that create recurring revenue and deeper client value.
The Top 10 Reasons you WANT to Look at Your P&L and Balance Sheet
“I need to clean up my books.” This was a comment a business owner made to me at a trade show last week. He didn’t look “thrilled” about doing this so I asked him, “Do you need to or WANT to clean up your books”? No answer. Needing to and wanting to are different. ...
How to Price Advisory Services | Financially Fit Business
In this episode, I break down how I price advisory services using simple, recurring monthly models that remove billable hours, eliminate surprise fees, and create consistency for both my clients and my business. I also share what to include, what to exclude, and how understanding past client spend makes pricing clearer and more confident.
The Top 10 Reasons Not To Look At Your P&L And Balance Sheet
Here are the top 10 excuses I get for not looking at the company’s P&L and Balance Sheet: 1. I have cash in the bank – that’s all I need to know. 2. I like surprise tax bills. 3. They are not accurate so why should I waste my time? 4. I hate numbers. 5. It’s not...
How to Enroll Clients in Advisory Services | Financially Fit Business
Enrolling clients in advisory services doesn’t require hard selling. In this episode, I explain how to identify candidates, initiate low-pressure conversations, ask the right questions, and position advisory services as a natural extension of existing client relationships.
The Ideal Financial Advisory Client | Financially Fit Business
Financial advisory services thrive when you work with the right clients. In this episode, Ruth King explains how to identify ideal advisory clients, eliminate billable hours, stabilize cash flow, and deliver higher-value guidance that builds trust, retention, and referrals.
5 “Musts” for Managers
Finding the right manager could be a long-term process with no guarantee of the results. The person that you think will be a great manager may not want to be a manager, may try the position and then decide that he doesn’t like it and leaves, his wife or significant...
Financial Trends, Trailing 12s, and Profitability Insights
Tracking financial trends over time reveals far more than monthly reports or bank balances. In this episode, I explain how trailing twelve-month data, key ratios, and profitability per unit help business owners understand the true financial health of their companies and make better decisions with confidence.
Getting Booked Solid Without Selling: Modern Marketing for Accountants
In this episode, I speak with James Donovan about how accountants and fractional CFOs can get booked solid using Google, LinkedIn, online reviews, and inbound systems without selling.
Is 10% Net Profit Enough?
Two contractors were comparing notes. Each was bragging that they earned a 10% net profit that year. When I looked behind the percentages, one owner had a net profit per hour of $10 per hour, the other a net profit per hour of $50 per hour. Who was kidding whom?...
Fun Financial Facts to Start the New Year
Understanding and analyzing financial statements can be fun – they are your scorecard. They tell you how healthy your business is. Here are five fun financial facts: Balance sheets tell you the true profitability of your business. Profit and loss statements tell you...
Financial Review: The Final Step to a Financially Fit Business
A monthly financial review is where clarity replaces guesswork. In this episode, I explain how to evaluate your P&L and balance sheet using simple graphs and key ratios to spot trends, uncover problems early, and protect the long-term health of your business.
Death by 1,000 Cuts – Abdicating the Responsibility for the Financial Side of Your Company
The next death by another little cut: Abdicating the Responsibility for the Financial Side of Your Company “I hired a bookkeeper. Now I don’t have to worry about the books anymore.” This fall I wrote about a CFO who stole millions because the owners stopped paying...
Take an Unplugged Vacation Without Your Business Falling Apart
Taking time off should restore your energy, not create anxiety. In this episode, I talk with Brandon Poe about how business owners can truly unplug from work while ensuring their business continues to run smoothly.
Budgeting the Right Way: Build Your Budget from the Bottom Up
Budgeting should not start with wishful revenue goals. In this episode, I explain how to build a practical, bottom-up budget based on how your business actually generates revenue, so your numbers support real profitability.
Death by 1,000 Cuts – Marketing Budget that Isn’t Based on Results
The next death by another little cut: Having a Marketing Budget that Isn’t Based on Results This is a conversation I had with a client who did an advertising campaign: “We spent $11,000 on advertising and marketing and we only budgeted $5,000.” “So?” “That’s a lot of...
Part 6: Accountant Connect: Pay Data, Compliance Insights, and Business Valuation Support
This week I sit down with Heather Spraduto from ADP to explore Accountant Connect, a free platform that helps accountants and advisors answer real client questions using pay and benefits benchmarks, compliance alerts, and business valuation insights that support smarter decisions.
Death by 1,000 Cuts – Don’t Give Employees KPI’s and Annual Reviews
The next death by another little cut: Don’t Give Employees KPI's and Annual Reviews “I Hate Annual Reviews” I frequently hear this statement from owners and managers. Most put off annual reviews until they absolutely have to be done or don’t do them at all. Why? The...
Part 5: The Metrics That Matter Most for a Financially Fit Business
Tracking the right numbers is what keeps your business financially fit. In this episode, Ruth King explains which metrics matter most, from billable hours and units of revenue to current ratio, working capital, marketing return, sales activity, and inventory usage, so you can see trends early and protect profitability.
How Assessments and AI Strengthen Your Team
This episode explores how personality assessments and AI-driven insights help accounting firms and small businesses hire smarter, develop stronger teams, and improve retention. Ruth talks with Mark Ferris, CEO of Panalytics, about understanding team strengths, identifying development opportunities, and using data to make better managerial and recruiting decisions.
Death by 1,000 Cuts – Not Paying Attention to Accounts Receivable
The next death by another little cut Not Paying Attention to Collecting Your Money “I don’t know why we are having cash flow problems. We’re busy.” When this business owner finally started paying attention to his aged receivables report he discovered that several of...
Tracking What Matters Most (Part 3 of 7)
Pricing and recurring revenue are two of the most powerful levers in a financially fit business. In this episode, Ruth explains how to calculate pricing from the bottom up, why dynamic pricing matters in seasonal businesses, and how recurring revenue creates stability, loyalty, and long-term profitability.
Happy Thanksgiving
This Thursday, November 27th we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States. For Canadian readers, you celebrated Thanksgiving earlier this year. For those in other areas of the world, you might not formally celebrate a day to give thanks….but what if you did it?...
Tracking What Matters Most (Part 2 of 7)
Understanding your overhead cost per revenue unit and your net profit per revenue unit gives you the clarity you need to price correctly and strengthen profitability. This episode shows you how to measure both, apply them across different industries and use these numbers to guide hiring, breakeven planning and long term financial health.
Death by 1,000 Cuts – Trying to Scale Chaos
The next death by another little cut: Trying to Scale Chaos If you try to scale chaos, you only get more chaos. And, eventually your business will implode. When you are small, i.e. less than $750,000 in revenues, you probably can do it yourself. You know exactly what...