An important financial event for any organization is the month-end close process. Whether the business entity you work with is a corporation, small business, or non-profit, closing the books is universally important. This activity indicates
What is fundamental analysis Previously, we discussed technical analysis to evaluate investment opportunities and spot trends that can help us predict the possible price movements of financial instruments. Fundamental analysis is another tool that investors
The NPS metric is a proprietary analytics instrument developed by Fred Reichheld, one of the owners of the NPS trademark. The theory was first developed in 2001 as an attempt to present a single survey
What is technical analysis? Technical and Fundamental Analysis are the two most common ways of performing research on any trading vehicle (incl. stocks, commodities, currencies, ETFs). Traders use these tools to evaluate investments and spot
We all know happy customers come back to do more business with our company. They also provide priceless word-of-mouth marketing by sharing their experience with others. Clients who rate our products and services as highly
When we are trying to optimize the experience for our customers, there are many metrics we can track and aim to improve. The Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) shows us how much money a customer will
Customer Churn is one of the most essential metrics for any company with a subscription-based model. It shows the rate at which customers are leaving and switching their subscriptions to someone else. It’s paramount to
One of the reasons businesses fail is a wrong estimate of how much it will cost to acquire customers. If the cost ends up too high and exceeds the monetization of the customers, the business
The EBITDA Multiple is the most common method venture capitalists, and financial analysts use to value businesses as investment opportunities. If we plan to acquire a company or sell our own, EBITDA can be a
In my current job in Mergers & Acquisitions, I have to prepare many complex folder structures for targets’ data rooms. It’s a tedious but straightforward process that can take up to an hour, as each
An important financial event for any organization is the month-end close process. Whether the business entity you work with is a corporation, small business, or non-profit, closing the books is universally important. This activity indicates an organization’s revenue, debt, accounts payable, and profits. For newly minted accountants, the first-ever accounting month-end close process is a rite of passage. Over time and with experience, some accountants can turn this seemingly mundane activity into a work of art by seamlessly weaving in technology, processes, and communication. Here’s a look at some industry best practices that empower accountants to fine-tune their skills and understand how technology can accelerate their career success. 1. Have the Right Attitude toward the Month-end Close Month-end accounts closure may not feel like the most exciting job for a new accountant, but it is extremely critical for accountants to take it seriously. Executives and investors leverage the data captured in
What is fundamental analysis Previously, we discussed technical analysis to evaluate investment opportunities and spot trends that can help us predict the possible price movements of financial instruments. Fundamental analysis is another tool that investors use to arrive at a number (fair market value) that we can compare to the security’s current price, thus determining whether it is undervalued. This type of analysis focuses on both the macro and microeconomic factors that can affect the price of a given financial instrument. In contrast with technical analysis, which only considers the historical price movements, the fundamental analysis uses company financials. It considers related economic factors to arrive at an intrinsic value and decide whether it is profitable to invest in that company. Traders prefer fundamental analysis when evaluating stocks, but it is also helpful with other financial instruments, like bonds and derivatives. The “fundamental” idea is to use publicly available data
The NPS metric is a proprietary analytics instrument developed by Fred Reichheld, one of the owners of the NPS trademark. The theory was first developed in 2001 as an attempt to present a single survey question that is easy to administer to vast numbers of subscribers and easy to track and interpret. The primary objective is to infer customer loyalty based on users responding to a single question. This results in a metric that works simply and transparently, which makes it popular and widely adopted. We can apply the Net Promoter Score concept to many things – our organization as a whole, but also individual products, locations, specific web pages, even employees in our customer support department. Implementing NPS in our customer experience strategy allows us to use industry benchmarks to see how we’re doing compared to our competitors. This will help us better understand our target client base and
What is technical analysis? Technical and Fundamental Analysis are the two most common ways of performing research on any trading vehicle (incl. stocks, commodities, currencies, ETFs). Traders use these tools to evaluate investments and spot trends, which indicate good opportunities for trading. Fundamental analysis tries to weigh all the information in a given market (such as company financials, the general economic environment, global and domestic, competitors, how the interest rates are moving, and others). On the other hand, technical analysis assumes the price of the security has already reflected all available information. We base this kind of analysis on historical data and statistical trends in price. In some cases, the volume movements of trading instruments also play a role. In other words, technical analysis uses the notion of supply and demand forces to predict future investment opportunities. Traders prefer to use technical analysis to focus more on short-term movements. This
We all know happy customers come back to do more business with our company. They also provide priceless word-of-mouth marketing by sharing their experience with others. Clients who rate our products and services as highly satisfactory are usually the ones that promote us to their colleagues, friends, and family. This improves both our conversion rates and profitability margins. To fully grasp the importance of Customer Satisfaction, we need to understand that keeping an existing client happy usually costs much less than converting and onboarding a new prospect. One way to track such performance is the Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score. By figuring out where the metric is low and improving the customer experience, we can improve our processes and ensure our customers are happy. After all, the worst thing we can have is a customer saying to others, “don’t use this, it’s horrible,” “customer support is horrible,” or anything like this.
When we are trying to optimize the experience for our customers, there are many metrics we can track and aim to improve. The Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) shows us how much money a customer will bring to the business on average over the entire time they remain a paying client. Whether we decide to refer to the metric as CLTV, LTV, or the most popular CLV, it helps us calculate the overall value a customer has to the business, showing us their worth to the company. Knowing this metric is instrumental in planning how much we can invest in customer acquisition and retention. If one customer has a high CLV, there’s a higher probability they are fans of our brand and will continue to buy our products and services in the future. On the other hand, a low CLV customer indicates it was a passive one-time purchase and will be
Customer Churn is one of the most essential metrics for any company with a subscription-based model. It shows the rate at which customers are leaving and switching their subscriptions to someone else. It’s paramount to understand and analyze churn, as even a slight increase in the churn rate can have devastating effects on our business. Customer Churn Rate We can also refer to Customer Churn as ‘customer attrition rate.’ Churn is very costly for the business. It results in the need to onboard new customers at a higher rate to compensate. Usually, it’s more expensive to find new prospects and convert them than keep existing clients happy. Analysts estimate that acquiring new customers can cost up to 5x more than retaining existing ones. That’s why a high churn rate can seriously hinder the growth potential of the company. We should pay attention to our business’s churn rate for a few
One of the reasons businesses fail is a wrong estimate of how much it will cost to acquire customers. If the cost ends up too high and exceeds the monetization of the customers, the business cannot operate sustainably. It is essential to understand how much a customer will generate for the business, as knowing this will let us figure out our acceptable level of CAC per customer. Companies that do not fully understand their CAC can quickly end up failing. Customer Acquisition Cost shows us the resources we need to grow sales. This is a crucial concept, as any business can fail if it struggles to find a cost-efficient way to convert prospects into customers. What is the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)? The Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is a metric with growing popularity in recent years. It follows the emerging of internet businesses and improved tracking capabilities. CAC represents the
The EBITDA Multiple is the most common method venture capitalists, and financial analysts use to value businesses as investment opportunities. If we plan to acquire a company or sell our own, EBITDA can be a great starting point for measuring the potential value in a sale. When we enter negotiations to sell or purchase a business, it’s common to perform a due diligence process. The acquiring party will aim to reason a lower valuation by adjusting EBITDA down. On the other hand, the seller will try to justify as many add-backs to EBITDA as possible. They will aim to show better profitability and ultimately raise the valuation of the business. Well-prepared financial statements support a thorough due diligence process and assure proper valuation of the company. This levels the playing field and ensures we base negotiations on the correct figures. When a company shows significant growth consistently over the review
In my current job in Mergers & Acquisitions, I have to prepare many complex folder structures for targets’ data rooms. It’s a tedious but straightforward process that can take up to an hour, as each Request For Information letter is almost the same but contains slight differences. For example, we may need detailed information of the shareholder structure and various related documents for a specific company we are looking to acquire. On the other hand, for a smaller, one-person organization, such a request is irrelevant. I’ve struggled to create said data room folder structures for about a month now and decided it’s time to roll up my sleeves and figure a more robust way to make them. It turns out it’s much easier than anticipated. It took me around 30 minutes to prototype the below code, and I decided it may help some of you by giving you an idea
in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.