First, a big fat disclaimer: I make my living by helping small business owners see the operations of their businesses clearly and objectively. So I am not a disinterested observer on the topic of why business owners need independent advisors. That said, let me make the case. Business owners are not objective about their companies,… Continue Reading
Adding Value Beyond the Balance Sheet
Integrated Growth Advisors Sponsoring Launch of Exit Planning Exchange Chicago Chapter
Chicago – Exit Planning Exchange (XPX), a networking organization that helps provide advisors to business owners with tools and knowledge to build valuable businesses and execute management succession and business exits, is set to launch their newest chapter in Chicago, IL. Bob Greisman, Managing Director at IGA, has served as chair of the launch committee which… Continue Reading
Make America Accountable Again
Each of us at one time or another has likely wished that government would be run more like a business. But beware, for your wish may come true. Many of the nearly 28 million American businesses are poorly run. Half of all new companies don’t survive past five years. What we really yearn for is… Continue Reading
Auctus Group and Integrated Growth Advisors Announce Strategic Partnership
CHICAGO and HARTFORD, Conn., Sept. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Auctus Group Inc., a fast growing investment banking and M&A firm, and Integrated Growth Advisors (IGA), a growth advisory and management consulting firm, today announced a new strategic partnership. Many companies in the lower middle market are often time faced with operational, reporting, and business processes… Continue Reading
Grow or Die: Is it One or the Other?
Recently, I became engaged in a heated debate with a client. The topic of controversy: Whether the grow or die axiom, so popular in corporate America, was a binary choice. I was urging my client, a senior partner in a well-established accounting firm, to embrace more growth-oriented strategies than he was comfortable with. In doing… Continue Reading
The Social Responsibility of Business is to Improve
In 1970 Milton Friedman, the most influential economist of the day, penned what became an influential article. In “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits,” Friedman asserted that companies should only concern themselves with making more money. In Friedman’s opinion, if companies made money, everything else would take care of itself. Friedman’s… Continue Reading
Apples, Burgers, and Business Growth
In recent weeks we saw news that Apple was expecting its first sales decline in a decade, while McDonald’s enjoyed its first quarterly increase in sales in four years. While both companies are behemoths, the experience of these firms evokes some lessons in business growth for companies large and small. Along with lessons for business… Continue Reading
The Value of Execution
Warren Buffet once said, “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” If you own a business, the day will come when you will wish to sell. When it does, you will want to be paid the best price possible for your life’s work. To do so, you need to have built a business… Continue Reading
Love and the Internal Auditor
Nothing gets an entrepreneur’s heart rate racing faster than thoughts of high-flying startup businesses, IPOs, and earnings growth that blows forecasts away. And nothing puts business owners, managers, and employees to sleep quicker than the subject of internal controls. Yet, as two stories in the news this week illustrate, anemic or even non-existent internal controls… Continue Reading
Pain, Gain, and Business Growth
Imagine that you experience a flash of inspiration and conceive a clever idea for a business venture. You quickly execute on your idea and make a fast profit of $10,000. How do you think you would feel? No doubt you would be happy with your success. Now imagine that instead of a fast $10,000 profit,… Continue Reading
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