As we pass the mid way point of 2008, I wanted to take a moment to touch base and thank you for your continued support. We have experienced rapid growth and the addition of several key employees, largely as a result of your confidence, support and referrals. We are particularly excited to have ramped up our new Recruiting Solutions division— vcfo now offers 1) contract recruiting for any position at your company, and 2) permanent placement for finance and accounting professionals. Greg Garrison (who joined vcfo with our acquisition of his Austin-based firm Startup Staffing) leads contract recruiting, and Shelia Thompson leads our permanent placement group.

Greg and Shelia both bring deep experience in the art and science of recruiting and placement to vcfo, and are already supporting clients in a broad range of industries. They are excellent recruiters working with cutting edge techniques, including extensive online social networking. In addition, they can provide relevant ROI metrics on your recruiting spend and closely manage the process to ensure you get maximum value from the relationship. Whether you are building out your initial team, looking to expand, or just trying to add one or two key people, vcfo is ready to assist you in a professional, cost effective way.

I wish you a safe summer and look forward to talking with you soon.

Best Regards,
Corey Blahuta
Managing Director Austin
(512) 450-6565
cblahuta@vcfo.com

When working with our clients, there are some finance issues that we come across fairly frequently. Read on for advice on avoiding these common pitfalls.

Keep your own transaction records. Financial institutions like banks, credit card processors and payroll service providers prefer to avoid the cost of providing check copies, check images, detailed transaction reports, or payroll reports. They will say, “your transactions and reports are available on-line – a click away!” What they don’t say is, “on-line usually for 90 days.” If you are going through an audit, due diligence or reconciling an account months or even years later, they often charge you a “research fee” that can add up quickly. Obtain your own hard or electronic copies at least monthly and store them on your own computers.

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Prevent unintended changes in published financial statements. Once a set of financial statements are prepared and distributed (to the board or investors) you don’t want to see them change again, but surprisingly, a previous month’s numbers can change unintentionally, and more often than you might think. One of the first steps our controllers and CFOs take when reviewing monthly financial statements is to compare the previous month in the accounting system to financial statements published and distributed. This will very often identify any differences, which can then be corrected right away. We work with our clients to strengthen the closing process in a way that prevents unintended transactions from being recorded in previously published periods.

What is the best business advice you ever received?

Bryan Menell, Founder & CEO, Fusion Learning Systems
The best business advice I ever heard is Wayne Huizenga’s mantra (Wayne grew Waste Management and Blockbuster into legendary companies). Never invest your money without investing your time. He’s obviously not fond of being a passive investor. Whenever I’m presented with an opportunity, I try to remember his advice. Only once has this advice ever cost me money, but it’s saved me a lot of time and trouble.

Steve Vandegrift, srv Holdings
By providing value to others, value will accrue to you. Taught to me by a mentor during my early business career when I was learning to sell, it has turned out to be applicable across all areas of business. Listen to what others are interested in, having problems with, have a need/want/desire for and then try to provide answers/solutions/contacts/information to them. They will remember this gesture and want to help you and others to reciprocate.

Accounting and Finance Permanent Placement

vcfo has had great response to the expansion of our Accounting and Finance Professional Placement group. We now have a dedicated team of seasoned Finance Recruiters to assist clients with their next permanent hire. The difference between vcfo’s recruiting model and many other firms is our true team approach. On each search we leverage the vcfo network and team of financial executives to identify the best candidate in the timeliest manner. Our fees are very competitive and we offer discounts for existing clients. In May, we placed five professionals into permanent positions in Austin and Dallas. Our focus is on professional level financial placements. If we can be of assistance to anyone in your network who is either a candidate or someone seeking to fill a position, please contact Shelia Thompson, Director of Financial Recruiting at sthompson@vcfo.com or 512.450.6578.

Consider Outsourcing

Did you know vcfo’s HR Solutions group provides cost effective, custom-tailored interim & outsourced human resource services? As with our finance and accounting services, HR Solutions consultants bill on an hourly basis with no set minimums or long-term contracts, so our clients use only as much as they need.

Representative services include: HR Audits, Policy, Process, Performance Management, Compensation & Benefits Benchmarking, and Training and Employee Communications.

While we have been providing these types of services on a smaller scale for many years, we officially launched our HR Solutions group in Austin in 2006 and have recently begun the expansion to other markets, with Dallas being our first expansion city. Response has been fantastic and we’re very excited about the ongoing opportunities in all our markets.

vcfo’s HR Solutions consultants are currently working with several Austin and Dallas clients, ranging from early-stage technology startups to mid-market companies and large non-profit organizations. To find our more, or for a free assessment, please contact Dana Duran, Director of HR Solutions at dduran@vcfo.com or 512.450.6560.