0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

Money Matters ● 41
current business and are ready to move on, I share some good ideas about
how to buff up your balance sheet before selling your business.
Meanwhile, here’s a great money-saving tip from the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants: If you pack a lunch instead of
spending $6 a day, five days a week, and put that money in the bank for 10
years, you would end up with $19,592, based on a 6 percent interest rate.
That rate is not realistic, but the point is, every dollar saved really counts.
Find more money-saving tips at www.feedthepig.org.
GREAT
Become a Profit Enhancement Officer
We’re all familiar with CEOs, but how about a
IDEA
PEO? A PEO is a profit enhancement officer, and
that’s what every business owner should be, according to Barry Schimel, a
Maryland certified public accountant (CPA) who quit preparing tax returns
to devote his life to boosting business owners’ profits.
“If you ask employees what their responsibilities are, the word profit
rarely comes out of their mouths,” said Schimel. “People do their work,
but there’s often no relationship between what they do and how it affects
the bottom line.”
Beefing up the bottom line is the goal of Schimel’s rigorous analysis and
intense brainstorming sessions. Schimel says he’s helped his clients reap
more than $200 million in additional profits over the years.
The owner of an upstate New York moving company said “he gave us
new ways of looking at things.” For example, he encouraged the office staff
to quickly complete all the move-related paperwork. Why? The faster they
billed clients, the faster they were paid. This tactic added about $1,000 a
week to the company’s bottom line.
Next, Schimel recorded calls to the sales department. “That was a real eyeopener,”
said the moving company executive. “One salesperson was essentially
giving away out-of-state business by referring customers to other movers.”
Schimel’s other clients reaped a windfall just by reviewing customer
accounts. “We found a lot of customers with special discounts that no
one had reviewed for years,” said Gil Carpel, CEO of a DC-area delivery
company. Schimel urged him to increase rates and charge clients more for