SESSION 1
A/E/C FINANCIAL FUNDAMENTALS:
• Cash vs. accrual accounting: which is best for your firm?
• What’s the best financial management software for your firm?
• Why you should establish firmwide policies for contingencies and reserves
• The two biggest mistakes firms make in recognizing revenue
• The secret signals you can pick up by tracking WIP monthly
• Why you should track backlog every month
• Financial trends in the A/E industry (based on PSMJ’s hot-off-the-press 2020 A/E Industry Financial Performance Survey)
• 4 financial KPIs most firms aren’t tracking, but should
• The 3 key metrics that determine profitability – and which of these is most important
• How much financial information should you share with your staff? |
SESSION 2
BUSINESS PLANNING AND BUDGETING:
• Align your strategic plan, business plan, and annual budget
• PSMJ’s simple 6-step process to developing a simple, effective business plan
• Workshop: Using PSMJ’s Financial Management Tools (included with your registration fee) to develop an effective business plan
• Benchmarking Workshop: Using PSMJ’s Financial Benchmarking Tool (included with your registration fee) to compare your firm to other similar A/E firms
• How does your firm compare to the most successful A/E firms (PSMJ’s Circle of Excellence firms)?
• How to assure that your sales will support next year’s staff
• Forecast firm growth cash demands using PSMJ’s Cash Flow Model (included with your registration fee)
• Create your 2021 business plan using PSMJ’s Simplified Plan Template (included with your registration fee)
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SESSION 3
COMPENSATION & PRICING
• Developing a compensation strategy that’s right for your firm and your markets
• The 4 factors that drive compensation for technical/design staff
• Establishing a “salary envelope” for technical/design professionals
• Assuring internal equity in your salary structure
• Using PSMJ’s benchmarking data (included with your registration fee) to assure that your salary structure is competitive
• How to sync your salary structure to your utilization targets and billing rates
• What are the appropriate salaries for managers?
• Why most incentive comp is counterproductive, and how to fix it
• Competing with firms offering higher salaries
• Non-cash bonuses that work
• Cost-based vs. value-based pricing
• Stop underpricing your services by adding more value
• Determine optimum pricing for each of your major markets with PSMJ’s Pricing
• Model and Benchmark Data (included with your registration fee)
• Pricing to maximize profits under the Federal Acquisition Regulations |
SESSION 4
CONTRACTS AND PROJECT CONTROLS
• Which contract types are best – and which are worst – for your firm
• Reduce liability risks and payment risks by including these 29 terms in your contracts
• Aligning risks and rewards
• How to move your firm toward better contracts
• What is “Net Revenue Deficit” and why is it such a big profit driver?
• The pitfalls of using Estimate-to-Complete methodology to track project budgets
• Using Earned Value Analysis to keep projects under budget
•Workshop: Using PSMJ’s PlanTrax Lite (included with your registration fee) to track budget and schedule status on a real project |
SESSION 5
MANAGING CASH AND OVERHEAD
• Applying PSMJ’s cash flow management template (included with your registration fee) to estimate the cash flow impacts of growth or shrinkage in your firm
• How to use a Credit Application Form (included with your registration fee) to cull out potential new clients that will likely create payment problems
• Using a “Project Mobilization Fee” to reduce WIP to zero or less
• How lump sum contracts can automatically create negative WIP
• How to engage your PMs to streamline your invoicing process
• How to use FedEx delivery as your collection agency for late-paying clients
• Why overhead rate isn’t always a good measure of efficiency (despite what your clients may think)
• Measuring BD activity effectiveness
• Benchmark your firm’s largest controllable overhead costs, and return on overhead
• Why low overhead doesn’t necessarily mean high profits
• What is “Return on Overhead” and why is it so important?
• Using PSMJ’s financial performance data (included with your registration fee) to benchmark the utilization rates for your management personnel
• Using PSMJ’s financial performance data (included with your registration fee) to benchmark your biggest non-labor overhead costs
• How to cut overhead in ways that strengthen your firm
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SESSION 6
MANAGING MULTIPLE BUSINESS UNITS AND PLANNING FOR OWNERSHIP TRANSITION
• Why traditional profit center accounting destroys teamwork
• Factors that most significantly impact your firm’s valuation
• How to eliminate profit centers and still maintain strong accountability
• Pros and cons of ESOPs
• Most common pitfalls in structuring an internal ownership transition
• PSMJ’s 6-step process for a successful ownership transition |
