Well, the second quarter is ending.  June 30^th is Tuesday and July 4^th weekend is NEXT WEEKEND!  On Tuesday, 2015 will be half over.

There are two more business days of the year to bring your business’s Q2 objectives down the field.  It’s just a measuring point, but a very important one.  From a CFO’s perspective after Tuesday can be the ‘lull before the storm’.  It is about to be an extremely busy and important time of year for many of us.

We need to take a deep half-year look – see what we did well, things that we didn’t, and look forward and tune-up the second half year strategy and business plan.

It is halftime. In sport, halftime is a time the coach and the players review the first half’s results, evaluate the competition, and develop a strategy and action plan for the second half.

That’s exactly what CFO’s and business owners must do next week.

How did you do during the first half? What were your sales? What was your gross profit? How do they compare to last year’s numbers? Compared to plan? How was your customer profitability? Expenses? Overall Profitability? DSO? Inventory levels? Cash in bank? Other metrics?

It is extremely important to take a critical look your business profit and cash drivers – where you are today and prepare a second-quarter plan.  You need to check the scoreboard and develop what-if’s for the second half of the year. You need to plan your cash needs for the rest of the year and identify efficiency improvements.  You need to provide your team some inspiration.  What’s their mood?  What support do they need?

Check and, if necessary, reset your mindset!

So, use this ‘lull before the storm’ to get prepared now.  Take a couple hours and put pen to paper; numbers to Excel.

• Review your first 2 quarters’ objectives – the top 3 overall business goals
• List some wins for the year so far
• Begin prepping your team for the month-end close – many balance sheet reconciliations and checklist items can get done in advance.  Do them next week.  We need to get solid numbers fast.
• Identify all your business drivers (growth, profit, revenue per patient/per invoice, cash flow drivers) and have your historical data formatted.  If you haven’t done so, do.
• Plan Cash needs now – update your 13 week cash flow forecast
• Set-up the Q2 Team Meeting to review the scoreboard results and the 2^ndHalf-Year Business Plan – set the deadline on your calendar now.  How about July 18th or the 23rd?  Book it  – if you’re a big company or a one man show, book it on your calendar.

Also, get prepared to take some time over the Fourth of July weekend for some R&R.  It’s summer and life is moving fast.  Get outside and enjoy it!