CFO Today franchises offer solutions to the business and financial services management needs of small businesses.
By: George Frey
The economic darkness gives some businesses the opportunity to shine.
Satnam Singh Bansal, developer of five new CFO Today franchises, says times like these generate more business-to-business services franchises such as his. He’s just starting out, and this market is helping him.
On Jan. 1, Mr. Bansal opened his five franchise locations to span Mercer, Somerset, Middlesex, Hunterdon and Bucks counties. His CFO Today franchises offer solutions to the business and financial services management needs of small businesses, including payroll processing, accounting, tax preparation, insurance and strategic planning.
The company’s concept is not new. CFO Today has been around for almost 15 years and has offices across the United States and Canada.
"We’re focused on small business owners and want them to succeed financially," Mr. Bansal said. "We offer cost advantages. I think our cost advantages are about 20 to 40 percent better than other competing companies for a similar service."
The difference, Mr. Bansal claimed, is that CFO is localized and focused on the future.
"With our territory directors, there is a complete picture of a business," he said. "They see the taxes, insurance and investments. If you have different consultants for each of these matters you wind up with a whole slew of people involved. We provide everything all under one roof. One person with one solution.
"We fill the position of CFO for our small business client, which is a function needed by all small business owners, but generally not within their budget."
For about $200 a month, Mr. Bansal says, CFO Today can provide services for a small company to cover payroll, accounting and year-end tax work, or just one of the services for about a third of that price.
"Our territory director goes and sits with the customer and spends time helping them out and seeing to their needs," he said.
"The small business owner can go out and buy QuickBooks and have all the best intentions. But with all the work pressures and other priorities, they might not be able to keep up with their bookkeeping work. We can help them."
Mr. Bansal says there is nothing to suggest the economy won’t pick up after the war in Iraq reaches its conclusion. He thinks once fears subside, business and the markets should start to recover. In the meantime, small business owners are feeling a cash-flow crunch, he said which is helping his business.
"Small businesses in this environment are having a hard time being paid," he said. "People are holding onto their money, but leaning on a business that owes another company money also threatens losing that business. Small businesses have to serve their customers, but not lean on them. They don’t seem to have a good handle on cash flow and where money goes. They don’t do cash flow reports or analyses. We can help them project into the next months."
Mr. Bansal said offering discounts or other incentives to outside businesses for prompt payment is something he is suggesting his customers do in these cash-crunched times.
In addition, he said a lot of small business owners don’t know about tax advantages. "Accountants don’t consult you on the changes for the coming year," he said. "They usually work on the taxes for the year past, but they don’t tell you what you need to know about the future. For instance, for some types of businesses, health plans are 100 percent deductible in 2003. I don’t think a lot of people know that.
"A lot of companies couldn’t survive an audit from the IRS. They don’t keep their records properly in check. It is to your advantage to declare everything to the IRS so when the business sells, you can get the maximum valuation for your company."
Mr. Bansal, confident his business will grow, hopes to be profitable in two years. He says he has made two direct-mail mailings of 16,000 pieces to get the word out and, of the people who call, 90 percent sign on to some of his offered services.
"This was my own business model," he said. "There are about 3,000 businesses in each of my five territories. If we get 5 percent of those businesses, we should do well."
Meanwhile, contrary to the tendency of the day, Mr. Bansal says he is desperately seeking licensed insurance brokers and licensed financial advisors to hire.