F.O.C.U.S. Resources - Lea Strickland CMA CFM CBM

As the business gets started and hits the accelerator, it is often difficult to know how to weigh the options, evaluate the alternatives and integrate all of the business concerns, issues, and advice into a cohesive plan of action. The needs of businesses are diverse, complex, and urgent. As part of the process to take action and enable the organization to expand operations, improve operational effectiveness and efficiency, and evolve infrastructure and processes to address new challenges, it is necessary to understand past and present performance - results and issues - and to identify what is possible and probable for the business in the future. Furthermore the business needs to identify what the present operational opportunities, constraints, and risks are - before moving ahead.

The FOCUS 360° Enterprise Diagnostic™ examines the business across the functional, process, and resource dimensions to understand the total business, and then translates that information into areas of:

opportunity for improved bottom-line results
risk for financial outlay
risk for loss of business due to faulty processes
opportunity for improved operational efficiency

Turn-around Services

Businesses and industries are cyclical. The ability to manage through the down turns is critical to long term business viability. Internal and external factors impact the ability of the organization to sustain and/or grow, but it is the way the organization's internal infrastructure, financial resources, and business vision is formulated, executed, and corrected that makes the bottom-line difference.

Understanding that each business is unique and yet shares many common processes and issues is important to achieving the best outcome for troubled businesses. The ability to analyze, evaluate and restructure the core and auxiliary activities of the enterprise makes the difference between bankruptcy, profitability, and cash positive operations.

The F.O.C.U.S.™ Approach utilizes financial and non-financial analysis of the business, industry, and other external and internal factors to identify corrective actions and restructuring needs to address business "malfunctions". The process includes:

analysis of existing financial and accounting systems and reports
interviews and discussions with key team members and groups
review of policies, procedures, and process documentation
assessment of human resource plans and activities
review of operational activities and results
analysis of sources and uses of cash

The ability to translate the non-financial into financial results, to trace activities and processes into cash flow impacts, and to target key activities that result in no and low return activities is critical to getting the business healthy.

In the event that the analysis indicates that a business' best alternative is to "liquidate", the activities center on developing and executing a liquidation plan that enables the organization to preserve intellectual property ownership and minimize the adverse impact on stakeholders (employees, vendors, and investors). This process requires identification of the issues and the ability to obtain "buy-in" from stakeholders through clear, direct, and honest communication of the issues.