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FEB. 27-MARCH 4, 2004 • memphis.bizjournals.com
Small Business
MEMPHIS BUSINESS JOURNAL
13
IN BRIEF
Government to review
manufacturing regs
The Bush administration
plans to review regulations
on U.S. manufacturers, in
hopes of relieving a burden
that is helping to send
manufacturing jobs overseas.
“No sector of our economy is more in need of
regulatory reform than
manufacturing,” says Joshua
Bolten, director of the Office
of Management and Budget.
Many manufacturing
regulations “don’t account
for improvements in science
and technology over the last
20 years,” says John Graham,
director of OMB’s Office of
Information and Regulatory
Affairs.
OMB will solicit nominations on regulatory reforms
that it can implement
without having to wait for
Congress’ approval. Federal
agencies will review these
nominations, and OMB then
will unveil its regulatory
initiatives.
The National Association
of Manufacturers praised
OMB’s regulatory review
plans.
“Regulatory compliance
costs faced by U.S. manufacturers are generally much
higher than those faced by
overseas competitors, so we
very much welcome OMB’s
initiative,” says NAM
President Jerry Jasinowski.
U.S. manufacturers
spend a total of $160 billion
a year to comply with
federal, state and local
regulations. The burden is
especially hard on small
manufacturers, who spend
up to $8,000 per employee
on regulatory compliance,
according to NAM.
IT spending slows now
that crises are over
The federal government’s
information technology
shopping spree is over.
President Bush proposes
spending $60 billion on IT
products and services next
year, but that is only a 1%
increase over this year’s
request.
It’s also a far cry from the
heady days of 1999 through
2003, when federal IT
spending grew by an
average of 11% per year,
according to Input, a Reston,
Va.-based consulting firm
specializing in government
procurement.
ALAN HOWELL / MBJ
Robert Vance: ‘I’ve done a little bit of performing here and there, so it helps when you are up there having to testify.’
Expert witness
‘Number cruncher’ takes center stage for testimony
R
BY ROB ROBERTSON
obert Vance recognized several years ago that he
brought a fairly unique combination of talents and
expertise to his profession.
As a certified public accountant, valuation analyst and
financial planner, he was a highly-qualified number cruncher, but it may have been his penchant for acting that inspired
him to start his own business, Valuation/Litigation Consultants, in which he bills himself a “one-stop-shop number
cruncher” and expert witness for lawsuits.
“There aren’t many people who do all that I do,” says
Vance. “There are plenty of experts that do one area or
another, but few people really bring it all together like I do.”
Vance says his business was not something he originally
intended to pursue, but as he became a more frequent visitor
to the witness stand for divorce cases, business mergers,
liquidations and such, it just grew out of his CPA practice
into a full-time job. Vance knew there were plenty of business
valuation consultants out there with stellar credentials, but it
was his talents on the witness stand that set him apart.
As an amateur actor, Vance admits he Valuation/Litigation
is a bit of a showman.
Consultants PLC
“I’ve done a little bit of performing
Business valuations,
here and there, so it helps when you are
litigation support and
up there having to testify,” he says.
expert witness
There are several elements to business testimony for divorce
valuation in a divorce case; there are
and business lawsuits
assets to separate, or the husband or wife Headquarters: 950
may have a pension. Vance can value
Mt. Moriah, Suite 203
these variables and help attorneys split
CEO: Robert Vance,
them into an equitable distribution. His
CPA, CVA, CFP
business can also calculate alimony if
Employees: 2
need be and Vance can testify on the
Phone: (901) 507witness stand to each effect.
9173
A practicing CPA since 1985, Vance is
Web site: www.
only now stepping out into a full-time
valuationlitigation.com
consulting role because he realized his
combined talents offered a unique opportunity for attorneys.
“The process fascinates me, really,” Vance says. “The legal
See WITNESS, Page 14
14
SMALL BUSINESS
MEMPHIS BUSINESS JOURNAL
memphis.bizjournals.com • FEB. 27-MARCH 4, 2004
To achieve goals, make a commitment and stick to it
Dear Mike: How do I get four
talented people to work together?
Here’s the situation: Each one of my
managers is talented at what he does
and each one’s part of the operation
runs pretty well. But cooperation and
collaboration between them is almost
non-existent. When I’m out of the
building, which happens often enough,
things get mucked up in a minute.
Between the finger pointing and name
calling, productivity grinds to a halt. I
feel like I should shut the place down
the next time I need to be away. What
do I do to get these guys to work
together?
— Clueless About Collaboration
Dear Clueless: I think you are being
too hard on yourself. Cooperation and
collaboration do not come as easily as
one thinks. Even though we learned
how to play nicely together in the
kindergarten sandbox, we have all had
plenty of experiences since then that
have encouraged us to be independent,
self-reliant mavericks. Add to that all
the negative feedback we get when
things go wrong and it’s easy to understand why many people operate in an
“every man for himself” mode. Luckily
for you, there are a number of things
you can do to turn finger pointing into
hand shaking.
Whether your people don’t appreciate the work of the other departments
or they are just so intent on their own
jobs that they don’t see
the big picture, they
need to understand
how they fit into the
whole process of your
organization. One of the
most powerful things
you can do to expand
their understanding is
ASK
to make each one of
them “walk a mile in
MIKE! each other’s shoes.” In
the next two months,
have each of your
MIKE
managers spend a halfSYNK
day shadowing each
other until each
manager has observed all major
functions of your operation. Not only
will this give everyone a better appreciation of the difficulties and conundrums faced by their coworkers but
they will get a better picture of how
their department’s production and their
individual responsibilities impact
everyone else. They will see is that it is
not enough just to produce the widgets,
or collect the money for the widgets;
they will start to think about how they
can work together to get widgets in the
hands of customers.
A second thing you can do is to
establish a company-wide goal for
them to focus on as they go about their
daily duties, This goal should be
something above and beyond their
individual operational goals: a goal that
all of the departmental goals add up to.
It must be something that can be
measured and monitored every day or
every week: not just more widgets out
the door faster, but two dozen more
widgets out the door in six hours. This
will give each of them a higher target to
shoot for than just ones relating to their
own area of responsibility. It will
redirect their focus away from themselves and towards company goals and
the collaboration needed to achieve
them.
Everyone likes to play games and
win, so have some fun with this. Create
a game around the company goal and
start keeping score. Make up a daily
scorecard on a white board and post
the objective results (the numbers) or
progress made towards the goal. Have
daily “stand-up” meetings or “huddles”
to review what can be done to improve
the score and to overcome obstacles
that are in the way of winning the
game. You can have a theme, prizes and
celebrations. Nothing builds teamwork
like playing on a team and winning.
Instead of keeping track of each other’s
mistakes and failures, they will be
tracking the path to success. This will
get them eyeing a larger prize and
focusing on ways to succeed.
You probably need to make some
changes in your own behavior as well. I
am betting that right now you are a
focal point for your team. You are both
the judge who settles all the disputes
and the answer man who has to solve
all the problems. You may need to
change some of your behavior and
move out of this role. Ask yourself the
following questions: Are you playing
your own game as the star player who
has to score all the points and be the
center of attention? Does every solution
have to be yours? Can you act more like
a coach than a player? Do you listen?
Do you explain things clearly? Do you
give positive feedback? Do your players
have the all information and tools they
need? Do they know where it is you
want your company to go?
What I’m getting at with these
questions is this: quite a bit of their
behavior is done in response to yours. If
you want them to take responsibility,
you must let go of some of it. For lasting
change to take place you have to be
committed to making lasting changes
to your behavior.
When you implement these ideas
and make some personal changes as
well, you’ll soon have talented collaborators creating solutions for you so you
can get out and on to other tasks that
can produce growth for you.
Ask Mike! is a Q and A column for business owners
compiled and written by Michael Synk, a business
educator, coach and founder of Inner Circle® of the
Mid-South. Inner Circles are peer groups that guide
members in clarifying business and personal goals and
thinking through the means to obtain them. Send your
business question to [email protected]
WITNESS: Firm’s target market is lawyers
FROM PAGE 13
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process is good and bad. I’ve seen both
sides of it and realized there’s a lot of need
for a number cruncher and someone
who knows and understands the legal
process — someone who can speak the
language.”
The target market for Valuation/Litigation Consultants is lawyers. Over the
years, Vance says he has developed a
good database. Through cases, seminars
and articles he has concentrated a lot of
energy just getting his name out there
and letting people know about his services.
Vance plans to market his business
heavily over the next six months, and
may hire another person or two to help.
With the possibility of always having to
be in court, however, it is hard to leverage
his responsibilities down to other
employees. A consultant and witness
must be expected to know every aspect of
a valuation report on a case before he
takes the stand. If an expert gets caught
in a mistake, it could undermine his credibility — and credibility is the name of the
game.
Collierville attorney Charles Hodum, a
former assistant district attorney in East
Tennessee, has worked with Vance.
“I do quite a bit of divorce work in
which you’re looking at a lot of assets and
situations where there may be some disparity with the incomes of both parties,”
Hodum says. “The need is for an expert to
come in and apply guidance and opinions as an appraiser and a financial
adviser to assist the parties and the court
in understanding the inequities and fairness of the valuation and the distribution
of assets in awarding compensation.
“I have to seek out the best qualified
person to meet that criteria,” Hodum
says. “When looking at the universe of
people locally that can do that, Vance is a
person who has been shown to meet the
need for that type of work.”
Since opening his own business,
Vance has worked on about a dozen
cases and hopes to get that number to 40
before the year is over. Vance charges a
fee for his services and makes no money
from the outcome of a case, win or lose.
Vance says a valuation analyst needs
to be able to demonstrate that the same
numbers are going to be produced no
matter which side he or she works for.
When it comes to valuing a business,
“cash flow is king,” he says, and his job is
to determine what an outside investor
might reasonably be expected to pay for
the business.
That’s easier said than done. In
divorce cases — which make up the
majority of his work — the information
an expert gets often depends on which
side he is called on to testify for.
“If the wife hires you, the husband
may tell you the business is doing terrible,” Vance says. “But if the husband is
going to turn around and try to sell the
company the next week, he may be saying the business is doing better than
ever.”
CONTACT staff writer Rob Robertson at 259-1726 or
[email protected]