Improving Profit [electronic resource] : Using Contribution Metrics to Boost the Bottom Line /
Cleland, Keith N.author.
Business of all sizes have a problem: How do you know-in real time-whether you are earning the profit you need to grow or even just stay in business? And which products or services are doing the "heavy lifting" in contributing to profit? Financial statements tell only part of the story. They are backward looking, for one thing, and they generally show results only in the aggregate. Worse, they never seem to reflect the hard work you're doing on a daily basis. As one manager said, "If I'm adding 25% profit to every job, why am I getting barely 5% net profit at the end of the year?" Improving Profit: Using Contribution Metrics to Boost the Bottom Line solves this dilemma. As this book shows, Contribution-Based Activity (CBA) measures focus on two key levers that are fundamental to the operation of any business: financial contribution and units of activity. Knowing how to use these levers gets your company off the treadmill and on your way to stellar profitability. And as the 21 case studies show, CBA is surprisingly easy to apply to businesses of all types and all sizes. What is "financial contribution"? Simply the amount above and beyond the cost of goods or materials sold that contributes to covering overhead and creating profit. As entrepreneur, business consultant, and professor Keith Cleland shows, few managers actually know the financial contribution their products and services make, nor how to amplify that contribution by  incremental adjustments to one or both levers. As you'll learn, the financial tool Cleland created, TARI (Target Average Rate Index), provides insight into each product's value. You'll not only learn which products are contributing the most to the bottom line, but how to unlock the profit potential in run-of-the-mill products or services. Improving Profit will help you: Restore and boost profit levels for your entire operation Relate your daily efforts to a transaction's actual profitability Focus on the two key performance indicators that can help you identify and solve problems affecting finance and productivity Help everyone in the company-from CEO to janitor-understand how their activities help or hinder the company's fortunes Make effective financial decisions If you've ever wondered why your results don't match your hard work, hopes, and dreams, read this book. As the case studies make clear, identifying and applying TARI results in a significant-and often dramatic-boost to the bottom-line.  .
""Contents""; ""Foreword""; ""About the Author""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""Introduction""; ""Chapter 1: Background to Contribution-Based Activity (CBA)""; ""The Problem""; ""The Solution""; ""Action Sheets""; ""Summary""; ""Chapter 2: Kitchen Utensil Manufacturer Taken to the Cleaners""; ""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 3: Printing Business Multiplies Net Profit by 500%""; ""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 4: Furniture Manufacturer Climbs Out of the Red""; ""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 5: Contractor Overcomes Competition to Make a Profit""; ""Case Comment""
""Chapter 13: Baker Identifies Where the Rubber Meets the Road""""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 14: Architectural Practice Eradicates a Malignant Cancer""; ""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 15: Accounting Firm Wins by Losing a Third of Its Fees""; ""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 16: Legal Firm Transfers Productivity to the Bottom Line""; ""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 17: Contractor Increases Strike Rate to 1 in 4""; ""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 18: Hot Bread Baker Discovers More to Bread than Flour""; ""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 19: Window Manufacturerâ€?s Flawed Foundation""; ""Case Comment""
""Chapter 20: Multi-Home Contractor Discovers a New Way Home""""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 21: Award-Winning Hairdressing Salon Cuts Its Way Out of Bankruptcy""; ""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 22: Multi-Department Store Whitewashes the Past""; ""Case Comment""; ""Chapter 23: 14 Businesses Explore CBA/TARI""; ""23.1 Vehicle Manufacturing""; ""23.2 Manufacturing and Distribution""; ""Analysis of Invoices: Results and Potential Utility""; ""Conclusion and Recommendations""; ""23.3 Distribution""; ""Manual Analysis""; ""Conclusion and Recommendations""; ""23.4 Software Development""
""Conclusion and Recommendations""""23.5 Engineering and Design""; ""Analysis of 10 Invoices""; ""Average Gross Profit and Gross Profit per Man-Hour Comparison""; ""Comparison of Total Hours Sold vs. Actual Production-Hours Paid""; ""Need for Purchase of New Software""; ""23.6 Property: Real Estate""; ""Invoice Analysis""; ""23.7 Packaging: Production and Distribution""; ""Invoices Analysis and Comments on Received Results""; ""23.8 Banking""; ""Results of the Analysis""; ""23.9 Banking""; ""Contribution-Based Activity System and Application of Target Average Rate Index in the Bank""
""23.10 Automobile Distribution""
Includes index.
Business of all sizes have a problem: How do you know-in real time-whether you are earning the profit you need to grow or even just stay in business? And which products or services are doing the "heavy lifting" in contributing to profit? Financial statements tell only part of the story. They are backward looking, for one thing, and they generally show results only in the aggregate. Worse, they never seem to reflect the hard work you're doing on a daily basis. As one manager said, "If I'm adding 25% profit to every job, why am I getting barely 5% net profit at the end of the year?" Improving Profit: Using Contribution Metrics to Boost the Bottom Line solves this dilemma. As this book shows, Contribution-Based Activity (CBA) measures focus on two key levers that are fundamental to the operation of any business: financial contribution and units of activity. Knowing how to use these levers gets your company off the treadmill and on your way to stellar profitability. And as the 21 case studies show, CBA is surprisingly easy to apply to businesses of all types and all sizes. What is "financial contribution"? Simply the amount above and beyond the cost of goods or materials sold that contributes to covering overhead and creating profit. As entrepreneur, business consultant, and professor Keith Cleland shows, few managers actually know the financial contribution their products and services make, nor how to amplify that contribution by  incremental adjustments to one or both levers. As you'll learn, the financial tool Cleland created, TARI (Target Average Rate Index), provides insight into each product's value. You'll not only learn which products are contributing the most to the bottom line, but how to unlock the profit potential in run-of-the-mill products or services. Improving Profit will help you: Restore and boost profit levels for your entire operation Relate your daily efforts to a transaction's actual profitability Focus on the two key performance indicators that can help you identify and solve problems affecting finance and productivity Help everyone in the company-from CEO to janitor-understand how their activities help or hinder the company's fortunes Make effective financial decisions If you've ever wondered why your results don't match your hard work, hopes, and dreams, read this book. As the case studies make clear, identifying and applying TARI results in a significant-and often dramatic-boost to the bottom-line.  .
Business.
Management science.
Business and Management, general.