BizBench financial ratio benchmarking
software from Gerke & Associates (www.BizBench.com) uses client summary financial data to produce customized business performance
reports. Joe Weston, a senior consultant
with Gerke, said the program allows
CPAs to begin to develop Profit
Improvement strategies for their
clients as part of a larger consulting,
planning and strategizing relationship.
‘The format and the direction
of the analysis provided by BizBench
are geared toward positioning accounting
professionals as business advisors
to their clients by giving the CPA
insight into a client’s financial
performance compared to others in
the same industry,’ he said.
Using financial statement data,
ratio analyses and modeling tools,
the program calculates benchmarks
to gauge a client’s performance,
and helps the accountant provide
potential remedies to under-performing
clients, or to help them attain
a higher level of profitability.
‘BizBench is designed to be
a tool that helps CPAs provide solutions
to their clients. By assessing where
a client stands in relation to their
peers of comparable industry and
sales level, and helping to identify
areas of concern such as under-utilized
assets and lease/buy comparisons,
BizBench uses a client’s financial
statement data to develop solutions
to diagnose weaknesses and strengths,’
said Mr. Weston.
BizBench produces a 45-page client-ready
report with charts and graphs that
are designed to be easily understood,
and includes an ‘Ideas for
Discussion’ section that shows
areas that were diagnosed as opportunities
for improvement. This section includes
good business practices that can
help mitigate factors causing low
performance and that are, subsequently,
causing a client’s company
to be below their desired industry
percentile ranking. The report includes
the ability to compare liquidity,
efficiency, operating, financing
and profitability ratios. The program’s
interactive ‘what if’
scenario planning helps determine
the extent to which a client’s
improved performance across a variety
of dimensions will affect its financial
performance rankings against the
industry.
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