Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a successful New Year! This message is to share some financial news (detail notes below) and to provide holiday networking.
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Financial News
A number of the notes and links are from CFO.com.
- Lessons of the Fall – It may be hard to believe, but there was at least one positive outcome to the financial hardship that befell companies in the wake of the economic crisis that struck in September 2008: a heightened sense among finance chiefs of how to assess and manage unexpected risks. See full article at http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14535443.
- Repeal or Repair - Health reform is more likely to get a nip and a tuck rather than a toe tag – according to a December 1 article, CFO magazine (http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14540265). In the wake of midterm victories, triumphant Republicans have repeatedly vowed to repeal health-care reform. Yet political reality suggests that GOP leaders only real option will be to fix and polish the very law they would prefer to consign to the dust heap.
- Surprising Rise in Health Costs – This December 6 article in CFO magazine (http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14542731) notes that U.S. companies should hope their collective forecast for healthcare costs in 2011 is more accurate than the one they made for this year. A spike in per-employee costs — the biggest since 2004 –caught many by surprise.
- Bank Loans Crucial to Start-ups – Where do small businesses get their capital? Not from the sources you might think, CFO magazine (http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14520386). Small businesses are more sensitive to the contraction of bank lending than previously thought, and the conventional wisdom about how small businesses finance themselves may be hogwash, according to a new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
- Commercial Banks in Limbo – Although their balance sheets are recovering, banks are still hesitant to lend. When it came to handing out business loans, commercial banks and savings institutions continued to be ultraconservative in the third quarter of 2010. The article (http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14542011) provides some figures and analysis.
Have a Blessed Holiday Season
Paul J. Gillman
CFO & Financial Business Coach
513-317-7039
pgillman@cinci.rr.com