Tag Archives: Financial Results

Rational Investing vs Irrational Entrepreneurship (Admirable Idealism)

When asked at this year’s meeting, “What matters most at Berkshire Hathaway?”  Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett quickly agreed: “Seeing things the way they are.” Rational As Opposed to Smart Warren and Charlie then went to one of their favorite topics about how the success of… Continue reading

Quality of Earnings in Due Diligence: What You Need to Know

As many sellers do not sell businesses frequently, I like to write about various parts of the transaction process that may be helpful for sellers to understand.   One of the most important steps is when a buyer performs a “Quality of Earnings” review of… Continue reading

Accounting & Reporting Pays Off

Accounting should not drive anything about a company, but accounting also should not be forgotten at the side of the road. Many companies choose, correctly, not to focus much attention on proper accounting and reporting — until they first have a real, sustainable business.  Later,… Continue reading

Phantom Stock, Shadow Stock, or Virtual Stock — Employee Ownership (a series)

An employee who “thinks like an owner” is the Holy Grail — having employees for owners — as we have discussed in other posts.  Therefore, I have been writing a series of posts about tools that owners can use to assist employees to think like… Continue reading

Joys of Ice Cream, Apple Pie, and Recurring Revenue

Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, once told a friend of mine that if Charlie were a young man, he would be “trying to find online recurring revenue businesses” — like many that are being built and growing today. The combination of recurring revenue… Continue reading

You Are What You Eat (or Where You Get Your Investment)

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are,” said French lawyer and epicure Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.  Similarly, tell me where you got the investment for your business and I will tell you what is in store for your business. Each… Continue reading

Optimal Owner for a School — Not Private Equity or Wall Street

The School Business Finding a perfect match between a business and an owner is not easy.  This hit home to me last week at a gathering for private post-secondary schools in California where I heard an owner of a private, post-secondary school describe an epiphany… Continue reading

Chart of Most Profitable Industries — Increase Your Odds of Business Success

Profitability Differences Building a business is a lot of work.  Thus, it makes sense to build your business in an industry where the fundamental dynamics are a little more in your favor.  Or, evolve your business to improve its fundamental characteristics by studying the best.… Continue reading

Business Financial Models – Coca-Cola vs. Wine

As the next post in the series on a Perfect Business, Financially Speaking, I think an anecdote told by Donald Keough in his book “The Ten Commandments of Business Failure” conveys the advantages of having a good business financial model versus the alternative. Mr. Keough… Continue reading

Construct a Perfect Business, Financially Speaking

Designing the financial model (in a real-world sense, not a spreadsheet sense) of your business is worth every minute that you can dedicate to it. We should craft the financial model of our business with as much care as a fine architect and craftsman would… Continue reading