September, 2015

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Paving the Way for America’s Small Businesses, One Lesson at a Time

Fundera

In February 2014, we launched Fundera with the goal of making it dead simple for small business owners to secure the capital they need to grow. After helping over 1,200 small business owners access north of $60 million in credit, we believe we’re onto something very special. Today we are excited to announce that Fundera has raised an $11.5 million Series B.

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CECL is a hot topic at Sageworks Risk Management Summit

Abrigo

The Financial Accounting Standard Board’s proposed move to the current expected credit loss, or CECL, is top of mind for many of the bankers and industry experts attending the 2015 Risk Management Summit presented by Sageworks. Presentations at the conference, which kicked off Wednesday in Chicago and runs through Friday, have focused on how financial institutions will be impacted by the transition from the existing incurred-loss model, as well as what banks and credit unions can do now to bette

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4 Things To Do Before Commercial Real Estate Rates Rise

Prime Commercial Lending

Our economy has made a huge recovery since the crash of 2008. People are investing in real estate on both a personal and commercial scale, which also means that people are taking out short-term loans to help finance those investments. The effect of all of this is that while all of this property investment puts money into the economy, having so many people and corporations taking out short-term financing is going to cause commercial real estate rates to rise by the end of this year.

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How this Serial Entrepreneur Recovered from a Bad-News Loan Broker

Fundera

Editor’s Note: The business name has been omitted from the piece to avoid confusion with Mr. Krabill’s franchisees. Kevin Krabill is the definition of serial entrepreneur. He has spent the last 30 years starting and running different businesses, taking only a 5-year break to work at accounting powerhouse Ernst & Young. What keeps him going? Entrepreneurship is in his blood.

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How This Juice Business Went From Zero Sales to $2M in 2 Years

Fundera

In 2013, Raw Generation had to shut down its website because sales were too low. “It didn’t really make a difference because we were [making] no money anyway,” says Jess Geier who started the company in 2012 with her dad, Bill Geier. About one month after shutting down, Raw Generation re-launched as a provider of detoxifying juice cleanses rather than a seller of nutritional juices—and teamed up with daily deal sites to see what the online discount craze was all about.

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Can You Really Afford That Loan? Use This Tool to Decide

Fundera

Download the Loan Affordability Tool. The idea of a small business loan is always enticing. Whether to relieve pain felt from a recent cash crunch or to expand your booming business, more working capital is what every business owner wants. No matter the need, the question you should ask after deciding that yes, you do a want a loan, is whether or not your business can even afford it.

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The Pitfalls of Online Lending and the Importance of Media Exposure

Fundera

On Monday Michael Corkery penned a piece in the New York Times that shed a much-needed light on the pitfalls of online lending for the unwary borrower. A powerful piece, the article primarily opines on the dangers of automatic withdrawals from bank accounts, or as the online lending industry likes to call it, “ACH.” To put it simply, this means the loans are being paid back daily, weekly, or monthly by an automatic draft out of a borrower’s bank account.

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Use Business Intelligence to Better Manage Your Cash Flow

Fundera

Bloated inventory is always going to be a threat to business cash flow. Any increase in inventory is a sign that your business has purchased more goods than it’s sold. But, if you increase your inventory, you better make sure you have the cash inflow to offset the cash outflow you’ve just incurred, or risk a negative impact on your cash balance. To lessen the problem and free up cash flow, small businesses need controls in place, and inventory needs must be prioritized.

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A Guide to Smart Debt Consolidation for Your Business

Fundera

Managing business debt is always a challenge. But if you’re juggling multiple outstanding loans and payments? That challenge can quickly become a never-ending cash flow nightmare. If you’re dealing with a constant cycle of payments due on several business loans, there may be a solution to restore your business’s cash flow—and your sanity. It’s called debt consolidation, and if used correctly, it can potentially save you thousands of dollars in interest costs.

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The Five Most Popular Trademark Classes

Fundera

Most people understand the basics of a trademark – it’s a symbol or other defining mark that identifies a product or service as coming from a particular person, group, or company. In the United States, once a mark is used legitimately, the user has a right to it. But they can further protect their intellectual property right by registering the mark with the USPTO.

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Cutting the red tape for community banks

Abrigo

Earlier this month the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC) announced that it plans to lighten the regulatory load for small financial institutions by cutting back on data required for an institution’s quarterly call reports. By eliminating or revising some of the items that banks must include in their call reports the FFIEC hopes to streamline the reporting and decrease the amount of time spent on them.

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CECL preparation: Do this, not that

Abrigo

Understandably, financial institutions of all sizes have numerous questions about how they will implement the FASB’s proposed current expected credit loss model, or CECL, once the standard is finalized. At the 2015 Risk Management Summit hosted by Sageworks, a panel of banking industry experts provided tips for bank and credit union professionals to put their institutions in a better position for transitioning from the incurred-loss model when the time comes.

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Attracting and retaining female staff

Abrigo

It will come as no surprise that one of the largest concerns facing accounting firms today is staffing. For some firms, the way to solve this is by ensuring there is a greater gender balance among the staff. Although women are entering the profession in higher numbers than ever before, they are dramatically underrepresented in terms of partners. According to the AICPA , 48 percent of employees in CPA firms are women, yet only a mere 24 percent are partners and principals.

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Goodwill is a function of jurisdiction, appraiser says

Abrigo

Republished with permission from Business Valuation Resources ( www.bvresources.com ). No two cases are alike, and different jurisdictions approach goodwill and noncompete agreements differently, cautions Jim Alerding (Alerding Consulting LLC), in response to the BVWire item on the Mauceri Texas divorce case, in which Bob Dohmeyer (Dohmeyer Valuation Corp.) was the prevailing expert.

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Final CECL guidance expected by year end despite 2 board members' opposition

Abrigo

Despite a report that two FASB board members will vote against the final version of the current expected credit loss (CECL) model, a spokeswoman told Sageworks Friday that the board continues to expect to issue the standard by year end. “FASB staff currently is drafting the final standard on impairment, which will be discussed by the Board during a public meeting in the coming months,” spokeswoman Christine Klimek said in an email.

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8 steps to an accurate business valuation

Abrigo

Valuation is as much an art as it is a science, and it is commonly considered to be a statement of opinion rather than a mathematically proven fact. The numbers, models and metrics are not the only factors of a business valuation. In his video of an introduction to valuation, Professor Aswath Damodaran states, “every valuation has a story, it’s less of a science and less about the numbers than we think.

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Is your credit union ready to grow member business lending (MBL)?

Abrigo

Member business lending (MBL) has been a hot topic in the financial services community this summer, particularly as the industry awaits finalization of the NCUA’s rule changes. While credit union lending to businesses has been on the rise over the last several years, both in terms of dollars and the number of credit unions that offer MBL services to their members, the proposed changes could perpetuate further growth in this area.

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Credit union membership, lending up in Q2

Abrigo

Credit unions are on the rise, as indicated by the NCUA in the second quarter of 2015. Last week the NCUA reported that the total number of credit union members had surpassed the 101 million mark, and overall lending was up as of the close of Q2. According to the credit union regulatory body, membership in federally insured credit unions grew to 101,084,138, as of June 30th.

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The power of Twitter for recruitment

Abrigo

Twitter may not be the first site that comes to mind for job hunters, but the numbers don’t lie – in 2012 eight million applicants found jobs using the social media application. Using the platform for recruiting purposes is also increasingly common. A marketing firm in Dallas uses the site to perform first round intern interviews. Twitter may not immediately resonate as a valuable tool for recruiting for accountants, but it can be.

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How will NCUA’s new member-business lending rule impact risk management?

Abrigo

As credit unions await the finalization of the National Credit Union Administration’s (NCUA) proposed changes to rules for business lending, they may do well to remember Spider-Man’s creed that “With great power comes great responsibility.” That’s because the proposed rule shifts from prescriptive rules to a principles-based approach that eliminates detailed collateral requirements and portfolio limits and instead focuses on broader principles for commercial lending activities.

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Avoid pitfalls of a growing business valuation practice

Abrigo

The baby boom generation is often marked by the free-spirited popularized during the 1960’s and 1970’s. The same generation that preached “peace, love and understanding” also funneled that spirit into some of the most successful entrepreneurial ideas ever, like the iPod and the Roomba. Now, as the generation ages , many of those entrepreneurial minds will look to sell their businesses.

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Attracting and retaining millenial talent

Abrigo

With the inevitable retirement of baby boomers, it is critical to have plans in place for developing the future leaders of your firm. This process begins by hiring potential partners who have the potential to grow into your firm’s cash cow. How does your firm begin to identify and draw qualified candidates that can take your firm to the next level? Katie McConnell, Director of Recruitment and Development at GALLAINA LLP, notes that Millennials currently represent 80 million people or 25% of the

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The 5 Words Small Business Owners are Sick of Hearing

Fundera

As a small business owner, you’ve heard it all. You field dozens of questions, demands, and criticisms every day, and we know there are certain words that put a special kind of twitch in your eye. Here are five of them. “No” via GIPHY. Loan officers, landlords, health department officials, prospective customers, the IRS—the “no’s” a small business owner hears come from many places.

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The 10 Most Satisfying Moments for Entrepreneurs

Fundera

Life as an entrepreneur is an incredible thing. The normal ups and downs of business are felt on an entirely different level. The bad times aren’t just bad — they’re terrible. The good times aren’t just good — they’re amazing. Entrepreneurship comes with its fair share of challenges, but the best part of owning your own business are the “wins.” Here are 10 of the most satisfying moments entrepreneurs will have throughout the course of their career.

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