Finance – Page 6 – www.exkalibur.com

Job Creation? Not that I told you so … just saying ….

Sorry, folks, but I do not see any meaningful evidence of a stimulus package, that vaunted $700B jump-start to the economy. I deplored it back then … I think “mud sandwich” was the term I used. Some of us pointed out that Congress’ own calculations showed that most of it would not be effective until 12-18 months elapsed … and now the evidence is in. I’ve also referred to it as another government boondoggle because there is such an obscure line of sight and accountability for the results of the program, that you could just be sure it wouldn’t have the desired results. If you created a program like this for your business, you wouldn’t have either a business or a job.

Even the NY Times editorialized recently about the lack of leadership on jobs. Here are some of the statistics they quoted which are sobering indeed; there’s more but you get the gist:

September was the 21st straight month of job loss – the longest unbroken stretch of losses since record-keeping began in 1939 – bringing to 7.2 million the number of positions that have been axed since December 2007. (more…)

Innovative Financing Alternatives

Whenever I find an article about innovative or alternative financing, it's worth sharing. Creative financing has never been more needed as businesses seek to preserve and protect their franchise. While these alternatives may not be applicable to your business, use this information to jumpstart your creative juices to consider different…

Why Business Plans don’t deliver

I have written several posts lately about the value of business plans and the nature of the pitch to raise money.The MIT Sloan Management Review weighs in with a new article Why Business Plans Don't Deliver which offers some ideas about how to avoid the common pitfalls.In short, the article…

Getting in hot water with bank covenants?

This month's issue of CFO magazine included an article, Tripped Up, about the many companies that are violating their loan covenants and offers some ideas about how to avoid those pitfalls.

Like I’ve been saying ….

Angels invested more than $19 Billion in 2008 according to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. The NY Times published an article today reporting the resuls ... what many of us have been saying all along: THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PREPARATION! Authenticity is more…

Is the Worst Over?

There are certainly some who think the tailspin is ending and the flight path is leveling out. The NY Times reported that more than half of the companies surveyed say they do not plan layoffs in the next 12 months. Sixty-seven percent say they do not expect any hiring freezes.…

Inside Wall Street’s Armageddon

I overlooked posting this article earlier, entitled After the Fall. It was written by Michael Lewis of Liar's Poker fame and published in the Dec/Jan 09 issue of Portfolio magazine. It is an fascinating exposé of the sub-prime loan market, the Credit Default Obligation (CDO) securities that embraced it and…

Business Finance | Have you met the Scavenger’s Daughter?

Impressing your bank less important than being able to hit targets

The Scavenger’s Daughter? Might be the name of a lost Dickens novel … or an indulgent misnomer for a the infamous rack that not only stretched but crushed its victims during the reign of King Henry VIII.
Thumbscrews, pilliwinks, breaks and the tormento de toca were other methods used to punish those that broke their “covenant” with the King.
Fortunately, those punishments are relegated to history’s ash heap … at least I’m pretty sure that banks aren’t using any of these default provisions.

Compliance with financial covenants

Compliance with financial covenants, however, has never been more important. Today, banks have an arsenal of covenant choices that are used as an early warning system to alert participants to potential problems that may jeopardize their financial well-being.
It’s important to recall that covenants are based upon (more…)

Is Warren Buffet crazy?

This is the title of a recent blog entry from James Surowiecki's blog on The New Yorker. He poses an interesting notion that banks will be doing better than ever with rates so low - Wells Fargo average interest cost in Q408 was 1.44% - and spreads so high.