FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Who is Financial Solutions of New England (FSNE)?
	1.	What does FSNE do?
		We work with you to determine trends and uncover opportunities to increase revenue, improve profitability, lower costs and maximize your success. We are committed to helping small and medium sized businesses and non-profit organizations throughout New England achieve financial success in a cost-effective and affordable manner. Our goal is to effectively and efficiently assist and advise you so that your business can attain and sustain its profit potential.
	2.	What industries does FSNE specialize in?
		Our business is not industry specific. We believe that we have a set of methodologies and financial tools that enable us to help virtually any industry.
	3.	How do FSNE's engagements work?
		Working closely with you, we:
			Build a strong, trusting relationship with you and your staff. Then we analyze and clarify current issues and problems facing your business.
			Use specific advanced planning techniques and technology to clearly identify key barriers that contribute to the lack of progress toward your growth critical business objectives.
			Design custom, straightforward solutions to address your specific conditions and objectives. Since these solutions can often be designed to run and be maintained by your existing staff, they give you control over the process.
			Discuss results with you to make certain that the issues have been successfully resolved. We can also provide ongoing review and refinement consultations to ensure sustained achievement of your goals.
How Do You Work?
	4.	Will you agree with everything I say?
		No, although, we will question your ideas and assumptions and try to make you show us that you are correct. We would not be helping you if we always agreed with you.
	5.	Do you share my business information?
		No, we do not sell or release any client information.
	6.	Is it necessary to have my current and historical financial data available for review and analysis?
		As a financial business advisor, we review and analyze historical and current financial information in order to establish a quantitative and qualitative basis for specific business issues. As a business owner, it is important to have information at your finger tips. If you can't count it, you can't manage it. One of the first steps we look to identify is where you have been, where you are now, and most importantly, where you want your business to be within the next 12 to 24 months. This information affords you, the business owner, the ability to benchmark performance and have timely information to make informed business decisions.
	7.	Do I need a business plan?
		A business plan, like a road map, is for your benefit. It clearly identifies your business purpose and goals, Its basic components include a current and pro forma balance sheet, an income statement and a cash flow analysis. A good business plan helps you allocate resources properly, handle unforeseen complications, and make the right decisions. Because it provides specific and organized information about your company and how you will repay borrowed money, a good business plan is a crucial part of any successful business.
	8.	What if I have already developed a business plan?
		If you have developed financial projections for a business plan, we will review your numbers that you may be showing to bankers or others to acquire new or additional funding. We can help make that presentation as accurate and professional as possible to give you the best opportunity to achieve your desired result.
	9.	Why do I need your services?
		Small and medium-sized business owners very often have their hands full just trying to get the product out the door so they can pay their bills and have something left for themselves. The owners do not usually focus on what is critical to make their revenue, cash flow and profit plan work smoothly. Among the services offered by FSNE is the establishment of business-specific benchmarks so that the business owner can quickly be alerted to potential financial problems and respond in a timely and effective manner.
Follow up Activities and Pricing
	10.	What happens after you have completed the engagement?
		We are available to discuss anything about the work we performed with respect to the engagement. This will be done at no additional charge to you. One of our goals is to be a cost-efficient resource for you. We cannot do this and nickel and dime you for every conversation or update to a financial schedule. One of the most important things we offer after the engagement is periodically returning to do a "fiscal examination" of the business to make certain that we are keeping you on track to your goal of maximizing and sustaining your profitability.
	11.	How do you price your services?
		Generally, we price our work on an hourly basis. Based upon the scope and complexity of the project, the availability of materials we need to work with, the clarity of what you want to accomplish, and if possible, how much of your staff's time can be used, we will be able to give you a very good approximation of how much time the job will take. We are also very cognizant of the budgets for this type of work in a small to medium-size company, and we will work with you to make it as affordable as possible.
	12.	Are you worth the money?
		Absolutely - for the following reasons:
		a.	Because we have special areas of expertise and our proven track record of success
		b.	Working together, we can achieve your goals for less than your CPA or typical large accounting or management consulting firms would charge.
		c.	Your time is too valuable even if you believe you have the skills to do what we do at FSNE.
Non Disclosure and Sample
	13.	Will you sign a non-disclosure agreement?
		Yes, we will, although we prefer to sign a mutual non-disclosure agreement so that any work that we perform on your behalf is protected as well.
	14.	Can you provide samples of your work?
		Our website contains a generic sample of our work. Please call us if you want more information.
		a.	JMR Widget Company - Power Point presentation (provided as a pdf file)
		b.	JMR Widget Company - Excel Spreadsheets
Qualifications and Areas of Expertise
	15.	What are your qualifications?
		a.	We have been analyzing, advising, forecasting and providing successful, sustainable profit improvement/enhancement strategies for more than 25 years. Art Grossman, has a Masters of Business Administration Degree in Finance from Babson College and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mathematics form Northeastern University.
		b.	Our expertise includes, but is not limited to:
			1. Profit Improvement 6. Customer and Product Profitability Analysis 2. Pricing/Pricing Strategies 7. Budgeting and Forecasting 3. Financial Modeling 8. Industry Analysis and Comparisons 4. Financial Projections and Analysis 9. Financial Engineering 5. Financial Aspects of the Business Plan 10. Business Valuation

We can provide the insight and advice that small and medium-sized businesses need to help achieve measurable and sustainable financial success.