Resources & tools

Practical tools for building a stronger business.

Running an established business creates questions every day.

  • Where is the cash going?
  • Are our margins strong enough?
  • Do we have the right people?
  • Are we focused on the right priorities?
  • Is the business becoming stronger—or simply bigger?

Ask better questions, recognize problems earlier, and make better decisions.

Take the assessment
A business leader reviewing a business performance dashboard

How strong is your business—really?

The 1CFOCenter business performance checkup

25 questions. 5 improvement areas.

Profit. Cash flow. Leadership. Priorities. Operations.

Your score is not the answer. It tells you where to start asking questions.

Start with a clearer picture.

Answer a short set of questions and see which areas deserve a closer look. Your answers stay in this browser tab.

Take the assessment

Five quick guides.

Short, practical starters on the issues that matter most.

Profit

Why more sales don’t always produce more profit

A practical guide to finding where additional revenue is disappearing before it reaches the bottom line.

Read the guide
Cash flow

Profitable—but still short of cash?

Seven places to look when the income statement says the company is profitable but the bank account disagrees.

Read the guide
Leadership

Does too much still depend on you?

How to recognize when owner dependence is becoming a constraint on growth.

Read the guide
Priorities

Too many priorities may be your real problem.

Why three to five important objectives can outperform twenty initiatives competing for attention.

Read the guide
Operations

Why growth can make a good business harder to run.

Five warning signs that your operating system has not kept pace with the company.

Read the guide

Tools you can use in your business.

Fill in these starter worksheets, save a copy, or print them for your next management discussion.

Interactive starter

13-week cash flow starter

A simple framework for seeing cash requirements before they become surprises.

Open the tool
Interactive starter

3–5 priority worksheet

Identify the few objectives that deserve management attention.

Open the tool
Interactive starter

Owner-dependence checklist

Ten questions to determine how much of the company still depends directly on you.

Open the tool
Interactive starter

Monthly business scorecard

A one-page framework for tracking the handful of numbers an owner should see every month.

Open the tool

From the factory floor to the CEO’s chair.

Practical business insights.

Business insight

The number I watch before profit

Why cash can tell you something the income statement cannot.

Read the insight
Business insight

When a good employee becomes the wrong manager

Growth sometimes changes what a position requires.

Read the insight
Business insight

The most expensive word in business may be “later.”

Problems that management repeatedly postpones rarely become less expensive.

Read the insight

Do you advise business owners?

When your client needs operating help

A recognition guide for CPAs, bankers, attorneys, wealth advisors, business brokers and other trusted professionals.

When is a client’s problem no longer just an accounting, banking, legal or financial-planning issue?

Read the advisor guide

Want to go deeper?

Books by Erich Stolz

Practical operating, leadership, cash flow, enterprise value and business systems developed from decades of hands-on executive experience.

The Premium Exit, The Premium Operator, The Premium Enterprise, The Premium Boardroom and The Premium Integration book covers
Explore the books

15 minutes. Owner to operator.

A tool can help you see the problem.

Sometimes you need someone beside you to solve it. If one of these resources identifies something in your business that concerns you, start with the problem.

Let’s talk for 15 minutes

Erich Stolz, CTP
832-372-5419
CFO@1CFOcenter.com