May16

Top bank regulator: Risk models key May 16, 2012 14:26

Banks that use models for risk management should compare results of those models to results from other approaches, narrowing their reliance on single approaches, U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said Wednesday. The banking regulator warned that operational risk – the risk of loss due to failures of people, processes, systems and external events – is high and increasing, noting it’s “at the top of the list of safety and soundness issues for the institutions we supervise,” according to a copy of his speech, prepared for the Exchequer Club in Washington, D.C. [More]

May15

The JOBS Act: IPO on-ramp or public company off-ramp? May 15, 2012 13:55

A key part of the JOBS Act recently signed by President Obama has been described as creating an “IPO on-ramp” that makes the process of an initial public offering easier and more attractive. No doubt many companies contemplating an IPO will race to the public markets as a result of the new law, and we may see a bumper crop of IPOs in the short term. But I believe the JOBS Act as a whole will probably continue the momentum away from companies going public. While there are pieces of the new law that will encourage public listings, other aspects will reinforce the ability of companies that want to stay private to do so while giving others new options for raising capital outside of public markets. [More]

May14

Bernanke: Banks healthier despite ongoing challenges May 14, 2012 12:34

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke believes conditions in the U.S. banking system have “improved significantly,” though he acknowledges lending for residential mortgages and for small business owners remains challenging.

In remarks prepared for a speech May 10 at the 48th Annual Conference on Bank Structure and Competition in Chicago, Bernanke said several key measures of systemic risk have improved in recent months and are now well below their levels during the financial crisis. Banks have made considerable progress in repairing their balance sheets, and overall, the sector has substantially improved its liquidity, he said.
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May11

Investors may like Facebook, but it is richly valued - Sageworks CEO May 11, 2012 13:02

Facebook’s initial public offering, scheduled to begin trading on May 18, will have a rich valuation compared to other big tech players, according to Sageworks CEO Brian Hamilton, a noted expert on privately held companies. “To put Facebook’s valuation in perspective, if Apple, which manufactures tangible products, was valued at a multiple comparable to Facebook, Apple’s market capitalization/value today would be approximately $2.7 trillion,” Hamilton said, noting Apple’s current market capitalization is about $500 billion. [More]

May10

Concerns cause private companies to delay hiring May 10, 2012 09:22

Private companies are too nervous about the future to ramp up hiring, according to a new Sageworks Inc. survey of accountants, bankers and other financial professionals who work closely with these firms. About 32 percent of financial professionals in the survey said their clients aren’t hiring because they are concerned about the economy in general, while another 22 percent said private companies have become more risk averse because of lingering anxiety from the last recession. [More]

May08

Sageworks’ CEO Brian Hamilton speaks to FDIC examiners on the important elements of evaluating privately held companies May 08, 2012 10:03

Brian Hamilton, CEO of Sageworks, spoke to federal bank examiners from the FDIC, OCC, NCUA, and the Federal Reserve last week at the Community Financial Institution Lending Forum about the important elements of evaluating privately held companies. Hamilton discussed global cash flow, best practices for understanding the financial position of private companies and their owners, and challenges commonly encountered in this process. [More]

May04

April unemployment ticks down to 8.1 percent May 04, 2012 15:42

The U.S. unemployment rate dipped in April to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent in March, but fewer-than-expected jobs were added. “The unemployment rate is not materially changing, which is disappointing since privately held companies continue to grow their sales and are generally the engine of job growth,” said Brian Hamilton, CEO of financial information company Sageworks Inc. [More]

May02

Private company sales, GDP continue to grow, but what about unemployment? May 02, 2012 13:44

New data from Sageworks, a financial information company, shows that privately held companies in the United States saw average sales growth of 8.3 percent in the 12-month period ending in April 2012. That’s up slightly from the 2011 growth rate of around 8.2 percent, and up significantly from the low in 2009, when sales declined by an average of almost 6 percent.  Private companies drive over 50 percent of GDP, which grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter, according to the latest government data. While private company sales and U.S. GDP have been growing consecutively for over two years, another important economic indicator, the national unemployment rate, no... [More]

May01

Avoid cash flow catastrophes: Part V - 7 tips for better forecasts May 01, 2012 11:35

Cash flow forecasts, the vital estimates of how much cash your business will have in order to continuing operating, are notoriously tricky because of the many variables involved. Even so, accountants and other financial experts say there are several steps you can take to improve their accuracy. These include being conservative, being aware of common pitfalls and updating your forecasts frequently. [More]

Apr30

Does size matter? Sales growth, margins by company size Apr 30, 2012 13:20

Privately held companies have a huge impact on the U.S. economy, and new data from Sageworks Inc., a financial information company, shows that sales and margin performance through the recession and so far in the recovery has varied, depending on the size of the company. Data showed that firms with the highest annual revenues in the Sageworks database have seen the sharpest rebound in sales since 2009. Meanwhile, the very smallest firms have seen the biggest improvement in net profit margin since 2009. [More]