By industry · 4 min read · Published
What we usually see when a dealer adds a second rooftop
By Chris Greco, Founder and President.
When a dealer adds a second rooftop, the owner is the only person who understands both stores' numbers and is on the lot all day. The factory statement gets done late by someone who does not reconcile floor plan to inventory. Departmental profit exists on paper and not in decisions.
Expense creep across two stores is invisible until year-end: two of everything, two sets of vendors, and nobody comparing them. Curtailments land whether or not the units sold.
Floor plan reconciled to physical inventory weekly, a departmental P&L each manager owns, a scorecard per rooftop, and expense ratios by department in the monthly package. Chris ran finance for two dealerships for more than five years; this is what the second store needed.
Where this applies
Chris Greco
Founder and President, CFO Anywhere. CFO for owner-led companies since 2002. Executive MBA, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois.
About ChrisMore from Chris
Running the business · 4 min read
What we usually see when a $20M company outgrows its accounting system
When a $20M company decides it has outgrown its accounting system, the system is rarely the problem. The chart of accounts is. It still describes the company from five years ago, and no software fixes that.
Banking and lending · 4 min read
What we usually see when the bank tightens a covenant
When a bank tightens a covenant, the ratio drifted for two quarters before anyone calculated it. The bank's analyst calculated it. Now it is a conversation about a waiver fee and a rate bump.
Running the business · 3 min read
What we usually see when a founder hires their first controller
When a founder hires their first controller, they usually hire well and then ask the person to do CFO work they were not hired for: the forecast, the bank, the pricing decision. The controller does the close and improvises the rest.