Hannah Smolinski
Hannah Smolinski is a CPA and the founder and CEO of Clara CFO Group, a fractional CFO firm for growing businesses. After starting her career at one of the world's largest accounting firms, she built Clara to bring CFO-level financial strategy to owner-led companies. She hosts the Financial Clarity Podcast and holds a Master of Professional Accountancy from the University of Washington.
CPA, Founder and CEO, Clara CFO Group
Is Your Business On Track?
Today I’m excited to share the final post in our series about the five most important reports in your business. Previously posts covered: Balance Sheet Profit and Loss Statement Accounts Payable Aging Accounts Receivable Aging And now it’s time for the report that helps you determine if you’re on track to your plan – the […]
Don’t Hide From This Kind of Aging
Today we continue our series describing essential financial reports, and we’re going to talk about why you should embrace aging! In our personal lives, many of us try to think of “aging” as rarely as possible. But when you are looking at your business, aging becomes a critical element in reviewing the health of your […]
Understanding Your Profit & Loss Statement
Many reports or tools have more than one name. As a reminder, your profit and loss statement is also sometimes referred to as: P&L, Income Statement, IS, Statement of Earnings, or Statement of Financial Performance. For this discussion, we’ll be using the term “P&L”. For most business owners, the P&L will be the most powerful […]
Balance Sheet Basics … and Beyond
In my previous post (Money Talks. Can You Understand What It’s Saying?) I discussed the importance of becoming familiar with some of the jargon, terms, and acronyms that will help you understand your business. One of those terms was “balance sheet”, which I described as an overview of what the business owns as well as […]
Money Talks. Can you Understand What It’s Saying?
If your answer to this question is an apologetic, “Um, no. I can’t.”, I’m here to help change that! Because numbers, calculations, and money are the mainstays of our business, it’s easy for financial service providers to forget that terms which are so familiar to us are often mysterious or even intimidating for our clients. […]
Hierarchy of Accounting Needs
Have you ever been confused about which financial professional you need for your business? There are so many to choose from: Certified Financial Planners, Certified Public Accountants, Enrolled Agents, accountants, bookkeepers, controllers, and Chief Financial Officers. Just as all doctors should not perform heart surgery, CPAs and other financial professionals are not one-size-fits-all! This distinction […]
Four Ways to Avoid Debt
I am not a fan of debt. Not in personal finances or in business. One of the main reasons I don’t like debt is because it is EXPENSIVE! That’s right, it costs a lot of money to keep and maintain your debt. It’s called Interest Expense, and it can drain your business if you aren’t […]
Are You Using Debt as a Tool or a Crutch?
If you were to ask me what I think about business loans, my first reaction would be: “Avoid them at all costs!” BUT, I would be hard-pressed to find a business that hasn’t used or considered the use of debt at one point or another. I would be doing you a disservice to not have […]