January 6, 2009 by Darton Group
The DARTON team believes in the power of blogging. Our blog (The DARTON Equation) is a great tool that allows us to communicate efficiently and effectively (and in real time) with our valued consultants and clients.
And we’re not alone in the corporate blogging world here in Charlotte.
Have you checked out the new blog launched this month by Wells Fargo?
The “Wells Fargo - Wachovia Blog” is targeted at customers. The bank promotes the blog as a “great educational and informational resource, as well as a place where you can ask questions, join the conversation, and just get to know us a little better”.
The bloggers at Wells Fargo include:
- John Stumpf - President & CEO
- Marianne Babal (Corporate Historian)
- Molly Murphy (Wells Fargo Marketing Manager)
- Ann Marie Quinn (Serves in a Communications Management role)
- Matt Wadley (Communications Manager)
So what do you think of the Wells Fargo - Wachovia Blog?
Check it out at http://blog.wellsfargo.com/wachovia/.
Posted in In the News, Workplace Trends | Tagged Charlotte Blogs, Darton Group, John Stumpf, The Darton Equation, Wachovia Acquisition, Wachovia integration, Wells Fargo - Wachovia Blog, Wells Fargo and Wachovia | No Comments »
January 4, 2009 by Darton Group
Posted in Networking | Tagged CFO Coach, Charlotte accounting jobs, Charlotte finance jobs, Cindy Kraft, Darren Benoit, Darton Group, LinkedIn, Mark Weber, Rochelle Rivas, Scott Sterling | No Comments »
January 1, 2009 by Darton Group
Happy New Year from the DARTON team!
Wishing you the best of success in 2009.
Rochelle Rivas, Mark Weber, Darren Benoit and Scott Sterling
Posted in Charlotte Region, Uncategorized | Tagged Darton Group, Darren Benoit, Mark Weber, Rochelle Rivas, Charlotte finance jobs, Charlotte accounting jobs, Scott Sterling, Charlotte First Night, Charlotte New Year's | No Comments »
December 30, 2008 by Darton Group
Every quarter, The Business Growth Index is published in partnership between UNC Charlotte and the Charlotte Chamber.
As stated by the Chamber, the publication is “an initiative designed to provide analysts and decision makers in the private and public sectors with timely information about the current and near-term health of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg economy”.
Said another way, it could be considered a crystal ball (using reason and logic) to help those of us on the DARTON team to predict the economic future (near-term) here in metro Charlotte.
The most recent Index was released a couple of weeks ago on 11.24.08.
Some key factoids?
- The outlook for the local economy is flat to slow, modest decline through March 2009.
- The pace of job loss in Charlotte is half the national pace.
- Help wanted linage (a measure of local hiring plans) declined 5.4% in September 2008 (with a 13.4% loss year over year).
So what does it all mean?
Per UNC Charlotte and the Charlotte Chamber, “..we expect the Charlotte region to out-perform the nation”.
Sure, skeptics will claim that is it the Chamber’s job to present a sunny outlook. That said, it is DARTON’s perspective that UNC Charlotte and the Chamber do an admirable job of presenting a balanced view of the Charlotte economy in the quarterly Index.
Read the Index at http://www.charlottechamber.com/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=EconomicForecast&category=Business_Profile&submenu=Business_Profile.
Posted in Research + Statistics, Trends, Uncategorized | Tagged Business Growth Index, Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, Charlotte Economy, Darton Group, jobs in Charlotte, UNC Charlotte | No Comments »
December 24, 2008 by Darton Group
NEWSWEEK magazine is kicking off the first issue of 2009 with a list of the “Global Elite - the 50 most powerful people in the world”.
And who made the list at #50 - just 3 positions behind Oprah Winfrey?
Charlotte’s own Jim Rogers, the Chairman, President and CEO of Duke Energy. Duke is one of the USA’s largest power companies and one of several Fortune 500 firms headquartered in the Charlotte region.
Jim Rogers made the list on the basis of his belief in renewable energy and the need to cut CO2. NEWSWEEK cited the investments that Duke, under Jim’s leadership, is making to support renewable energy initiatives and to reduce CO2 emissions.
Other power players on NEWSWEEK’s list?
Steve Jobs (CEO, Apple) at #34 (We DARTON-ites love our iPods!)
Mike Duke (CEO-Designate, Wal-Mart) at #26
Warren Buffett at #19
And who made the #1 ranking?
You guessed it. Barack Obama.
Read NEWSWEEK’s article on the Global Elite and the profile of Jim Rogers at http://www.newsweek.com/id/176300.
Learn more about Jim Rogers on Duke Energy’s web site at http://www.duke-energy.com/about-us/leaders/jim-rogers.asp.
Posted in Charlotte Region, In the News, Uncategorized | Tagged Darton Group, Duke Energy, Newsweek, Global Elite, Jim Rogers | No Comments »
December 20, 2008 by Darton Group
We like our factoids here at DARTON GROUP.
And we like NationMaster.com, a fun, fact-based site that allows users to compare statistics on countries across the globe.
Wondering who holds the title of “richest” country on the planet? (It’s not who you think it is!).
Wondering how the world’s countries rank using the “Big Mac” index? (Yes, there is actually a ranking of countries by price of a McDonald’s Big Mac in USA dollars at current exchange rates). Save your pennies if you plan to order your Big Mac in Iceland.
The DARTON team isn’t alone in our fondness for NationMaster.com.
Harvard Business School http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ undertook an exercise using NationMaster.com to see how various exporting countries ranked in terms of bribes. Harvard researched countries on the degree to which their companies are perceived to be paying bribes.
The findings?
Swedish companies are least likely to play the bribe game, while Chinese firms were most perceived as willing to participate.
Amaze your family and friends this holiday season with your mastery of country-by-country statistics.
Visit NationMaster.com at http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php.
Posted in Research + Statistics | Tagged Big Mac Index, Darton Group, Harvard Business School, NationMaster.com | No Comments »
December 20, 2008 by Darton Group
Kudos to Belk.
Based in Charlotte, Belk is the largest privately held department store in the USA with more than 300 stores and annual sales of $3.8 billion.
The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) and Wachovia recently awarded Belk the 2008 AFP Pinnacle Award Grand Prize Winner.
The Grand Prize recognizes innovative cash management solutions designed to solve complex treasury and financial management challenges.
Belk was chosen from among winners in three categories:
Belk won the Risk category for the retailer’s implementation of a risk mitigation program that facilitated change across the enterprise.
For More Information
Learn more about Belk’s award-winning risk mitigation program at http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-20-2008/0004907332&EDATE=.
Association for Financial Professionals: http://www.afponline.org/
Belk: http://www.belk.com/
Wachovia: http://www.wachovia.com/
Posted in In the News, Uncategorized | Tagged Darton Group, Association for Financial Professionals, Wachovia, Cash management strategies, Belk, 2008 AFP Pinnacle Grand Prize Winner, Risk Management, Risk Mitigation, Treasury Strategies | No Comments »
December 14, 2008 by Darton Group
We are growing!
DARTON GROUP announces the addition of Scott Sterling to our Charlotte team. Scott joins DARTON in a Business Development role.
“Scott is simply one of the best in the industry,” noted Mark Weber, Managing Partner and Co-Founder at DARTON.
“In addition to his five years of experience in the financial recruiting industry, Scott brings eight years of expertise in public accounting. DARTON’s clients and consultants will benefit from Scott’s diverse, and successful, experience in the staffing industry and at Arthur Andersen and KPMG,” stated Weber.
Scott is a CPA (inactive) and member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Scott attended North Park University in Chicago, IL where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting.
Learn more about Scott by visiting his LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/scottsterling.
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About DARTON GROUP
DARTON GROUP provides highly experienced accounting and finance professionals for project consulting and interim engagements. Based in Charlotte, NC, DARTON GROUP services diverse clients representing a cross-section of industries in the greater Charlotte region.
Whether you are an experienced professional looking for a rewarding consulting career or a business with project or interim staffing needs, DARTON GROUP’s expertise and broad network can work to your advantage.
Visit DARTON GROUP online at www.dartongroup.com.
Posted in In the News, Uncategorized | Tagged Charlotte Accounting and Finance, Darton Group, Mark Weber, Scott Sterling | No Comments »
December 11, 2008 by Darton Group
For those of you who know our internal team here at DARTON GROUP, it is understood that we place a priority focus on serving the needs of mid-market companies in the greater Charlotte region.
CFO Research Services, in collaboration with American Express, surveyed 129 qualified USA finance execs last month with a focus on the middle market (95% of respondents were from mid-size companies with revenues between $10 million and $2 billion).
The focus of the survey was to understand the actions that senior finance execs are taking to ensure sufficient capitilization to support growth over the next 12 months.
With the credit markets still tight and the economy in a state of recession, many finance execs stated that they are leading a movement to get “back to the basics”. The focus is on re-setting priorities to uncover every opportunity to manage expenses and increase working capital.
So what activities will most mid-market finance execs spend more time on over the next year (compared with the past year)?
- 85% of respondents will spend more time on cutting cost of operations.
- 83% are dedicating more time on improving cash management processes.
- 81% will allocate more time on developing better budgets, plans and forecasts.
Other methods to be used by mid-market finance execs to meet their liquidity requirements?
- Reducing DSO and better cash flow projections as well as reduce capital spending
- Slow payments, aggressively collect AR
- Improve DSO, DPO and inventory turn
- Tighten cash management/forecasts
- Aggressively reduce working capital (inventory/receivables)
- Exercise tighter control over working capital components
- Audit billing and collection processes
- Rein in extended terms to customers
- Adhere to benchmarks better
- Tighten AR and drop poor paying customers
- Reduce G&A
The objectives of mid-market companies over the next 12 months reinforce the value that DARTON’s highly-experienced project consultants deliver in helping to drive process improvements and bottom-line results.
Download the the full report “No Stone Unturned: Strategies for the Cash Management in Hard Times” (courtesy of CFO Research Services) at http://www.cfoconferences.com/research.htm.
Posted in Research + Statistics | Tagged American Express, Cash management strategies, CFO Research Services, CFO strategies, Darton Group, Middle Market strategies | No Comments »
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