More and more technologically savvy financial professionals are building successful businesses with Supporting Strategies' cutting-edge franchise formula.

Cheri Giglia, Managing Director of Supporting Strategies | North Shore Long Island, has achieved a significant milestone: five years at the helm of a successful outsourced bookkeeping services franchise.

"I can't believe it's been five years," says Giglia, who was the recipient of a Long Island Power Women in Business Award in 2018. "It's gone really fast. I've grown so much not only as a businesswoman, but also as a person."

According to Giglia, who previously held a series of financial executive positions in large corporations and technology startups, this is her first time owning and operating her own business. "To take everything I'd learned in my career and combine it with the Supporting Strategies model and be successful at it has been very rewarding," she says.

Supporting Strategies established cloud-based bookkeeping and streamlined back-office operations at this successful law firm — just in time for COVID-19.

Pabian & Russell, LLC, is one of Boston's most respected law firms, with expertise spanning elder law, estate planning, dispute resolution and several other practice areas. Bookkeeping, however, was causing a number of frustrations.

The firm's previous solution — an in-house team responsible for day-to-day accounts payable, accounts receivable and client billing, plus an outside accountant to close the monthly books — and processes weren't working. Attorneys were tracking billable hours on paper forms. An inefficient billing protocol led to delayed payments from clients. The firm couldn't produce reports that could guide strategic decisions.

"We were in the middle of making a lot of plans, but the lack of data was holding us back," CEO Margaret Burke notes. "Eventually we realized it made sense to hire someone and not try to do this in house."

The coronavirus pandemic is testing the ingenuity of American businesses as never before. Companies are conducting major overhauls of their business plans, profit models, operating procedures and even human resources policies. These changes would normally call for months of careful research and planning but are now being implemented in a matter of weeks, if not days.

While speed is of the essence, any changes your business makes in response to COVID-19 must still be rooted in solid financial insight and intelligence.

Inspiration Amid the Devastation
It would be easy to give in to despair in response to the daily onslaught of grim news. But each day also brings inspiring stories of business leaders who have made agile adjustments that have not only enabled their companies to remain open, but also preserved employees' jobs and provided the public with much-needed services and products.

As your business grows, so do the systems necessary to support it. Whether you have DIY bookkeeping or an outsourced bookkeeping services provider, your business may get big enough that you consider setting up an in-house bookkeeping department.

Some businesses may consider it a natural progression to move from outsourced bookkeeping to having an in-house department. However, continuing with outsourced bookkeeping services has many advantages over the alternative.

An outsourced bookkeeping services provider can be a great partner to your business — offering not only the skills you need at the levels you need, up to and including CFO, but also contributing valuable financial insights. And it all comes without the added expense and responsibility of hiring and managing new employees.

The Bookkeeping Expertise You Need Right Now
An experienced bookkeeping services provider doesn't have a steep learning curve. As pros who are familiar with a variety of businesses, they can quickly determine how much support you need in specific areas — whether it's a basic level, such as recording daily transactions and month-end close, or more detailed assistance, such as budgeting, planning and analysis.

Like many medical professionals who operate their own practices, Beverly M. Shafer MD, FACS (Fellow, American College of Surgeons), is under tremendous pressure to manage her time as efficiently as possible. "It drives me crazy when there are gaps in the schedule," says Shafer, a renowned plastic surgeon who has practiced on the North Shore of Massachusetts for over 30 years.

Shafer's combination of compassion and surgical artistry has created a high demand for her services. Meanwhile, her practice's back-office functions have become more time-consuming over the years, due to the growing complexity of insurance-reimbursement bureaucracy and a migration from paper-based to digital bookkeeping. Staff turnover compounded the problem; an outside CPA firm wound up doing many basic bookkeeping tasks. That wasn't cost-effective.

Specialized Bookkeeping Services for Healthcare Practices
A business contact encouraged Shafer to reach out to Supporting Strategies Founder and CEO Leslie Jorgensen. "I loved her immediately," Shafer says. A leading provider of outsourced bookkeeping services and operational support, Supporting Strategies began reconciling all of the practice's accounts on a monthly basis, "which is super-complicated, honestly," Shafer says. "They interface with my CPA to provide them the necessary information to do what they need to do, and they also interface with my paychecks company to get my staff paid and make sure that their taxes are correct."

Supporting Strategies is proud to announce that our Northeast Florida office has been named a Top Accounting Firm in an annual ranking by the Jacksonville Business Journal. 

"We've been in business for three years, and this is the first year we've made the list," says Supporting Strategies | Northeast Florida Managing Director Pete Denholm. "I'm excited to be on the list with national firms and with regional firms that have been around for decades, and I look forward to continuing to grow and climbing up the list in the years ahead."

"This is a testimony both to the hard work that Pete and his team have put in, and to the basic soundness of our business model," says Supporting Strategies Founder and CEO Leslie Jorgensen. "It's gratifying when outside organizations recognize our franchisees' success."

Congratulations to Cheri Giglia, Managing Director of Supporting Strategies | North Shore Long Island, who was an honoree at the Long Island Power Women in Business Awards & Networking Event on May 9.

The event recognized some of Long Island's most successful business, community, cultural, political, civic and religious female leaders. The evening included a business expo and trade show with networking, followed by a dinner and awards ceremony. Proceeds from a raffle benefitted rock CAN roll, a nonprofit hunger relief organization and think tank.

"It was a thrill to be part of this event and inspiring to share the spotlight with so many amazing women," Giglia says. "I'm very grateful for the award."

Prior to becoming a Supporting Strategies franchisee in 2015, Giglia held a series of financial executive positions in large corporations and technology startups. She has enjoyed applying her expertise at Supporting Strategies to serve growing businesses across the North Shore.

We join the Long Island community in recognizing Giglia's excellence and consider ourselves fortunate to have her as part of the Supporting Strategies family.

One of our favorite business payment solutions, Bill.com, recently asked me to share my top tips for better bookkeeping. I shared five quick tips that will help entrepreneurs start a business or take their business to the next level.

Proper bookkeeping is essential to the success of any business. Accurate, up-to-date books not only ensure compliance with tax laws, but can also offer insights into how your business is performing and highlight potential opportunities for growth. Whether you are just starting a business or are preparing for significant growth in your business, establishing proper bookkeeping procedures and leveraging cloud technology will help you build a stronger business. Learn how to use forecasting to stay on track and find out which financial reports you can’t do without in my

A law firm set up their bookkeeping processes right by hiring professional bookkeeping resources. However, they found that bookkeeping services are not all the same — and they needed to rethink their approach to find a successful solution.

Losing Billable Time
Founded outside Boston in 2002, Company Counsel is a boutique law firm that provides virtual general counsel services to emerging companies, venture funds and angel investor groups.

As their business grew, Company Counsel tried the

 same outsourced approach with their bookkeeping and operational support, working with individual bookkeepers and then a small bookkeeping company. However, the firm's partners were soon spending too much time handling operational matters and answering questions from the bookkeepers — time that could be better spent on client work.

Since becoming Managing Director of Supporting Strategies | Hartford in May 2016, Tanya Maher has helped the company establish a positive presence in Central Connecticut. Recently, she was featured as a West Hartford Chamber of Commerce (CoC) Spotlight on Success recipient and was interviewed by the Innovation Hartford website.

The Value of Networking
"I was really inspired to see this large group of people who were dedicated to building their businesses," Tanya says in the Spotlight on Success video, explaining the value of joining the West Hartford CoC. It's a prime example of how Supporting Strategies franchisees can quickly establish themselves by networking with other small-business owners.

"We really do view ourselves as their partner," she adds, emphasizing the collaborative nature of the relationship between Supporting Strategies and its clients.