• Align your strategic plan, business plan, and annual budget
• PSMJ’s simple 6-step process to developing a simple, effective business plan
• Workshop: Using PSMJ’s Financial Management Tools (included with your registration fee) to develop an effective business plan
• Benchmarking Workshop: Using PSMJ’s Financial Benchmarking Tool (included with your registration fee) to compare your firm to other similar A/E firms
• How does your firm compare to the most successful A/E firms (PSMJ’s Circle of Excellence firms)?
• How to assure that your sales will support next year’s staff
• Forecast firm growth cash demands using PSMJ’s Cash Flow Model (included with your registration fee)
• Create your annual business plan using PSMJ’s Simplified Plan Template (included with your registration fee)

• Cash vs. accrual accounting: which is best for your firm?
• What’s the best financial management software for your firm?
• How to establish firmwide policies for contingencies and reserves
• Avoiding the two biggest mistakes firms make in recognizing revenue
• The secret signals you can pick up by tracking WIP monthly
• Why you should track backlog every month
• Financial trends in the A/E industry (based on PSMJ’s  latest A/E Industry Financial Performance Survey)
• 4 financial KPIs most firms aren’t tracking, but should
• The 3 key metrics that determine profitability – and which of these is most important
• How much financial information should you share with your staff?

• Developing a compensation strategy that’s right for your firm and your markets
• The 4 factors that drive compensation for technical/design staff
• Establishing a “salary envelope” for technical/design professionals
• Assuring internal equity in your salary structure
• Using PSMJ’s benchmarking data (included with your registration fee) to assure that your salary structure is competitive
• How to sync your salary structure to your utilization targets and billing rates
• What are the appropriate salaries for managers?
• Why most incentive comp is counterproductive, and how to fix it
• Competing with firms offering higher salaries
• Non-cash bonuses that work
• Cost-based vs. value-based pricing
• Stop underpricing your services by adding more value
• Determine optimum pricing for each of your major markets with PSMJ’s Pricing Model and Benchmark Data (included with your registration fee)
• Pricing to maximize profits under the Federal Acquisition Regulations

• Which contract types are best – and which are worst – for your firm
• Reduce liability risks and payment risks by including these 29 terms in your contracts
• Aligning risks and rewards
• How to move your firm toward better contracts
• What is “Net Revenue Deficit” and why is it such a big profit driver?
• The pitfalls of using Estimate-to-Complete methodology to track project budgets
• Using Earned Value Analysis to keep projects under budget
• Workshop: Using PSMJ’s PlanTrax Lite (included with your registration fee) to track budget and schedule status on a real project

• Applying PSMJ’s cash flow management template (included with your registration fee) to estimate the cash flow impacts of growth or shrinkage in your firm
• How to use a Credit Application Form (included with your registration fee) to cull out potential new clients that will likely create payment problems
• Using a “Project Mobilization Fee” to reduce WIP to zero or less
• How lump sum contracts can automatically create negative WIP
• How to engage your PMs to streamline your invoicing process
• Why overhead rate isn’t always a good measure of efficiency (despite what your clients may think)
• Measuring BD activity effectiveness
• Benchmark your firm’s largest controllable overhead costs, and return on overhead
• Why low overhead doesn’t necessarily mean high profits
• What is “Return on Overhead” and why is it so important?
• Using PSMJ’s financial performance data (included with your registration fee) to benchmark the utilization rates for your management personnel
• Using PSMJ’s financial performance data (included with your registration fee) to benchmark your biggest non-labor overhead costs
• How to cut overhead in ways that strengthen your firm

• Why traditional profit center accounting destroys teamwork, and what to do instead
• Factors that most significantly impact your firm’s valuation
• How to eliminate profit centers and still maintain strong accountability
• Pros and cons of ESOPs
• Most common pitfalls in structuring an internal ownership transition
• PSMJ’s 6-step process for a successful ownership transition 

Your SUCCESSFUL A/E/C FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT Workshop Coaches: Experienced A/E/C Executives Eager to Share the Secrets of Driving Higher Profits and a Stronger Balance Sheet

Michael D’Alessandro has trained thousands of A/E/C professionals on the principles of successful financial management. His areas of particular expertise include present-worth cost estimating, negotiating capital financing, code investigations, multidisciplinary engineering coordination, equipment and subcontractor procurement, construction management, and facility commissioning. Michael is a Senior Principal Environmental and Civil Engineer with Geosyntec and has more than 25 years of experience focused on the development of environmental and infrastructure projects using design and build and performance-based implementation strategies. He has special expertise as a construction engineering consultant, engineering practitioner, and project and program management specialist.

Jenifer Navard has over 25 years of experience in business and financial management, from auditing with one of the top 5 public accounting firms, through financial accounting for SEC firms and the management of mid-sized companies. Since starting with A/E firm Eskew+Dumez+Ripple in 2003, her work has led the firm to its highest level of profitability since its inception in 1989, while maintaining and enhancing the firm’s transparent, collaborative, creative environment.

Jared Jamison, P.E., 

Senior Consultant

PSMJ Resources

Jared Jamison is an accomplished engineering executive with extensive experience in engineering management, operations, financial management and business strategy.

Jared spent most of his career at Hankins and Anderson, a full-service A/E firm of approximately 200 people that specialized in federal building design. Jared served as a Senior Vice President and Director of Operations where he was responsible overseeing and directing the operations of the firm. He was heavily involved with strategy, management, and finance and was also responsible for developing and implementing the firm’s strategic management system and improving its quality management system.

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