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March 7, 2012
CFO Systems, LLC is expanding its services to better serve the financial needs of small businesses. CFO Julie Bauder has joined the team to lead the business expansion. Bauder specializes in cost accounting, cash management and staff development.
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December 1, 2011
Former President Bill Clinton highlighted local Nebraska company, Energy Pioneer Solutions, on Todd n Tyler today. Clinton singled out EPS as a prime example of an initiative that will create jobs.
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November 7, 2011
Mike Chochon joins the CFO Systems team after eight years with TD Ameritrade in Omaha. Chochon brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial sector where he specialized in providing leadership within the financial and technology industries. His past experience includes serving companies as a CFO, Corporate Treasurer, and Managing Director of Trading & Risk.
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November 1, 2011
Regional executive outsourcing firm, CFO Systems, announced its latest expansion office today. The new office, located in Abilene, Texas, serves the entire West Texas region from Dallas west, including Abilene, Lubbock, Odessa, Midland and Amarillo. Chief Financial Officer Trace George will head the office.
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October 1, 2011
CFO Systems has been spotlighted in local business magazine, Strictly Business Omaha. The spotlight, published in the October edition, takes an in depth look at our company through an interview with Managing Director, Brett Frevert
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August 14, 2011
Mike Alvano
ELFA, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, reported an overall 3.9% increase in volume across the equipment financing market. This is a welcome shift after the past two years saw declines, a 2.2% drop in 2008 followed by a major 30.3% drop in 2009. 
The 2011 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity (SEFA), which compiled information from 108 ELFA-member companies, shows growth across all market segments with the exception of the small-ticket segment ($50,000 and under). The survey also reported a decline in delinquencies and charge-offs.
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July 5, 2011
Omaha’s premier executive outsourcing firm, CFO Systems, LLC announces the launch of a licensing program designed to expand its services nationwide. CFO Systems has been providing outsourced financial leadership to companies throughout the Midwest since 2004.
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June 28, 2011
Edgar Hicks has been appointed to serve on the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) Advisory Committee of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration (GIPSA).
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May 31, 2011
Financial executive are expecting a rapid pick-up in M&A activity in the upcoming year. A recent survey by American Express showed that almost 75% of execs expected economic expansion in the next 12 months, which may prove to be good news for future employment numbers.
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May 20, 2011
The CFTC’s Agricultural Advisory Committee met this week to review the 51 new regulations proposed under the Dodd-Frank law. These new rule look to regulate derivatives and their enourmous influence on commodities markets. CFO Systems’ Director, Edgar Hicks who sits on the committee as a representative of the National Grange is one of the committee members to weigh in on the changes in yesterday’s Reuters piece.
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May 5, 2011
Employment statisitics are starting to improve. New hiring outpaced layoffs in April despite the government sector continuing widespread layoffs. Companies overall plan fewer layoffs this month than last and some are starting to hire in greater numbers. McDonalds announced that it would hire 50,000 people in on day, which gave a boost the April numbers.
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May 5, 2011
Ever feel like your budget is out of date the moment it gets distributed? Increases in market volatility make forecasting for a whole year difficult. More and more companies are abandoning the annual budget as the guiding financial tool and switching to rolling forecasts.
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April 21, 2011
CFO Systems Expands Business Financing Operations
Mike Alvano returns to CFO Systems after a two-year absence to lead the financing division, CFO Capital. Alvano is a 40-year veteran of the financial industry and has helped close deals totaling over $100 million. He has a broad range of experience in investment banking, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions. Alvano is an experienced executive and entrepreneur who brings strong negotiating skills and a proactive leadership style to the CFO Capital team.
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April 15, 2011
CFO Systems Director, Edgar Hicks, travelled to Washington, D.C. this past month to serve on the Community Food Projects Review Team. The team met to select proposals to receive USDA funding. The program was created to fight food insecurity by funding projects that increase the self-sufficiency of low-income communities.
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April 15, 2011
Deloitte has published the results of its most recent CFO Signals study, examining data from Q1 2011. It shows CFOs are moderately optimistic about this year’s prospects as capital becomes more available and M&A deals become more frequent. They are looking to foreign markets to provide higher earnings and worry how their companies will adapt to potential changes in government regulation.
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March 2, 2011
Expected revenue gains for CPA firms will be a modest 3.7%. While this increase is small, it is a significant improvement over 2010′s 0.5% increase.
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February 21, 2011
The Boston Globe takes a look at the growing trend of outsourcing management executives. Growing companies are finding it easier to access C-suite expertise on a small business budget as more CFOs and other executives offer part-time, interim and time-share services.
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February 16, 2011

Results for the January 2011 CEO Confidence Index are in and overall positive. The index shows that CEO confidence is at a 3 year high with 68% of CEOs rate their expectations “good” or better. 377 CEO’s responded to this survey and reported an overall jump in confidence of nearly 7%.
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February 1, 2011
Check out Brett’s River City Six Profile in this month’s Strictly Business Omaha magazine.

“While job-searching, Brett Frevert met many good middle market companies considering adding a CFO position. As he learned more about these companies, he realized that what they needed was just a “part” of a CFO or a “timeshare CFO”. This led him to start CFO Systems, which provides CFOs and Controllers to Midwestern businesses on a contract basis.”
Read the full profile online.
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December 29, 2010
CFO Systems Client, Transgenomic has closed the acquisition of medical diagnostics business Clinical Data with a price tag of $15.5 million. In addition to the acquisition, $6 million of financing from a leading life sciences investment firm to help fund the acquisition.
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December 4, 2010
The November index that measures CEO confidence shows a rise of more then 14%. The November election results and an improving job market have contributed to the uptick. An extension of the Bush-era tax cuts may bump the index up even further in coming months.
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November 5, 2010
Today’s CFOs do more than crunch the numbers. In mid-sized companies across the country CFOs are taking a more operational role, working with logisitcs, hiring, strategic planning and technology.
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October 21, 2010
Not sure if your business really needs a CFO yet? Take a look at these 4 signs that it’s time to bring in professional financial help from the November issue of Entrepreneur.
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September 2, 2010
CFO Systems client, Energy Pioneer Solutions is working with a new program to help non-profits in the Lincoln area cut energy costs.
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August 20, 2010
Nebraska-Based Company Selected as Model to Save Families and Taxpayers Money
HASTINGS, NE – Energy Pioneer Solutions, an energy-efficiency small business based in Hastings, was one of 16 in the nation to be awarded the Department of Energy’s Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program.
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July 13,2010
The new financial regulatory overhaul is the most extensive since the 1930′s. The Wall Street Journal profiles Giltner, NE and how changes in derivatives may affect agriculture business across the midwest.
Learn More: Read Full Article
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May 20, 2010
Karen Snow was profiled yesterday as part of the CBWF Business Showcase. The series is a project of the Christian Business Women’s Forum and airs Wednesdays at 4:30pm.
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Financial Ratio Analysis
April 19, 2010
Karen Snow
Financial ratios are a great way to see a snapshot of the company finances. While a ratio analysis reports historical information, ratios can be predictive and provide a leading indicator of results to come if the company remains on the same path. For ratios to be most effective, they need to be calculated and reviewed over a period of time to establish trends. Through this trend analysis, management is able to identify areas that either are improving or need to improve.
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Preparing for Financial Changes in an Ever Changing Economy
March 15, 2010
Karen Snow
In today’s economic climate, it is critical for executive managers to review financial statements on a consistent and timely basis. It is much easier to react to an unexpected change in financial position when information is current and accurate than when it is several months old.
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A new startup company, Recorded Future, is working to harness the future through a search engine. Using their simple, google-like interface users can search the web for forecast data on any topic.
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February 4, 2010
By Bill McInturf
The ethanol industry has been criticized for being dependent on government subsidies and requiring too many resources to produce. However, the financial facts speak for themselves. The Government’s 2008 $4.7 billion investment in the ethanol industry returned almost $20.0 billion in increased tax revenue and reduced farm program expenditures.
This has to be one of the most financially successful government investments ever.
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January 19, 2010
Edgar Hicks
Analyst expect no significant rally for near-term commodities prices. However, for a perspective on long-term (repeat long-term) prices, please take a few minutes to listen to the comments of money manager Jim Rogers. Rogers is very good at the macroeconomics of commodities.
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January 17, 2010
Ken Mar
Ever wonder what happens to the invoices you send? How do they get into the client’s payables system? How does the client’s payables process begin? When will you get paid?
All these questions should be answered even before the billing occurs by asking these questions as a normal part of the closing process. All of this is referred to as the “Cash Cycle”. The question most commonly asked about the cash cycle is, “just how fast will our accounts receivable be collected?” This is an important question as cash is the backbone of any successful business.
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December 28, 2009
More than 50 of the country’s top business thinkers have come together to give us an ideas boost into 2010. “What Matters Now” is a project conceived by Seth Godin (author, marketing consultant & founder of Squidoo.com). Business leaders from Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post) to John Wood (Room to Read) give us one word to think about in the upcoming year.
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December 15, 2009
Before you accept the checks from that new investor, make sure you know who you’re doing business with. Some investments come with more pitfalls than the money is worth. Forbes’ Martin Zwilling profiles 7 angel investors to avoid.
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December 9, 2009
The holiday’s are a great time to show appreciation for employees, collegues and friends. Remebering clients on your holiday list is a simple way to show that you appreciate their business. Keeping your current clients happy is well worth the investment; retaining clients is much less expensive than constantly searching for new ones. Meryl Evans from Web Worker Daily has some great tips for sending holiday thanks.
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December 7, 2009
The Chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, Robert Herz, is proposing that restrictions tying financial institutions to GAAP standards be relaxed. Herz says, ” handcuffing regulators to GAAP or distorting GAAP to always fit the needs of regulators is inconsistent with the different purposes of financial reporting and prudential regulation…”
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November 23, 2009
“Visibility” has become the new buzzword among cash managers. As companies facing lower profits and weak return on investments zero in on new metrics to deal with the crisis, the ability to see and forecast cashflow has become essential. New approaches and software are springing up to help you track every dollar.
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November 18, 2009
Not sure when a company in your portfolio needs a CFO? Listen to this panel from the 2009 National Angel Capital Organization in Toronto tackle the question.
Panel Members:
John Kemp-Welch, BDC
James Geshweiler, Common Angels
Dan Martell, Entrepreneur
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November 17, 2009
With global credit markets flattening, the world marketplace has begun to reinvent itself. Every business has undergone change, making itself stronger and smarter.

What does this mean for you? Now is the time to take notice and review your financial metrics and mechanics. Whether it’s cash flow or the balance sheet, it is important to position your business to negotiate the best possible terms for your next operating line renewal or clean up the back room to position your company for the next “big” run as the world comes out of recession.
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November 11, 2009
By: Edgar Hicks, Director

This month, CFO Systems Director, Edgar Hicks has been speaking to the the leadership of two different USDA sponsored committees: Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) and Federal Grain Inspection Advisory (FGIS). Edgar serves on both committees. The leaderships of the two committees brought up concerns about the economic impact of the delayed, wet harvest we are experiencing. Both highlighted ways to minimize the negative impact of the current weather conditions and harvest delays.
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