WELCOME !

Thanks for dropping in for some hopefully great business info and on occasion some hopefully not too sarcastic comments on the state of Business Financing in Canada and what we are doing about it !

In 2004 I founded 7 PARK AVENUE FINANCIAL. At that time I had spent all my working life, at that time - Over 30 years in Commercial credit and lending and Canadian business financing. I believe the commercial lending landscape has drastically changed in Canada. I believe a void exists for business owners and finance managers for companies, large and small who want service, creativity, and alternatives.

Every day we strive to consistently deliver business financing that you feel meets the needs of your business. If you believe as we do that financing solutions and alternatives exist for your firm we want to talk to you. Our purpose is simple: we want to deliver the best business finance solutions for your company.



Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Small Business Finance Needs ? Account Receivable Financing Might Be Your Utopian Solution



Inside The Hunt For Effective Cash Flow Financing For SME Commercial Finance Needs


OVERVIEW – Information on account receivable financing in Canada . This type of working capital / cash flow financing is often the perfect solution for running and growing businesses in the SME sector



Could account receivable financing help your firm? The dramatic rise of small business financing in accounts receivable (by the way, Canada's largest corporations use this tool also - they just call it something different!) is simply a case of companies such as yours wanting to capitalize on the working capital and cash flow that is, in effect, locked up in receivables Let's dig in.

It doesn't take rocket science for any business owner of financial manager to figure out that if his or her firm has investments in receivables and inventory then those assets, typically called ' current assets' requires financing in some form! Of course you can ' self finance ' - meaning simply wait for your inventory to turn into receivables, and then wait probably even longer for A/R to turn into cash.

The downside? That potentially forces you to give up on sales opportunities and challenges the very core of your financial health, given that we all agree cash flow is king - right?

If you are fortunate enough to be financing via a Canadian chartered bank you are of course familiar with ' collateral '- our banks do a great job of explaining that to you! Why don't you use your own firm's collateral, its assets, mainly accounts receivable, and monetize that asset into cash.

Clients are often fairly clear on the benefits of account receivable financing, which is also called invoice discounting or factoring. So how does that whole process work?

One you have such a facility set up it quite frankly is one of the easiest and quickest ways to unlock cash flow and working capital on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The power to choose your timeframes remains with yourself. And by the way, you only pay for the financing you are using. Let's get back though, to how it works.

In Canada there are two types of factoring, we'll focus on the most common one, which, by the way, isn't exactly our favorite (there is a better one) but let's keep it simple for now.

After your firm generates an invoice you submit it to your factor firm partner. That could be once invoice, several, or many or all. Funds for those invoices are wired, or sent to you, that same day into your account. Didn't you just feel your cash flow being totally unlocked and flowing?! Approximately 10% is held back as a buffer, but as soon as your client pays you get those funds back also, less what is known as a discount fee, typically between 1 and 2 %.

2% you say! Isn't that expensive for small business financing? Absolutely, positively maybe, but we actually don't think it is. That is because all in rates from your bank when you total up all the fees, services, standby fees etc often total to a range a lot higher than you might think.

And furthermore, if you take the huge amount of cash you just receive and use it to purchase more efficiently, or takes discounts on supplier invoice payments you make your total cost of capital goes down . And, another point, if you are in a competitive environment, (who isn't) does your ability to have unlimited cash flow put you steps ahead of your competition? We think it does.

There are a number of ways to finance your business. If your firm has A/R assets and you are challenged by the timing in which money flows through your business then consider the benefits of account receivable financing. Speak to a trusted, credible, and experienced business advisor on this popular financing tool for small business financing in Canada.



Stan Prokop - founder of 7 Park Avenue Financial –
Originating business financing for Canadian companies , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing . In business 13 years - Completed in excess of 100 Million $$ of financing for Canadian corporations . Core competancies include receivables financing, asset based lending, working capital, equipment finance, franchise finance and tax credit financing. Info & Contact Details :

http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com

7 Park Avenue Financial
South Sheridan Executive Centre
2910 South Sheridan Way
Suite 301
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8

Direct Line
= 416 319 5769

Office = 905 829 2653


Email
= sprokop@7parkavenuefinancial.com

' Canadian Business Financing with the intelligent use of experience '


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stan has had a successful career with some of the world’s largest and most successful corporations.
Prior to founding 7 Park Avenue Financial in 2004 his employers over the last 25 years were, ASHLAND OIL, ( 1977-1980) DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION, ( 1980-1990) ) CABLE & WIRELESS PLC,( 1991 -1993) ) AND HEWLETT PACKARD ( 1994-2004 ) He is an expert in Canadian Business Financing.

Stan has over 40 years of business and finance executive experience. He has been recognized as a credit/financial executive for three of the largest technology companies in the world; Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment and Cable & Wireless. Stan has had in depth, hands on experience in assessing and evaluating thousands of companies that are seeking financing and expansion. He has been instrumental in helping many companies progress through every phase of financing, mergers & acquisitions, sales and marketing and human resources. Stan has worked with startups and public corporations and has many times established the financial wherewithal of organizations before approving millions of dollars of financing facilities and instruments on behalf of his employers.


Monday, March 20, 2017

Equipment Finance Brings A Ton Of Creativity To Your Business : Here’s How Asset Leasing Services Work







We’ve Just Made You A Triple Threat When It Comes To Acquiring New Or Used Assets For Your Business








OVERVIEW – Information on equipment finance in Canada. Here’s how leasing services for acquiring new and used assets can benefit the business owner/financial manager




Equipment finance in Canada makes your firm a ' triple threat ' to your competition. Why ? It’s pretty basic - You can effectively stretch your dollars, extend your budgets, and acquire equipment and facilities with the most minimum investment of funds. That is simply because you are matching investment of your funds with the useful economic life of the asset - what else could make more sense. Let's dig in.

When Canadian business owners and managers are aware of the benefits of equipment finance leasing and leasing services their ability to get rates, terms and structure approvals that makes sense increase dramatically.
Equipment financing in Canada is one of the easiest methods of financing business assets, bar none. By the say, that's new and used assets, technology, software, trucks and other vehicles, factory flow assets, etc . However, at the same time the complexity of the different types of leasing and who offers lease financing can be a true challenge that you might not want to dedicate all your time toward.

So what's important about this method of acquisition - You can obtain the best leasing services and rates by focusing in on what benefits matter to your firm from a priority basis - in many cases its simply the term and rate on the lease financing .

Depending on what type of asset you are financing lease terms vary from 2 to 7 years - at the end of the day it depends on the equipments useful economic life, combined with the type of lease you structured. In Canada that is either an equipment finance lease, designating your desire for ownership, or an operating lease, designating your firm's choice to use an asset, but not ultimately own it.

Leasing is often called a 'cash flow enhancer' - little or no money down, as well as your ability to craft monthly, quarterly, or semi annual payments with can either accelerate or decelerate as you require. That's true cash flow management!


Equipment lease financing is all about benefits and use, not real pride of ownership. In most situations today assets depreciate... you certainly can't look at your investment in computers and technology and make the case those assets are rising in value!

With today's volatile finance markets, inflation, and the somewhat erratic timing of the need for your asset acquisitions isn't it a safe bet to know that the decision process becomes much easier when leasing services provide you with an effective acquisition tool.

Equipment finance leasing allows you to generate the payments you need to make for the asset from income produced by the asset - payments are made from current revenue and the equipment and assets you finance are in effect a 'pay as it earns' scenario .
Today's costs are paid with tomorrow dollars since leasing involves payment for equipment as it is used. Naturally if you chose to buy the asset outright we can make the statement that you would be using today's dollars to hand tomorrow expenses, and we advise against that in conversations with clients.

Seek out and speak to a trusted, credible, and experienced Canadian business financing and lease advisor on how you can maximize the benefits of equipment lease financing to grow revenues and profits.


Stan Prokop - founder of 7 Park Avenue Financial
Originating business financing for Canadian companies , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing . In business 13 years - Completed in excess of 100 Million $$ of financing for Canadian corporations . Core competancies include receivables financing, asset based lending, working capital, equipment finance, franchise finance and tax credit financing. Info & Contact Details :


http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com


7 Park Avenue Financial

South Sheridan Executive Centre
2910 South Sheridan Way
Suite 301
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8

Direct Line
= 416 319 5769

Office = 905 829 2653

Email
= sprokop@7parkavenuefinancial.com


' Canadian Business Financing with the intelligent use of experience '

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stan has had a successful career with some of the world’s largest and most successful corporations.
Prior to founding 7 Park Avenue Financial in 2004 his employers over the last 25 years were, ASHLAND OIL, ( 1977-1980) DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION, ( 1980-1990) ) CABLE & WIRELESS PLC,( 1991 -1993) ) AND HEWLETT PACKARD ( 1994-2004 ) He is an expert in Canadian Business Financing.

Stan has over 40 years of business and finance executive experience. He has been recognized as a credit/financial executive for three of the largest technology companies in the world; Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment and Cable & Wireless. Stan has had in depth, hands on experience in assessing and evaluating thousands of companies that are seeking financing and expansion. He has been instrumental in helping many companies progress through every phase of financing, mergers & acquisitions, sales and marketing and human resources. Stan has worked with startups and public corporations and has many times established the financial wherewithal of organizations before approving millions of dollars of financing facilities and instruments on behalf of his employers.
















Sunday, March 19, 2017

Sred Financing In Canada : The Power Of Sr&ed Loans









SR&ED Financing Loans In Canada : It’s Not Brain Surgery!


OVERVIEW – Information on financing SR&ED claims in Canada . SR ED loans monetize your refund quickly and efficiently and allow business owners the luxury of not having to wait for their refund / cash



SRED Financing in Canada, eliminates, in simple terms, the waiting for that refundable tax credit chq, We couldn’t count the worries or challenges you have around your competition in Canadian business.


One way in which Canadian business stays ahead of the challenge is via the Canada SRED grant program. Sred claims deliver billions, (that's not a typo - it really is billions) of dollars of non repayable grant funds to firms such as yours. Let's dig in.


How do SR&ED loans assist your firm to stay even more competitive? We tell clients that's because it accelerates the cash flow and working capital that your firm has coming from its R&D claim. Your ability to ' unlock ' sred funds is simply a cash flow accelerator. Clients often ask what the required uses for those funds are if in fact you do choose to finance your sred claim.


What do business owners & financial mgrs utilize the R&D capital refund for? The reality is that the funds can be used for any general corporate purpose - so that includes of course general working capital and cash flow, the purchase or down payment of additional new equipment and technology, or, at its most basic, retirement of short term or long term debt on your balance sheet . Even better? Investing in next year’s research to stay ahead of those competitors!

Your ability to quantify and demonstrate your business processes and advancements can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars of non repayable sred funds under the combined federal and provincial program. Those SR ED consultants that typically prepare claims are experts in that - they prepare the vast majority of claims in Canada.

There isn't a business owner in Canada today, certainly that we have met, that doesn't have some issues and problems with the role of government in business. Want a method of striking back?! Take advantage of sred and sred financing. Sred claims under Canada sred legislation are your encouragement to recover 30-40%, even more in your funds spent in the previous fiscal year.


We advise clients that the process around the financed of a sr&ed claim is much defined. In fact in the current business environment, based on some new rules for claimants, it’s even more defined.


Claims are most successfully financed when they are generated by a proper party - our aforementioned SR ED consultants. Their proven ability to craft and present a claim under new guidelines from the government is key to being able to maximize your claim.
Maximizing you claim maximizes financing, simply because under sred financing a typical advance is 70% of your claim, so the size of your overall total claim determines the financed amount, as in our example of the typical 70%.


It's common knowledge in the SRED industry that a huge majority of companies eligible to claim a sred grant don't do it. We have heard all the excuses, and we won't weigh in on them now, but they typically include - - ' we haven't heard of the program .... Is there an audit involved ... isn't expensive to prepare a claim, we don't have enough time, '''... etc, etc! We would rather preach to the converted.


So if you are filing sred Canada claims and want to accelerate cash flow immediately then consider monetizing your claim. It's a very basic process, via an application, providing back up on you sred, and being agreeable to collateralizing the claim via a basic documented process.


Seek out and speak to a SR&ED tax financing expert to ensure you can easily and effectively enjoy the benefits of sred financing via a cash flow and working capital financing of the claim.


Stan Prokop
- founder of 7 Park Avenue Financial –
Originating business financing for Canadian companies , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing . In business 13 years - Completed in excess of 100 Million $$ of financing for Canadian corporations . Core competancies include receivables financing, asset based lending, working capital, equipment finance, franchise finance and tax credit financing. Info & Contact Details :

http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com


7 Park Avenue Financial
South Sheridan Executive Centre
2910 South Sheridan Way
Suite 301
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8

Direct Line
= 416 319 5769


Office
= 905 829 2653


Email
= sprokop@7parkavenuefinancial.com

' Canadian Business Financing with the intelligent use of experience '



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stan has had a successful career with some of the world’s largest and most successful corporations.
Prior to founding 7 Park Avenue Financial in 2004 his employers over the last 25 years were, ASHLAND OIL, ( 1977-1980) DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION, ( 1980-1990) ) CABLE & WIRELESS PLC,( 1991 -1993) ) AND HEWLETT PACKARD ( 1994-2004 ) He is an expert in Canadian Business Financing.

Stan has over 40 years of business and finance executive experience. He has been recognized as a credit/financial executive for three of the largest technology companies in the world; Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment and Cable & Wireless. Stan has had in depth, hands on experience in assessing and evaluating thousands of companies that are seeking financing and expansion. He has been instrumental in helping many companies progress through every phase of financing, mergers & acquisitions, sales and marketing and human resources. Stan has worked with startups and public corporations and has many times established the financial wherewithal of organizations before approving millions of dollars of financing facilities and instruments on behalf of his employers.









Friday, March 17, 2017

Buying A Business In Canada ? Acquisition Financing A Challenge ? Try Some Common Sense








A Not So Secret Plan For Buying A Business & Financing It Properly


Information on what you need to know when buying a business in Canada . How does cash flow and financing play into your acquisition financing challenges ? Buying and financing an existing small or medium enterprise in Canada




I often wonder if business owners who are looking at purchasing a business take the same sort of outlook as when they are buying something in the stock market.

Let's take some thoughts from the way Warren Buffet
looks at a company and determine if we could be using those same successful strategies.

Those strategies tend to be summed up in a very concise manner -> make sure you understand what you are buying, ensure the industry prospects are favorable, and if management is going to stay on in some capacity make sure they know what they are doing!

Many owners I meet look to buy into businesses, or franchises for that matter, in an industry they don't understand. We would say that if you can't positively feel good about knowing the real sales potential, how expenses occur, what is the cash flow cycle of the business then you should not by look to purchase that business. Naturally many business owners will often get a strong sense of missing a major opportunity - the business owners forgets that Buffett once said 'above average results... are often produced by doing ordinary things'.

Many business owners like to focus on buying a turn around business, a business that has been either abandoned or poorly managed by its previous owners. While there are clearly some great turn around stories out there, more often than not these transactions become large challenges and financial nightmares. More simply speaking: The business was cheap to buy for a reason!

In a perfect world, (and we realize it's not!) it is optimal to consider purchasing a business that has a solid product and reputation.

The people aspect of purchasing any business is also important, and great investors such as Buffet place a large emphasis on management. Obviously the business purchaser has the focus of either keeping management or replacing management. Naturally management that has a focus on the bottom line and on long term growth are to be very valued.

At a certain point it gets down to 'price'. Business acquirers should focus as much on return on equity as just net income. That is one the key areas in a Buffett type purchase decision. A huge mistake is to also focus on volume as opposed to profit margins. Most business acquisitions involve the buyer assuming or generating debt. The overall focus, it goes without saying is to minimize debt.

Getting back to our legendary investor, Buffett creates a formula for what he calls owner earnings - which formula is as follows:

Net profit + deprecation - Capital assets needed to be acquired

We would agree that this is a great way to look at profit potential in any business being acquired.

Buffett modeled his career on one book, a famous finance book entitled 'The Intelligent Investor ', by a fellow named Ben Graham. As dry and out of date this huge text might seem to today's business person, we could still all use a little ' intelligent investing' assistance when make a major decision to buy a business.

Stan Prokop - founder of 7 Park Avenue Financial
Originating business financing for Canadian companies , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing . In business 13 years - Completed in excess of 100 Million $$ of financing for Canadian corporations . Core competancies include receivables financing, asset based lending, working capital, equipment finance, franchise finance and tax credit financing. Info & Contact Details :


http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com


7 Park Avenue Financial
South Sheridan Executive Centre
2910 South Sheridan Way
Suite 301
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8



Direct Line = 416 319 5769


Office
= 905 829 2653


Email = sprokop@7parkavenuefinancial.com



' Canadian Business Financing with the intelligent use of experience '


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stan has had a successful career with some of the world’s largest and most successful corporations.
Prior to founding 7 Park Avenue Financial in 2004 his employers over the last 25 years were, ASHLAND OIL, ( 1977-1980) DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION, ( 1980-1990) ) CABLE & WIRELESS PLC,( 1991 -1993) ) AND HEWLETT PACKARD ( 1994-2004 ) He is an expert in Canadian Business Financing.

Stan has over 40 years of business and finance executive experience. He has been recognized as a credit/financial executive for three of the largest technology companies in the world; Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment and Cable & Wireless. Stan has had in depth, hands on experience in assessing and evaluating thousands of companies that are seeking financing and expansion. He has been instrumental in helping many companies progress through every phase of financing, mergers & acquisitions, sales and marketing and human resources. Stan has worked with startups and public corporations and has many times established the financial wherewithal of organizations before approving millions of dollars of financing facilities and instruments on behalf of his employers.






Thursday, March 16, 2017

The Truth About New Business Loans for Your Franchise Investment










Information on how Canadian franchisees can finance their franchise investment via new business loans that make sense for the franchise industry. What types of loans are available.













You can't handle the truth! We love that now famous movie line,
but we are pretty sure you can handle the truth about one of your major life decisions, completing a franchise investment via new business loans.

When we talk to clients about their desire to finance a franchise it's clear they recognize that this is a specialized type of finance that and are unclear about how to go about completing the financing they need to both acquire the investment and then run the business for future growth and profits.

Let's cover off some of the basics around the truth behind how many hundreds, perhaps thousands of franchises are financed in Canada each year.

There are 3 or 4, depending on size and type of franchise, lenders that are key to completing your franchise investment. The good news is that you know one of them really well, and have some excellent negotiating strength with that person. That person is actually you! Why? Because one of the components of franchise finance is called the owner equity investment. Your part of the funds that you put in are generally recorded as a shareholder loan, and you become in effect a creditor of the business.

That might sound like accounting mumbo jumbo to most of our clients... the truth they are seeking is even more basic than that - ' how much do we have to put in' is always what their questions comes down to! And the truth on that one is that it depends. We can categorically say that over the last couple years with the credit crunch and other factors that you should be prepared to put down anywhere from 30 - 50% of your investment. That in many ways is a good thing because you are helping to shore up equity as opposed to taking on to much debt. If franchises were able to be financed on 100% debt we can assure you there would be many more business failures because of that same fact. If you business falters or stumbles on revenues or collections cash flow problems could set in.

Clients assume, incorrectly, that banks finance franchises outright. We haven't seen that happen once yet - it may have, we just haven't seen it. So getting back to the truth you are looking for, do banks provide new business loans for franchise finance in Canada? You're going to hate us for being vague but the answer is ' kind of '. The reality is that the banks do in fact provide most of the financing for new franchisees in Canada, but they do it under the auspices of a specialized loan called the BIL/CSBF. This loan is actually underwritten and sponsored by our good friends in Ottawa, the federal government. In the U.S. it's called the SBA program; here we call it often an SBL - i.e. Small Business Loan.

The BIL/CSBF loan is a specialized loan with some basic requirements - many of our clients stumble and falter on their own because they are incapable of presenting a package that contains exactly what the banker and government wants to see. We therefore recommend that you seek the services of a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor who can guide you through that process, successfully.

Other ways to compliment the financing of the franchise are equipment financing and term working capital loans.

So, did you handle the truth? We are pretty sure you did, and focusing on how things are done properly should assist you in the successful financing of your franchise investment.


Stan Prokop - founder of 7 Park Avenue Financial
Originating business financing for Canadian companies , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing . In business 13 years - Completed in excess of 100 Million $$ of financing for Canadian corporations . Core competancies include receivables financing, asset based lending, working capital, equipment finance, franchise finance and tax credit financing. Info & Contact Details :

http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com


7 Park Avenue Financial
South Sheridan Executive Centre
2910 South Sheridan Way
Suite 301
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8
Direct Line = 416 319 5769

Office = 905 829 2653


Email
= sprokop@7parkavenuefinancial.com

' Canadian Business Financing with the intelligent use of experience '



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stan has had a successful career with some of the world’s largest and most successful corporations.
Prior to founding 7 Park Avenue Financial in 2004 his employers over the last 25 years were, ASHLAND OIL, ( 1977-1980) DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION, ( 1980-1990) ) CABLE & WIRELESS PLC,( 1991 -1993) ) AND HEWLETT PACKARD ( 1994-2004 ) He is an expert in Canadian Business Financing.

Stan has over 40 years of business and finance executive experience. He has been recognized as a credit/financial executive for three of the largest technology companies in the world; Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment and Cable & Wireless. Stan has had in depth, hands on experience in assessing and evaluating thousands of companies that are seeking financing and expansion. He has been instrumental in helping many companies progress through every phase of financing, mergers & acquisitions, sales and marketing and human resources. Stan has worked with startups and public corporations and has many times established the financial wherewithal of organizations before approving millions of dollars of financing facilities and instruments on behalf of his employers.









Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Stan_Prokop/432698

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5491685

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Canadian Business Financing Advice : Here’s 1 Way to Get Proper Loans & Cash Flow Business Finance Advice















Getting Enough ? We’re Talking About The Right Business Financing Advice Of Course !



OVERVIEW – Information on the proper sources for Canadian business financing . The right business advice around loans and cash flow needs can make your business – wrong advice has broken others !





Canadian business financing advice seems to be all over the place today - but how in fact do you pick a trusted financing advisor? Wrong decisions in this area can lead to major challenges which are not easily fixed.


Many business owners and financial executives want to ensure they can rely on an independent 'trusted' financing advisor when it comes to their business finances. How does one pick such an advisor? Who can get the job done? Let's dig in.


Naturally in today's environment business owners don't have time to waste. Financial or growth challenges abound - Owners and financial mgrs look for someone that can bring expertise and solutions to their business.


We believe this whole area of developing a trust between the advisor and the company is a two way street. It is incumbent on the business owner to make sure the goals and needs of the company are made very clear. Business owners or financial managers should not blur the issues to the point that each party does not understand the goals and the respective roles.


When a trusted financing advisor is chosen he or she needs to be given access to the reins and information on the business and its challenges.


Business owners need to ensure that the specialist firm they are dealing with has experience either with the challenges they are facing, or the particular industry the customer is in. Many business financing challenges are industry specific, so this is not the time to be training and advisor on your business! Most people realize though that many financing challenges are somewhat generic in nature, so although an industry expertise is often helpful, it is clearly not always 100% required.


The business owner and financing advisor need to be able to have effective dialogue and communication on what the operational and financing issues are. Many times there is what we call ' warning signs ', yet in other cases companies are already clearly in trouble.


A financing advisor needs to be given information and clarification on issues related to:

- Sales
- Profits
- Current lenders
- Working capital issues
- Asset issues
- Future goals of the company


A basic understanding of those areas will allow an advisor to recommend / implement solutions such as:

A/R Financing

PO Finance

Working Capital term loans

SR&ED loans

Asset based non bank lines of credit

Equipment Loans/leases

Commercial mortgages

Sales leaseback of fixed assets or real estate

Bank loans/ lines of credit



Naturally the above list is hardly all inclusive, but it is a solid start to the dialogue. The business absolutely has to have a handle on what the intermediate term goals are. Management needs to have a strong sense that the business advisor can assist in the recovery, and the advisor must be given the tools that he or she needs.


Both the business owner and advisor should have frank discussions around the probabilities of success and the timelines associated with that success. What's realistic, what isn’t?


Business owners and financial executives should clearly check the background and experience of the advisor. References are of course highly recommended. Professional affiliations are of course important, but not critical.


References from lawyers, bankers, and accountants are often excellent sources of information. The business advisor should clearly be indicating they have the right attitude and credentials around the business owners financing needs.


It is certainly not unrealistic to have solid discussions around timelines and action items responsibility. Ultimately business is of course people, so chemistry is important, and the business owner should have a sense they could work with the financing advisor. However, at the end of the day you don't have to like people to get the job done (it certainly helps though!). Credibility and experience are ultimately always at the top of the list - but it sure helps to work with someone who's ' user friendly'!
All engagements should of course be documented properly re success, work fees, etc. A credible business financing advisor will of course be willing to sign any required non-disclosure document.


In summary, a trusted business financing advisor is a valuable ' out of the company ' asset to any firm. Business owners and financial managers should choose such an advisor carefully, and pay important attention to the qualities and capabilities that advisor can bring to the table, and ultimately, your firms success.


Stan Prokop - founder of 7 Park Avenue Financial
Originating business financing for Canadian companies , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing . In business 13 years - Completed in excess of 100 Million $$ of financing for Canadian corporations . Core competancies include receivables financing, asset based lending, working capital, equipment finance, franchise finance and tax credit financing. Info & Contact Details :
http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com


7 Park Avenue Financial
South Sheridan Executive Centre
2910 South Sheridan Way
Suite 301
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8


Direct Line
= 416 319 5769

Office = 905 829 2653


Email
= sprokop@7parkavenuefinancial.com


' Canadian Business Financing with the intelligent use of experience '


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stan has had a successful career with some of the world’s largest and most successful corporations.
Prior to founding 7 Park Avenue Financial in 2004 his employers over the last 25 years were, ASHLAND OIL, ( 1977-1980) DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION, ( 1980-1990) ) CABLE & WIRELESS PLC,( 1991 -1993) ) AND HEWLETT PACKARD ( 1994-2004 ) He is an expert in Canadian Business Financing.

Stan has over 40 years of business and finance executive experience. He has been recognized as a credit/financial executive for three of the largest technology companies in the world; Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment and Cable & Wireless. Stan has had in depth, hands on experience in assessing and evaluating thousands of companies that are seeking financing and expansion. He has been instrumental in helping many companies progress through every phase of financing, mergers & acquisitions, sales and marketing and human resources. Stan has worked with startups and public corporations and has many times established the financial wherewithal of organizations before approving millions of dollars of financing facilities and instruments on behalf of his employers.