Performance metrics can provide valuable insights into different aspects of your business from financial health to client satisfaction. However, it can be challenging to determine which metrics are essential and which ones are merely background noise.
If you asked someone in the PEO space what he or she thought of actuarial science a positive response might be reserve analyses or accruals. A negative response might be collateral calls or rate increases. Naturally, the varied reactions stem from whether there is positive or negative news coming from the work of the actuary. Yet, one of the most helpful projects an actuary can perform for a PEO, eliciting either positive and negative reactions, is a client-level financial analysis.
The article provides some simple guidance for streamlining operations (thus reducing selling, general, and administrative (SGA) costs) and increasing gross profit contribution from their existing client base. For the purpose of this article, we are only exploring pricing strategies that affect client profitability and operating efficiency items that impact select SG&A cost categories. Business development and organic growth are excluded from this discussion.
Among the many determining factors in PEO transactions, profitability is one of the most important. I like to call these factors “Pieces of the Puzzle” in this very complex 2023 world of M&A. Let’s go through some basic concepts first.
General ledger reconciliation is a key control to help maintain timely and accurate financial statements in any business. If you speak to accounting or finance professionals in the PEO industry, they will agree that general ledger balance sheet reconciliations are the most telling and critical tools in analyzing a PEO’s fiscal position. Failure to reconcile balance sheet accounts timely and accurately can lead to material losses to the PEO. Let’s explore the 5 W’s of PEO ledger reconciliations.
Every business, and indeed every PEO, is a vibrant tapestry of moving parts. In my years of steering such intricate organizations, I've found the key to streamlined operation lies in an often underestimated powerhouse: standard operating procedures, or SOPs. Think of SOPs as the secret recipe to your organization's success, an atlas mapping out your strategy, and an insightful guide leading your team toward growth.
Rewards and benefits are a core part of the HR and People functions at any organization. As the Senior Director of People Experience at Oyster HR, a global employment platform with employees in 70+ countries, my team and I are responsible for the experience of our employees from the day they sign their offer letter to their last day with the company. That includes managing performance, progression, and total rewards.
Witnessing the collaborative spirit of our members take the Hill at our PEO Capitol Summit reiterated to me the commitment to our industry and to advocate for what matters most to our clients. SMBs depend on us each and every day. We showed up and showed out! A huge congratulations to our marketing team and committee for the inaugural National PEO Week.
Long time AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland, a merchant seaman, had a plaque on his desk that captured the ethos of his trade. “A ship in harbor is safe,” it read, “But that’s not what ships are for.” I was a young man when I first heard of the legend on his famous plaque, and I embraced it then and have embraced it ever since, through my time here at NAPEO. Indeed, as our PEO Capitol Summit and the inaugural National PEO Week came to a close, the words rang truer than they ever have before.
There's an energy around the PEO industry this year that's palpable. Nowhere is that more true than in Washington DC, where we are starting to make our mark as a strong contributor to the vitality and success of the backbone of the economy: small and mid-size businesses. We've got a great story to tell. Help us tell it.
Paul Nash is an employment practices liability (EPL) underwriter with Beazley. He is the EPL and Safeguard product leader for both the UK and US teams and was instrumental in developing the first SAM/SML policy issued by Beazley in 2006. He has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance. He recently spoke with Paul Hughes of Libertate Insurance about the state of the EPLI market, how he has seen the PEO industry evolve and more. PEO Insider captured their conversation.