Review the key trends and divergent findings from the 2018 Financial Survey data, which was collected from nearly 1,000 construction companies and based on fiscal year 2018 results. The session also provides an overview of CFMA’s online Construction Financial Benchmarker and its suite of financial reports.

• Identify the key financial metrics provided by CFMA's Financial Benchmarker
• Understand how benchmarking can benefit your construction company
• Devise a plan for your company to use benchmarking to imrprove its financial standing

What are the benefits of certification? Do you meet the eligibility requirements? What is the best way to prepare? What is required to maintain my certification? The answers to these questions and more will be answered during this session. Learn firsthand from your peers about the certification process and how achieving the industry’s only accredited certification for CFMs enhances your individual career and practice development for CPA firms.

• Understand exam eligibility requirements, the application process, and certification maintenance
• Identify exam preparation resources
• Locate the most convenient test center
• Take the next step in career or practice development

While a CFM has plenty of resources at his or her disposal to prepare a WIP schedule, one shortfall can be practical guidance on how to compute cost-to-complete and properly vet information provided by others in the organization. Join specialty trade peers for a roundtable discussion to identify practical solutions and best practices that yield reliable estimates of cost-to-complete. The discussion will focus on mitigating the risk of underestimating labor cost-to-complete.

• Identify basic methods for calculating cost-to-complete at various points in a project
• Discuss input from estimating, project management, and engineers
• Develop best practices for testing the reliability of data prepared by non-accounting personnel
• Share experiences of cost projections gone bad, and possible reasons for lack of accuracy
• Learn about tools, techniques, and software solutions that provide early warning systems for labor

• Understand the importance of planning, forecasting, and budgeting your costs
• Realize the impact of developing meaningful indirect pools
• Learn about the pivotal role of forecasting equipment costs in developing accurate estimating and costing
• Explore the practical ways to account for equipment fleets

With emotional storytelling and unexpected humor, John reminds audiences of the significance of daily attitudes, the power of gratitude, and the impact of serving others with courage. He reawakens audiences to realize the gift of today and the possibility of tomorrow.

• Realize your role and responsibility in employee engagement
• Build a positive culture to increase creativity and productivity, and learn how to reignite an environment built on shared goals, values, and focus
• Discover unconventional communication methods to dramatically (and positively) impact relationships

Much like the transformation of the CIO during the early 2000s, the role of the CFM will change. Companies will require CFMs to lead differently. Tomorrow’s CFM must lead their teams into a new era of financial management where cross-departmental strategies are designed with input and insight from and through the financial lens. This session will explore four characteristics of modern leadership.

• Identify the factors impacting the current role of the CFM
• Discuss what “having a seat at the table” means and how CFMs can help design company futures
• Provide a four-step process in employing discipline, networks, confidence and new frontiers and how these simple steps will change the way CFMs lead
• Explore two case studies of individuals who are redesigning their roles, their teams, and the future of their companies

Recent changes in federal tax law offer the construction industry new options and choices. Current tax law is not the same as it was just a few years ago; some minor changes in accounting may result in maximum tax benefits. How do different sections of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) relate to each other for the best results? For example, is a loss carry forward better than a Section 179 carry forward?

• Identify new tax planning techniques
• Understand how sections of the IRC can work together in unique ways to maximize current tax benefits
• Learn why current tax law may be less strict than previous law, allowing for more current write-offs

Keys to scale up your business include attracting and retaining the right people, creating a truly differentiated strategy, directing flawless execution, and keeping cash reserves to weather the storms. Many contractors struggle with growth and breaking the barriers of $10 million, $50 million, or $100 million revenue sizes. Fortunately, there are ways to proactively address predictable challenges that companies often face. Participants will be exposed to “what to expect” at various revenue sizes and “what to do” to remain profitable.

• Devise recruitment strategies to find “A” players
• Define and execute a truly differentiated strategy
• Determine how to drive flawless execution

In 2017, the Construction Employment Cost Index (ECI) rose over four quarters from 2.5% (2017) to 2.7% to 3.2%, and, finally, 3.0% in 2018. Besides representing a rapid change in payroll costs, pay increases traditionally run about 1.5% higher than ECI, so continued escalation will force major changes to pay programs. This session addresses the impact of pay on contractor recruiting and retention efforts, focusing on developing/maintaining a Best in Class compensation program in 2019 and 2020.

• Learn how to develop and/or maintain a Best in Class pay program in 2019 and 2020
• Understand the importance of critical pay elements and how each impacts your overall pay objectives of recruiting, retaining, and motivating your workforce
• Understand pay trends and what to look for as trigger points on escalation or stagnation issues
• Explain the significance of meshing base and variable compensation to ensure employee pay satisfaction
• Describe the total rewards approach and identify at least three compensation practices that contribute to employee attraction and retention

Fraud can wreak havoc on organization’s financial performance and undermine business objectives. No business is immune to the risks associated with fraud, and education is the key to prevention. This session will present insights into the world of internal embezzlement and frequently overlooked prevention tips.

• Realize the red flags warning of embezzlement and fraud
• Understand the criminal methods used to embezzle from and defraud organizations with tips to protect your business
• Discover steps to take if fraud is suspected