1159

TRANSACT IONS LJA ACQUIRES LONGARO & CLARKE CONSULTING ENGINEERS LJA Engineering, Inc. has acquired Longaro & Clarke Consulting Engineers , an Austin-based engineering firm. L&C has served municipal, commercial, industrial, and private sector clients in Texas since 1994. Reinforcing its commitment to position LJA to provide the highest level of professional services to the public and private markets in Central Texas, this acquisition broadens LJA’s services in land development, flood control planning, and utilities studies and design. Joe Longaro and Alexander Clarke started L&C after leaving LJA 22 years ago, and are glad to be part of the LJA family again.

base of experience available through LJA’s staff of more than 600 statewide. L&C joins LJA with a great reputation in the industry with both clients and fellow professionals. The current L&C offices will remain and continue to service existing clients, as well as market LJA’s expanded comprehensive services. LJA is an employee-owned, full-service consulting engineering firm serving both public and private sectors. With offices throughout Central Texas and in Jacksonville, Florida and Omaha, Nebraska, the staff of LJA includes more than 600 experienced engineers, hydrologists, environmental scientists, and more.

“Sometimes, you go back to the beginning. We started our careers at LJA in the ‘80s, but decided to make a go of it on our own,” Longaro said. “When LJA approached us about a merger 20-something years later, we saw the benefits to both sides. Our clients will now have more in-house services, will benefit from both LJA’s and L&C’s extensive knowledge of Central Texas, and our employees will have more opportunities. It is a win/win for everyone!” With this acquisition, LJA has more than 60 engineers, technicians, and environmental specialists located in Central Texas to serve the technical needs of local public and private entities, backed by the extensive knowledge

TED MAZIEJKA, from page 11

The following policy is based on payment upon receipt: ❚ ❚ Five days after invoicing. Accounting department emails client contact to confirm receipt and ask when payment can be expected. If payment arrives as scheduled, no further action. If not; ❚ ❚ 35 days. Accounting department calls client contact to as- certain payment status. If there is no acceptable answer, ac- counting contacts PM. ❚ ❚ 35-37 days. PM contacts client PM to determine where the issue is. If corrected and payment received, no further action. If not; ❚ ❚ 40 days. Principal in charge calls the client principal in charge to determine what the issue is, and if the resolution will re- sult in a payment. The date and amount of payment should be confirmed and communicated to the PM and accounting team. No other response is going to aid in establishing pay- ment. Statements from the client such as: “Payment is forth- coming, we will get it out to you,” are meaningless without when and how much! ❚ ❚ 45 days. If no payment received, the principal in charge calls the client and stops work until payment is resolved. Clearly, the best way to ensure that cash will flow is by having expectations clearly defined up front at the start of the project. One further way to avoid this is the review and approval of a project cash flow with the client. The cash flow mirrors the deliverable schedule, shows the client you are concerned about their resources, and will allow the financial team to have a much more predictive way to manage the flow of funds on the project. Comparisons of AR outstanding by principals and PMs are some of the most effective tools that the firm can employee in reviewing, assessing, and monitoring cash flow in the firm. Collaborative and cooperative review of the AR by the financial team and the project team will go a long way to improving the cash flow performance of your firm. By consistent monitoring, the ACP review will aid in identifying where AR drift is occurring. TED MAZIEJKA is a Zweig Group financial and management consultant. Contact him at tmaziejka@zweiggroup.com.

the risk of fostering and condoning AR drift. Heading into the end of the year with drifting AR creates increasing pressure on year-end cash requirements. INCREASE CLIENT COMMUNICATION. As you enter the final quarter of the year, have a sit-down with your clients and ask what services they might want to accelerate as they head toward the end of the year. Client breakfast, lunch, or dinners are great business development vehicles, but most importantly as Q4 looms, understanding their strategic direction will be critical to your firm’s expansion of services, and the tête-à-tête facilitates the cash collection effort. “By not providing a sound business approach and adherence to the contract terms, your firm runs the risk of fostering and condoning AR drift.” Are the firm’s project managers practicing effective client communication? A short weekly email that informs the client of progress on the project and that delineates completion of milestone goals is a critical component of effective cash-flow management. If the PM sends out a weekly status report, the firm’s invoice is less likely to receive scrutiny by the client who has been informed of the progress of the project. The invoice will most likely be paid faster, and this will break the cycle of AR drift. FIRM WIDE AWARENESS OF THE COLLECTION POLICY. Does your firm have a written collection policy that is adhered to? Does the principal in charge, project manager, and accounting department all adhere to the terms of the policy? The fol- lowing is a guide, and other factors such as prime versus non-prime contract agreements and specific unique con- tract terms should be taken into account. September is a perfect time to ensure that all your firm’s projects are fo- cused on the adherence to contract terms and collections.

THE ZWEIG LETTER July 11, 2016, ISSUE 1159

Made with FlippingBook Annual report