The life science community has been anxiously waiting for the announcement of the awards for the $1 billion Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project program and the results are out!
Many Bay Area companies did quite well, receiving all or part of what they asked for; this was particularly true for smaller companies. Four of the five companies RoseRyan worked with to develop applications received grants ranging from $244,479 to $733,438. (As a finance professional, I have to ask, Why the odd amounts? So far, we haven’t got an answer to that one.)
The program, part of the health care bill, was designed to spur research and development at biotech companies with 250 or fewer employees through awards of tax credits or grants. According to the San Francisco Business Times, the Treasury Department received applications for about 5,600 projects. The Times published a partial list of Bay Area recipients, and you can see the full lists of recipients by state at the IRS website.)
Last June, my colleague Chris Vane and I spoke with about ten companies at a free consultation with BayBio, and did work for five. This involved helping them write or edit the grant and providing strategic advice, leveraging our prior grant submission work with the Department of Energy as part of our cleantech practice. These companies said it was very useful to sit down with us and talk with them about their strategy for writing grants. We played devil’s advocate, asking questions and helping them look at their business plan strategically.
There could be more grant opportunities cropping up in the future, and it never hurts to apply for a grant or other funding, because it presents an opportunity to take a hard look at your business and appraise why the work is important, where you want to take it and how you will get there.
Rev rec worries? Just give it time (and remember to breathe)
The new rev rec guidelines have made for some labor-intensive process changes in some of the client companies that we work for.
It took me back in time to the initiation of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance and how it made stress levels skyrocket. Fears of the additional headcount that would be needed just to get the job done, what would happen if they didn’t comply, how they would disclose deficiencies and what affect that would have on the company, confusion about how to write a narrative or test plan and what’s a key vs. nonkey control.
Now, years later, working in the corporate governance line of business, I see an entirely different story. SOX has become so much a part of the fabric of the process within a company, that when a company is considering a process change, we actually hear “How will that affect the SOX testing?”
I think we would all agree that fear of the unknown is always greater than the fear of the known. As we work to make SOX controls part of our everyday life and the process becomes repeatable, the fear evaporates. The controls identified in the narrative have become part of the day-to-day process, employees are educated on controls and many companies have found that outsourcing SOX testing to companies like RoseRyan has been the right decision for their business.
This same approach will work for implementing the new rev rec guidance. Getting outside expert advice or implementation help, using some of the software tools that already exist (rather than re-creating the wheel) and looking for the simplest approach in implementation (not to mention taking a deep breath on a frequent basis), will all make the changes easier. And before you know it, you’ll be through the worst of it and it will feel like it was always a part of your process.
This just reaffirms how adaptable we all are. And isn’t it wonderful how time changes everything?
Feds award $1B for R&D to small biotechs
The life science community has been anxiously waiting for the announcement of the awards for the $1 billion Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project program and the results are out!
Many Bay Area companies did quite well, receiving all or part of what they asked for; this was particularly true for smaller companies. Four of the five companies RoseRyan worked with to develop applications received grants ranging from $244,479 to $733,438. (As a finance professional, I have to ask, Why the odd amounts? So far, we haven’t got an answer to that one.)
The program, part of the health care bill, was designed to spur research and development at biotech companies with 250 or fewer employees through awards of tax credits or grants. According to the San Francisco Business Times, the Treasury Department received applications for about 5,600 projects. The Times published a partial list of Bay Area recipients, and you can see the full lists of recipients by state at the IRS website.)
Last June, my colleague Chris Vane and I spoke with about ten companies at a free consultation with BayBio, and did work for five. This involved helping them write or edit the grant and providing strategic advice, leveraging our prior grant submission work with the Department of Energy as part of our cleantech practice. These companies said it was very useful to sit down with us and talk with them about their strategy for writing grants. We played devil’s advocate, asking questions and helping them look at their business plan strategically.
There could be more grant opportunities cropping up in the future, and it never hurts to apply for a grant or other funding, because it presents an opportunity to take a hard look at your business and appraise why the work is important, where you want to take it and how you will get there.
RoseRyan catches up with alumni
RoseRyan hosted its annual fall alumni event October 5, and it was a great night for wine tasting, yummy Italian appetizers and catching up with old friends and colleagues. I saw quite a few friendly faces at the after-work party at Spalti Restaurant in Palo Alto, and it was great to hear what’s new in their world.
We’re already looking forward to the next reunion of the extended RoseRyan family in the spring. These gatherings not only get us together to catch up and network with former colleagues, they also give our extended team a way to support one another.
M&A–It’s baaack!
Of course, M&A never really went away, but other than the occasional blockbuster deal, there was definitely a lull in activity over the past few years. But here at RoseRyan we’re seeing a decided upturn in M&A activity, and that’s why we wanted to create Make a Match Made in Heaven, a RoseRyan guide to some of the more prevalent issues on both sides of transactions and tips on how to deal with them.
Our clients have been players on both sides of the table—some of our larger clients are in acquisition mode and several of our small-to-medium-size clients have been acquired. While helping clients negotiate the M&A process, I’ve discovered that a number of issues arise in almost all deals. Many times these issues are rooted in a common cause: the acquirer and the target company do not always understand what the other party wants or needs from the transaction.
You can download the guide directly here or from the Intelligence page of the RoseRyan website.
Judging the Cleantech Open
RoseRyan on top 100 women-owned businesses list
RoseRyan was just named one of the Bay Area’s Top 100 Women-Owned Businesses in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times. I am very proud to be a part of a company to receive this honor. To learn we are ranked No. 35 in an outstanding lineup was humbling, and the women who spoke at the September 24 awards presentation were inspiring. Each was asked to say something in 15 words or less about what it takes to be successful (my favorite was “Having a husband who enjoys taking care of kids and cooking.”)
The Bay Area is a competitive marketplace where just owning a business and keeping people employed is a true success. Being honored as one of the Top 100 is just icing on the cake. Women are critical in business.
Flextime helps drive success
I read Alix Stuart’s article “The Perils of Flextime” in the July/August issue of CFO Magazine and want to share my perspective. As the co-founder of a talent-centered accounting and finance consulting firm, I have a different take on some of the issues raised.
It’s certainly true that in 1993 women faced the mommy track in corporate finance. That’s partly why my former colleague, Sue Macias, and I started RoseRyan with an eye toward making it family-friendly and more.
We’ve found that top finance talent is hungry for non-traditional work hours, and it’s been the key driver to our success. Today, RoseRyan is a bustling business for men and women who work part-time or flex-time while enjoying satisfying, challenging work. Half of our seasoned finance gurus are parents, 41 percent work flex hours and 65 percent are female.
It’s heartening to see that companies like Bain & Co. are investigating alternative promotion paths for employees on nontraditional schedules. I’d like to add the kind of high-level consulting work we offer as another option for finance pros who are struggling with work/life balance issues.
While the general stats for women in the field at the CFO position remain dismal, it’s also true that the profession is innovating and alternatives do exist. Certainly, change is afoot. I think the next generation of finance leaders will pick up the ball and charge further down the field.