Cyber Insurance

Last month we discussed the fact that YOU WILL be hacked at some time in future (even if you have already been victimized).  We shared some tips that can help mitigate the damage. In this month’s newsletter, we want to talk about Cyber Insurance.

Like any insurance policy, it is extremely important to understand what you are buying, and what the insurance company is covering.  More importantly, you need to spot what “gotcha’s” or “trapdoors” the insurance company has placed in the contract.

Deloitte recently penned an article about Cyber Insurance.   “Many corporate buyers appear to be losing sleep over the lack of clarity and certainty in cyber insurance coverage…”  Never have words been so prophetic.

At issue are the uncertainty of cyber risks.  Offset by the fact that cyber insurance is the next big money maker for the insurance industry.  Add to that mix the fact that “Standard property and casualty coverages—including directors and officers, professional liability and business interruption—are often “silent” on cyber risks, not explicitly stating whether or not policyholders are insured for such emerging risks.” Continue reading »

July 2017 Newsletter

To those of us who live in the good ol’ US of A, happy 241 years old, and welcome to our July Newsletter.

For our July Newsletter I wanted to talk about CyberCrime and Security.  Today there is a new way to steal information from you, VISHING.  Read more about it further down the newsletter.

Additionally I just attended a seminar on CyberSecurity given by David P. Weber, JD, CFE.  Mr. Weber was the former Assistant Inspector General for Investigations at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and now is a Professor and Academic Director for the Fraud Management Programs at the University of Maryland Robert H Smith School of Business.

His watch words was a modification of  Ben Franklin; which is apropos since this is the July issue; that there are now three certainties of life:  Death, Taxes and being a victim of CyberTheft.

More about that later…

Sincerely,

SBA * Consulting LTD

Note:  Wayne Spivak, President of SBA * Consulting has been quoted in the Bloomberg BNA three times in the last six weeks:

Rule Affects Public Companies with Private Company Investments
Companies Filing IPOs Shouldn’t Underestimate Accounting Challenge
Companies Confused About Upfront Fees for Cloud Services Rule

You will be hacked!

You can spend the money now and both prepare for, protect yourself against, and mitigate the outcome or wait until the inevitable happens and suffer far greater consequences.

With the recent 47 state consent decree between the States and Target a new “norm” or benchmark has been created on what companies need to do to show they prepared.

Failure to show that you lived up to this “norm” will have grave consequences, from insurance companies outright refusing claims to affirmative defense by plaintiff’s when they bring suit in a court of law. And you know you will be sued! Continue reading »

A recent report from the Financial Executives International’s Financial Executives Research Foundation has some interesting highlights.  The report outlines those startups that bring on a CFO sooner than later do better.

Startups and the CFO

“For a startup company the CFO is probably going to sit at the intersection of finance and strategy as well as, depending on the company, risk management and operations,” said FERF managing director of research Dave Pelland. “If you think about a startup venture, pretty much regardless of the industry, the CFO should be among the first three or four people hired. The founders will have the initial idea for the company, or the technology they’re trying to develop if it’s a tech startup. As they start to develop their product or service, and to attract outside investment and potentially revenue, a financial executive is going to be valuable in not only managing the finances, but also the company’s strategy and eventually its infrastructure as the company develops.”

CFO service to Startups go further than those Mr. Pelland stated.  Your CFO is the ethical center of your organization.  The cool and calm center of a business by definition is going in a thousand directions.  The CFO creates internal control.  They begin the annual budgeting and  forecasting process.  They acquire and negotiate the leases and purchases that the fledgling business will need to move along the business plan.

Business plans

Speaking of business plans: no business should be operating without a plan.  The CFO is the person who will be the center of much of that plan.  They can be full time, interim or fractional.  Marketing and market research, talent acquisition and requirements, and budgets are part of the plan.  From the business plan comes the pitch decks.  The CFO and CEO will need to sell the company, its idea and value proposition to investors with this deck.

How SBA * Consulting LTD can help the Startup, they young company or even a fully mature company are similar.  In their report, Center Of The Storm: The CFO’s Role In Start-ups And Rapidly Growing Companies the FEI highlighted the same skills our Consultants can bring to bear:

• CFOs are critical to raising capital, through venture capital funding, private investments or private equity investments

• Establishing sound reporting systems and tools can allow for improved reporting metrics and communication to investors

• CFOs are playing an essential role in setting and monitoring company strategy, and maintaining balance between investing in growth, building market share and preserving capital for future opportunities

Why not reach out to us and schedule a free telephone consultation.