Second-quarter earnings slip at Peoples

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HALLSTEAD, Pa. — Second-quarter profit dipped slightly at Peoples Financial Services Corp. (OTCBB: PFIS) as it no longer benefitted from gains it saw in 2011

Architecture & Engineering Directory

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Regional News

ARCHITECTS Bearsch Compeau Knudson Architects & Engineers 41 Chenango St. Binghamton, NY 13901 v Phone/Fax: (607) 772-0007/ 723-4121 ν Website: www.bckpc.com ν Year Established:

Get Ready For Your Audit Team to Arrive

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

Are you and your business ready for your audit team to arrive? I mean really ready. Being well-prepared for your external audit team is critical to ensuring an efficient audit. Beyond providing adequate workspace and access to information and personnel, there is advance ground work to consider. Before the audit process even begins, the first

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Are you and your business ready for your audit team to arrive? I mean really ready.

Being well-prepared for your external audit team is critical to ensuring an efficient audit. Beyond providing adequate workspace and access to information and personnel, there is advance ground work to consider.

Before the audit process even begins, the first concern to be addressed is identifying exactly who will be relying on the financial statements and for what purpose. Is a sale of the business being contemplated? Will the financial statements be utilized in a valuation of the business? Are there regulatory requirements?

Timelines and expectations should be established early and communicated clearly, along with the precise nature of the financial statements to be issued. In circumstances where the scope of the audit will be limited in any way, a detailed discussion must take place.

When non-attest, or “other,” work is to be performed, a clear understanding must be developed. Whether the accounting firm will be assisting in the preparation of financial statements or tax-compliance filings, the nature and responsibility for the work must be established and documented.

In addition, well in advance of the audit, a comprehensive schedule of all checking, savings, money market, investment, transaction, clearing, and debt accounts should be compiled, including complete contact information. Copies of all new debt agreements and banking resolutions should be gathered for the external auditor to facilitate planning.

Closing documents for significant assets purchased or disposed of must also be available. Have you agreed to purchase or sell a significant asset, or perhaps lease a new vehicle or building? Even if you have not consummated the transaction, the documents are still necessary to support financial-statement disclosures, so be sure to provide them to your auditor. The issuance or retirement of stock or agreement to pay off retiring owners all come with documents that should be added to the list, as should settlement agreements with taxing authorities, customers, or vendors.

Some of the most-often forgotten documents include up-to-date minutes from board and other governance meetings, including annual meetings and related resolutions. These particular items must be updated throughout the audit process so be sure to stay on top of communicating to the audit team.

Advance preparation in connection with your annual audit is critical to the process. A well-prepared organization can improve efficiency and avoid hampering progress or completion. There are always plenty of items to chase down during audit fieldwork, so be sure the early gathering is completed well before the audit fieldwork begins. By the way — much of the data gathering noted here is also necessary when financial statements will be reviewed or compiled.

Here is a quick list of documents that should be provided to your external accountants as early as possible: loan documents, lease documents, documents relating to the purchase or sale of significant assets, settlement agreements, amortizations schedules, cash and investment account statements, factoring agreements, stock books, board minutes, whistleblower policies, employee handbooks, employment contracts, policy and procedure manuals, benefit-plan documents, regulatory and compliance documents, court decrees, documents regarding pending litigation, commitments or contingencies, IRS or state taxing authority correspondence, communications from any agency or organization with whom you have undergone review or audit. In short, anything that supports what you own, what you owe, what has occurred operationally, or what is required for inclusion in your financial statements.

There is a bright side to all of this. With a bit of organization, forward thought, and communication, the burden can be greatly reduced. The first step is opening the dialogue by calling your CPA.

Gail Kinsella is a partner in the accounting firm of Testone, Marshall & Discenza, LLP. Contact Kinsella at gkinsella@tmdcpas.com

Bentley-Hall owner settling in before pursuing growth plans

Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — The new owner and CEO of Bentley-Hall, Inc. is making sure he’s in tune with the company before moving his focus to tuning up its growth. “There are many ways we can grow,” says Dan Walding, who acquired Bentley-Hall from its founder, Bob Popyk, in March. “The people here are doing a great

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SYRACUSE — The new owner and CEO of Bentley-Hall, Inc. is making sure he’s in tune with the company before moving his focus to tuning up its growth.

“There are many ways we can grow,” says Dan Walding, who acquired Bentley-Hall from its founder, Bob Popyk, in March. “The people here are doing a great job. So the main thing right now is getting my arms around things and getting to managing the operation and establishing some goals and objectives.”

Bentley-Hall is a custom publishing, public relations, and communications firm headquartered in nearly 2,900 square feet of space in suite 300 at 120 Walton St. in Syracuse’s Armory Square area. Although he acquired the business months ago, Walding has only been there full time since the beginning of July.

Before that, Walding was juggling his newly acquired firm with a position he held at the Lexington, Ky.–based video-advertising sales organization Viamedia. He was the manager of the Syracuse market for Viamedia, which has its local office in suite 204 at 224 Harrison St. The firm represents Verizon’s FiOS television and Internet service in the area. Walding is no longer affiliated with Viamedia.

However, Walding owns a business called Strategic Resources, which handles all broadcasting and print-media advertising for Summit Automotive Group.

Eventually, Walding plans to merge Strategic Resources, which he currently operates from his home in Skaneateles, into Bentley-Hall. No merger will take place before 2013 between the businesses, which complement each other, Walding says.

“We’re doing business at Bentley-Hall with people that are custom publishing,” he says. “Maybe some of those people would like to get into broadcasting, or television, or other forms of media.”

However, Walding does not intend to shift Bentley-Hall away from two of its successful consumer publications — Making Music Magazine, which is aimed at recreational musicians, and International Musician, which is the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada’s official journal.

Making Music Magazine could be a major source of growth for Bentley-Hall, according to Walding. But, he emphasizes that he’s not ready to make major tweaks to it at this point.

“If we can be successful bringing people into our magazines through the Internet and our social networks, that can be another whole dynamic that we can offer,” he says. “These are things that are in my mind, but I don’t have a need to jump out on immediately.”

Walding is also considering expanding Bentley-Hall’s work in other custom publications, such as those for automobile dealerships. It currently publishes the Buick Creative Selling newsletter.

And, Walding wants to increase the firm’s visibility within the Syracuse area — he would like Bentley-Hall to play a role in rebuilding a symphony in Syracuse, although he has no definite plans at this point.

One immediate change Bentley-Hall is implementing because of Walding is the launch of a new website. Walding describes it as “more dynamic.”

“We’re developing a great portion of it ourselves,” he says. “It will describe what we do in more detail.”

Walding has a revenue-growth target of 50 percent for 2013, up from an estimated 15 percent growth in 2012, he says. He declined to disclose specific revenue totals.

Including Walding, Bentley-Hall currently has 11 employees. He says he does not plan to make any staffing changes in the near future.

Antoinette Follett remains the company’s president as well as editor-in-chief of Making Music Magazine and managing editor of International Musician.

Popyk, Bentley-Hall’s founder and former owner, is also still with the company. He is filling consultant and sales roles, according to Walding. Popyk expressed intentions to stay at Bentley-Hall for several years after selling the business, Walding says. The former owner decided to sell the firm because he was ready to start formulating an exit strategy, Walding adds.

“Any person that has a company that they’ve grown for many years knows there needs to be an exit strategy,” Walding says. “He’s still involved. I’m very lucky, and I don’t think I would have made this leap if it wasn’t for that situation.”

Walding did not release the financial terms of the acquisition of Bentley-Hall, but says it was a stock sale that gives him sole ownership of the business.

The two sides did not use a broker in the transaction. Walding utilized the law firm Hiscock & Barclay LLP of Syracuse and the accounting firm of James Ashe Co. CPA, PLLC of DeWitt in the deal.

Popyk used the Law Office of Bertrand, Arno & Welch in North Syracuse and accounting firm Testone, Marshall & Discenza, LLP of Syracuse in the transaction, Walding says.

Editor’s note: The Business Journal is a customer of Bentley-Hall for circulation services.

CHA and RW Armstrong expect employee growth

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Subscriber Only

An acquisition by Albany–based CHA has created one of the 60 largest engineering firms in the nation. CHA, which has a location in Syracuse, announced the deal with RW Armstrong of Indianapolis in June. The companies will continue to operate under their own names. RW Armstrong is now a wholly owned subsidiary of CHA. Other details

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An acquisition by Albany–based CHA has created one of the 60 largest engineering firms in the nation.

CHA, which has a location in Syracuse, announced the deal with RW Armstrong of Indianapolis in June. The companies will continue to operate under their own names.

RW Armstrong is now a wholly owned subsidiary of CHA. Other details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The merged firm has more than 1,200 employees and 46 offices in the U.S., Canada, the Middle East, North Africa, and Azerbaijan. It generates total revenue of more than $210 million annually.

CHA provides architecture, engineering, and construction services, including planning and urban design, power and energy expertise, aviation and rail services, water services, and expertise in roads, bridges and highways, as well as stadiums and higher education.

The firms are planning for growth in the years ahead. They expect to have a work force of 2,000 people by 2016.

CHA has more than 730 employees in 30 offices from Maine to Florida to Texas. All of CHA’s offices are in the U.S. except for one location in Ontario. RW Armstrong has 500 employees and 16 offices, including five overseas in the Middle East, North Africa, and Azerbaijan.

RW Armstrong’s international presence was one reason CHA was interested in the firm, says Raymond L. Rudolph, Jr., CHA’s CEO. CHA has been interested in expanding overseas for some time.

“They’ve certainly spent over a decade learning lessons that would have been a long time in learning for us,” Rudolph says. “It puts us ahead of the curve in that way. So that was very attractive.”

In addition, RW Armstrong is positioned in growing overseas markets, Rudolph says.

The acquisition should lead to growth across CHA’s footprint, he says. That could include the firm’s Syracuse office at 441 S. Salina St., which works on municipal, water and wastewater, power and energy, and aviation projects. CHA employs about 60 people there.

“Anytime you create opportunity, it strengthens the whole company,” Rudolph says.

He notes that the engineering industry as a whole is contracting and that means firms must get larger and more diverse to compete for the kinds of challenging projects a good staff demands.

“We need not only a lot of work, but a lot of interesting work,” Rudolph says.

Jim Wade, RW Armstrong president, says his company was looking for a merger partner because of its rapidly growing business outside the U.S. RW Armstrong began exploring international work about 10 years ago, Wade says.

“We realized we had opened a lot of doors, but we didn’t have enough people to walk through the doors we had opened,” he says.

Much of the firm’s overseas work has been focused on large building projects, he adds. In the U.S., on the other hand, work has concentrated on infrastructure.

The firm expects to begin generating more infrastructure work overseas in the years ahead, Wade says, and has been seeing more demand for those services lately in its international markets.

CHA was a good merger partner because of its strength in the eastern U.S., Wade says.

There were only two locations where the firms had any overlap, he adds. Both companies had offices in Texas and in the Tampa
area, but they were focused on different sectors.

The combination of the two firms should allow for more work in areas like power and energy, stadium design, higher education projects, and rail and other transportation projects, Wade says.

“It’s going to give us a great platform for growth,” Wade says of the deal.

CHA’s other offices in the state include locations in Buffalo, Rochester, Goshen, and New York City (two offices).

New York’s credit unions show growth

Subscriber Only

New York’s credit unions saw growth rates that surpassed the national averages for assets, savings, members, and loans for the first quarter of 2012, according to the Credit Union Association of New York (CUANY), which used Callahan & Associates statistics for the period. Credit union assets grew more than 4 percent to $60.4 billion while

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Sherrill Manufacturing wraps up tool auction as “important first step” in restructuring

Manufacturing & Engineering, Regional News

SHERRILL — Sherrill Manufacturing, Inc. auctioned off a lot of unused equipment Thursday July 19 in a move designed to bring an influx of cash

Former banker paints new career path with CertaPro franchise

Banks & Credit Unions, Construction, Design & Real Estate, Small Business, Subscriber Only

CICERO — Daniel Murphy brushed off a layoff notice from a bank late last year and is starting his own painting franchise. He became a franchisee of CertaPro Painters Ltd., a professional painting contracting firm, in June and opened for business July 23. His franchise, which serves the greater–Syracuse area, will handle residential and commercial

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CICERO — Daniel Murphy brushed off a layoff notice from a bank late last year and is starting his own painting franchise.

He became a franchisee of CertaPro Painters Ltd., a professional painting contracting firm, in June and opened for business July 23. His franchise, which serves the greater–Syracuse area, will handle residential and commercial painting projects.

Murphy describes himself as a “do-it-yourselfer,” but he hasn’t worked as a professional painter in the past. He spent more than 30 years in financial services and operations management in the banking industry, working for firms including the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). He was laid off from a senior site manager position in December when the Bank of New York Mellon consolidated Central New York and Dallas operations in Syracuse, Murphy says.

For several months, Murphy interviewed for jobs at other banks. Then a recruiter contacted him about running a CertaPro franchise, and it sounded like a surprisingly good fit, he says.

“Instead of targeting somebody who could make a couple of bucks and be happy with that, they’re looking for somebody that has a good business background,” Murphy says. “They’re especially looking for somebody who has a business operations background. They know how to manage. They know how to perform marketing. They know how to create business plans.”

Murphy will not be painting himself — his franchise will hire subcontractors for that work. Instead, he will be responsible for managing the franchise, performing estimates, reviewing completed jobs, and marketing the business.

For the time being, Murphy is the franchise’s only employee, and he is running the business from his Cicero home. Eventually, he would like to expand into a commercial space and hire additional staff members, but he has no timeline for doing so yet.

“I wouldn’t think we would need storefront space like retail, but I would definitely need some commercial office space,” Murphy says. “Generally, what the franchise owners do is hire an office assistant who can be involved in ordering the paint, doing some of the bookkeeping. You could then also hire a sales associate to take some of the load of going out and performing estimates.”

Those direct employees would be in addition to contractors the CertaPro franchise regularly hires. For the time being, Murphy wants to develop relationships with two primary paint crews consisting of two to three workers each. He would also like to be familiar with a third paint crew he could call if business booms.

Murphy aims to bring in $100,000 in revenue by the end of 2012. He has yet to develop 2013 projections for his franchise, but says other CertaPro franchise owners typically generate between $260,000 and $600,000 in revenue in their first full year of operation.

As the business launches, Murphy will focus on residential work and commercial jobs up to $15,000, such as a legal offices, medical practices, or multiunit residential structures, he says. He does not plan to tackle larger commercial jobs until after he has six months of experience running the business.

Murphy estimates he will spend about $150,000 over the course of a year starting the CertaPro franchise. That cost estimate includes a franchise fee, advertising, insurance, and travel for training.

CertaPro charges a franchise fee of $52,500 and offers a 10-year renewable term, according to Entrepreneur.com. The company charges an ongoing royalty fee of 5 percent, the website says.

Murphy plans to fund the franchise’s startup costs using personal savings and by rolling some funds over from his 401(k), he says.

Before breaking out the paint with his CertaPro franchise, Murphy had to go through several weeks of training, he says. Training included multiple weeks of computer-based lessons and a week of onsite instruction at CertaPro’s headquarters in Oaks, Pa., near Philadelphia, he says.

“Even though I’m not going to be painting myself, I need to be educated enough to know if my crews are doing an appropriate job,” Murphy says.

President Obama Takes Us On A Journey to Our Founding

Opinion, Subscriber Only

President Obama took us on a journey recently. He took us back to our founding. To the arguments made by our founding fathers when they revolted against England. He did so when he said, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” He explained that others contributed — especially government, with infrastructure. This has

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President Obama took us on a journey recently. He took us back to our founding. To the arguments made by our founding fathers when they revolted against England.

He did so when he said, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” He explained that others contributed — especially government, with infrastructure.

This has been a theme of his. It was a theme when he launched his humungous stimulus package. It funneled most of the money to government and quasi-government jobs. Its message was that government is the best source of economic health. Whenever he sees a problem, he first looks to government to solve it. He brags about how government creates jobs. He urges people to seek careers in public service, not business.

He never seems to blame government for any of our ills. Instead, he lambastes various businesses and industries. He proposes heavier taxes on entrepreneurs.

A lot of Americans believe he is right — that all help comes from government — or should. Many Americans believed it at the time of the Revolution. These were the Americans who wanted the colonies to stay with England.

They believed all power and goodness came from the king. They believed that it was the king who should dole out any rights they might enjoy.

Our founders upended this thinking. They argued that their rights were natural rights. They came from God, and that any powers that rulers enjoyed should come from the people. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Here is the logical extension of that thinking: Yes, government builds roads and bridges we use. Yes, it helped fund what became the Internet. Yes, it contributes to our successes. Yes, it pours out food stamps. Yes, it educates our kids. Yes, it sends our Social Security checks.

But Jefferson and Franklin would argue that it can only do that when the people allow it to do so — and when the people send the bucks to government to fund those activities. In other words, the people create and fund the government.

I suspect they would say this president peers through the wrong end of the telescope. He says it is government that makes so many things possible. The founders would say it is the voters and taxpayers who do — by making government possible.

The president sees a cornucopia of benefits flowing from government. Many Americans see the same. They feel that if these benefits flow from government, they must be the creations of government. Government is all good. If you are on the dole or work for government, it is easy to believe this.

Believers in kings felt the same. Yet all the kings’ horses and all the kings’ men came from the people. The kings took them, in one way or another.

The plain fact is that government does not create one dollar of wealth. To hand out money, it must take money from the people. To build bridges, it must take the money for them from the people.

The founders felt the king should have appreciated this. He should have appreciated that individuals paid for his castles. Individuals paid for any benefits he bestowed upon his subjects. They paid for them with their sweat and taxes.

Many Americans believe the same today. They believe government is not the source of largesse. They believe the people create the wealth. They believe government merely takes wealth from the people and re-distributes it. They believe their leaders ought to appreciate this. And they believe government workers and politicians ought to value the wealth creators. Above all.

And many believe their president does not agree with them.

From Tom … as in Morgan.

Tom Morgan writes about financial and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows and new TV show. For more information about him, visit his website at www.tomasinmorgan.com

Mercy Flight Central founder hands yoke over to new CEO

Health Care, Small Business, Subscriber Only

Mercy Flight Central hasn’t experienced any turbulence since its founder and CEO, Paul Hyland, retired in June, according to Hyland’s successor. The leadership change did not cause any trouble because the air-ambulance organization had a flight plan in place for the transition, says Neil Snedeker, new president and CEO of Mercy Flight Central. Snedeker assumed

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Mercy Flight Central hasn’t experienced any turbulence since its founder and CEO, Paul Hyland, retired in June, according to Hyland’s successor.

The leadership change did not cause any trouble because the air-ambulance organization had a flight plan in place for the transition, says Neil Snedeker, new president and CEO of Mercy Flight Central. Snedeker assumed Hyland’s leadership duties after the founder retired on June 20. He officially received the title of CEO in July.

“We’ve been working on a succession plan in the past two years,” Snedeker says. “I’ve been doing a lot of the responsibilities that Paul had been doing.”

Those responsibilities include overseeing the organization’s strategic goals and finances. Snedeker says he feels comfortable with those duties, both because of the succession plan and because of a longstanding association he has with Mercy Flight Central, which has its headquarters at Canandaigua Airport and also has a base at Marcellus Airport.

Snedeker first joined the air medical-services provider in 1992, the year Hyland founded it as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. From 1992 to 1999, Snedeker served as a part-time flight paramedic at Mercy Flight Central. He has also held a volunteer role sitting on the organization’s board of directors and as the chairman of its board.

Then in September 2010, after retiring from his career of 31 years as a software engineer at AXA Equitable, Snedeker stepped on board full time at Mercy Flight Central as its vice president. He worked at Mercy Flight Central as vice president until October 2011, when he became president and COO.

Although Snedeker has only officially been in line to pilot the nonprofit since his full-time hiring in 2010, he says he has always wanted to lead an air-ambulance group.

“When Paul interviewed me for a paramedic position back in late 1991, one of the questions he asked was, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’ ” Snedeker says. “I said, ‘I want your job.’ And I was dead serious.”

That exchange didn’t foster any rivalry between the two men, according to Snedeker. In fact, he feels that Hyland took him under his wing.

“Neil’s been there since we started the company,” Hyland says. “He was the person who stood out from the overall standpoint of being [able to be] the president and CEO. He’s fallen into these different areas of expertise that we need. He’s been chairman of the board. He’s been a paramedic. He was the supervisor over here in Marcellus. So he’s got a background.”

Mercy Flight Central operates one helicopter from its Marcellus location, which is a 3,000-square-foot hanger it owns at 4960 Limeledge Road. That facility includes kitchen, office, and living space for a helicopter crew and is staffed 24 hours per day.

At least three employees man the location at all times — a helicopter pilot, a flight nurse, and a flight paramedic. They rotate shifts, and a total of 12 employees work from the Marcellus location.

Mercy Flight Central has about 80 employees between its Marcellus location and its Canandaigua headquarters. It operates both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft from its base in Canandaigua.

The organization serves a total of 26 counties around the two locations. Its Marcellus base typically covers an area between Ogdensburg, Utica, and Binghamton to the east and Seneca Falls to the west. The border of its western territory stretches north to Lake Ontario.

Crews based at the Marcellus base usually perform between 225 and 250 transports in a year. The entire organization is typically responsible for 650 transports annually, Hyland says. Transports include bringing trauma patients from accident locations to hospitals and moving patients from one hospital to another hospital that can provide a higher level of care.

Mercy Flight Central is budgeted to bring in $12.2 million in revenue in 2012, up from $10.7 million in 2011. It usually receives

$2 million in annual revenue from fundraising, according to Hyland. Other sources of revenue are patient revenue through Medicare and Medicaid, patient insurance, no-fault insurance, and cash payments

“If we had to depend just on patient revenue, we wouldn’t be here,” he says. “Medicare and Medicaid pay a fraction of the bill. You’ve got a lot of people that just can’t pay the bill — and the bills aren’t cheap. That requires us to have another source of funding, which is our fundraising. The public has stepped up and supported us for years.”

Snedeker does not plan any changes in staffing levels or business practices now that he is CEO, he says.

“The staff has been able to get to know me,” he says. “This was a great way — the succession plan — to be able to bring the staff into the fold while still heading forward.”

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