CAPITAL STRUCTURE indicates two things: 1) Your Cost of Capital (Equity, Debt, Preferred); 2) Depreciation / Amortization / Depletion (unique for resource firms). ROIC and other metrics also provide useful indicators of success meeting hurdle. Is your financial capital properly applied to economic capital? First Rule of Management: IGNORE SUNK COSTS. Sometimes a reallocation is necessary!

IGNORE SUNK COSTS  Are your operations meeting an industry standard for efficiency? Are bottlenecks impeding performance? How about overt safety issues?
Every one of us sometimes gets blinded by the forest, so we miss the individual tree. Sometimes an outside appraisal brings new perspective.

Any inexperienced business student can create a financial projection in Excel. But you need a seasoned professional to capture QUALITATIVE metrics within the QUANTITATIVE numeracy. Cash does not simply project forward. Rather, past environmental interactions provide evidence of how the firm met and handled challenges. These nuances and volatilities evolve into the future. This is where expertise and exclusive creative talent come into play. This is where the rubber meets the road.

How do you perceive the MARKET and competitors? 30 years ago, consultants conducted 2 analyses: SWOT and Porter. But our 21st Century business universe has become more complex. Today? STEEPLE: Sociological-Technological-Economic-Ethical-Political-Legal-Environmental. Each of these criteria plays into your interactions with customers, competitors, government, and other third parties. An unbiased eye to review your placement within this complex business universe will bring additional value to your organization.