How many times have you heard PR pros say “numbers aren’t my strength?” I’d bet too many times even if it’s just joking around when working on complex budgets and mathematical ratios.  While it’s true that many times as PR pros we are more comfortable talking about SMTs, ANRs, SEO and b-roll, to thrive in our business, we need to get more comfortable with gross profit, variance reports and ROA (return on assets).

To brush up on the language of finance and accounting, I recently attended a great seminar, “Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial People” led a dynamic instructor, Buddy Ward.

While I don’t want to attempt to share a day of learning in a few hundred words, here are some key take aways Buddy shared for us non-accounting folks.

The three financial tools we should all understand:

1. Break-even point = to understand the principle of cost tracking
2. Financial ratios = to make good decisions
3. Variance reports = to understand how to build budgets

And here is a really pragmatic six-point budgeting checklist to refer to when making a department budget for corporate communications or a budget for a new client:

1. Start with your mission or vision statement – it underscores your goals and beliefs
2. Get the right people involved
3. Allow enough time to prepare the budget (company budgets on average take 4 months)
4. Get good historical data
5. Make good assumptions
6. Construct a variance report and use it faithfully

I also greatly appreciated Buddy sharing other observations he has learned over the years by consulting with high-level executives. Information like “What the wealthy do” that others can learn from:

1. Read prolifically – the average CEO reads 72 books a year
2. Have written goals and monitor them daily
3. Invest in themselves first before investing in other things

My key take away – I’m more grateful than ever for our amazing CFO Carri Clemens. I hope everyone is as fortunate as we are to have a trusted financial expert to lean on. If you do, great. If you don’t, seek out other financial experts from connections with colleagues, family and friends to add to your personal network. Invest in yourself by taking a seminar like the one I attended. Or if your career is more focused on partnering with your corporate governance team, find sessions at the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI). Someday, I hope we’ll hear more of “I’m a numbers person and a great PR pro.”

The annual PR firm ranking from O’Dwyer’s was announced yesterday and we’re proud to say Linhart PR landed at 67. While in the U.S. we’re not used to celebrating more than a nod for top 3 (think Olympic medals), or top 10 (think David Letterman’s Top 10 list), 67 is something to note. 

Of the agencies that beat us, nearly 25 are based in The Big Apple, and nearly 10 are based in the nation’s capital. San Francisco, Boston and Chicago all have multiple firms that are in the top 66, as well. All of these markets are traditional powerhouses for PR firms. So, when we look at #67 and see that Linhart PR ranks as the first agency in the Rocky Mountain Region, we’re thrilled.

We salute Edelman which lands in the #1 spot, and remind ourselves that they’ve been around since industry-guru, Dan Edelman, started the firm in 1952, a mere 44 years before our founder Sharon Linhart opened the agency.

It makes me wonder — what ranking will we be able to achieve when Account Associate Quinn Kelsey or Chandra Brin are hitting their Golden Years?  Knowing their passion for this business, I’d say the future of PR in Denver is bright.