Published Articles

• Fisher School of Accounting Alumni to Change the Realm of the Financial Business World - Warrington College of Business.
• Five Pillars of Financial Dominance - Bizillion magazine.
• Building and Managing a Successful Relationship with your Bank. - Advisory Today.
• Fisher School Alumnae Changing the Face of Florida Business - The Warrington Report.
• CFO's for Hire - Part-Time Professionals - Florida Trend.
• SBDC at UCF's Advisory Board Council - Florida SBDConnection Newsletter.
• Do you Need an Outsourced CFO? - National Federation of Independent Business.

In June 2005, the clients and advisors of the SBDC at UCF's Advisory Board Council were invited to participate in a special seminar. The seminar entitled “Five Pillars of Financial Dominance" was hosted and presented by Leigh Ann Horton of CFO Strategic Partners, a sponsor of the Advisory Board Council program.

Horton, who is also a volunteer Advisor to a Council client, offers: "Business owners hide a dirty little secret…they simply aren't as good with 'the numbers' as they'd like to be. And, they make things worse by avoiding the issue. Business owners are quite open with shortcomings in marketing, sales, human relations and operations, but tend to change the subject – business owners are running blind. Maybe they are catching the easy 'daytime' stuff, like monthly income and monitoring the checking account balance. But they have trouble seeing the other issues – the 'nighttime' stuff that can kill them in a heartbeat – because they never learned to see in the dark. The result is that they get ambushed by numbers that have been staring them in the face for months."

During the two-hour program developed especially for small business owners, Leigh Ann educated the group and gave them "night-vision goggles".

• She started with the basics of financial statements, then quickly went on to comprehensive analysis tools that apply across industries;
• She used exercises and anecdotes to show how to predict and protect a company’s future;
• Lastly, she touched on the importance of cash flow, providing ideas for creative tax positioning, while conveying a unique perspective on budgeting.