Looking Backward Helps Us to Move Forward
Pathway to Recovery® Series
In order to make forward progress, you have to be able to see and evaluate what is going on behind you. Imagine driving your car and suddenly realizing that your rearview mirror and both side mirrors were no longer visible to you. There’s a reason they describe that perspective as having a “blind spot.” It is because you feel temporarily blinded, despite having already moved beyond those points. Even though you are able to clearly see the road ahead of you, you might still take your foot off the gas pedal or even apply the brakes. Ironically, due to your inability to see what is behind you, your forward progress is disrupted or even brought to a stop.
As we begin the new year and try to envision what the next 12 months might look like, it’s important that—in our careers as well as in our private lives—we rationally evaluate what we may have done right over the past year, as well as what we could have done better. That’s really the only way to make sure that we continue to improve and progress, both professionally and personally.
After having spent many years serving in local government myself, I can honestly say that our public institutions simply do not have the available manpower to spend a lot of time reviewing, evaluating, and analyzing prior performance. In keeping with our “driving a car” analogy, municipalities and other public institutions tend to look forward— “through the windshield” as it were—and they frankly don’t have the staff, nor the time, to be constantly checking those rearview mirrors to evaluate what has already happened. And therein lies the potential “blind spot.”
Here at three+one®, we provide financial tools to help our municipal and higher Ed clients see the whole picture—a panoramic view of the past—as well as a clear vision of the future. Our patented cashvest® technology instantly analyzes hundreds of thousands of past financial transactions; that gives our clients a crystal-clear picture of the precise revenues and expenditures that have flowed into, and out of, their dozens of bank accounts. All of that historical data, when combined with current banking index rates and accurate forecasts of how long that cash will remain in their accounts, provide a sharp, clear picture of how those funds can be used to generate maximum income.
Much like glancing into a car’s rearview mirrors while also scanning the road ahead, with cashvest® in their toolbox, our clients are provided with an accurate picture of the past, while our MC Forecast® projections provide them with a clear and detailed vision of what likely lies ahead. Just as when driving a car, the best way for government entities or higher Ed institutions to move forward is to continuously keep glancing backward.
Financial tools from three+one include cashvest®, MC Forecast®, rfpPrep®, and direct client access to our team of liquidity and cash-management professionals. When combined, these powerful tools provide public entities and higher Ed institutions with the kind of accurate and reliable cash-management data that they need in order to make the best financial decisions for the funds in their care.
The author served for a total of 38 years in local government at the village, town, and county levels, including 24 years as a County Treasurer/CFO responsible for investing public funds. He can be reached by phone at 585-484-0311.
