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Financing Via Off-Balance Sheet Options

3 min read

Off-Balance Sheet Options, Off-Balance Sheet Financing (OBSF)When it comes to business needs, securing financing is a top priority, particularly when starting out or for ongoing needs such as making payroll or paying for inventory. This financing could include a loan or securing an ongoing credit line, and businesses can do that through Off-Balance Sheet Financing (OBSF).

Defining OBSF

Off-Balance Sheet Financing is an accounting practice whereby businesses document liabilities or assets on their books but do not reflect them on their balance sheet. It’s important to note that while they’re not reflected on the business’ balance sheet, if their disclosure meets generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), it’s legal. If select transactions aren’t on the company’s balance sheet, these transactions are generally found in a company’s financial statements via notes. If, however, company employees conceal material information from investors, then it becomes illegal. As the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lay out, financial statements also may contain references to lease expenses, rentals, or partnerships.

Why Companies Use OBSF

Businesses use this type of accounting to manage their debt usage. Along with reducing interest rates for commercial loans, businesses can lower their leverage and debt-to-equity ratios, reducing the chances of default and encouraging outside investment. This is even more advantageous to help companies obtain financing if they have debt covenants.   

In reaction to the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) discovery of operating leases regarding OBSF of more than $1.25 trillion for lease accounting, it changed the requirement for OBSF in February 2016 to mandate U.S. public companies to record “right-of-use assets and liabilities from leases on balance sheets” per 2016-02 ASC 842, coming into force in 2019. Based on the publication “Accounting Standards Update No 2016-02 Leases (Topic 842) p. 1,” footnotes were mandated for greater transparency.

How OBSF Works

OBSF moves select assets, liabilities, or transactions away from their balance sheets. It’s done to attract investors or when a company has a ton of debt yet needs to borrow additional capital to fund operations. This can provide companies with more favorable lending rates. Such transactions are either moved to subsidiaries or via special purpose vehicles. The questionable assets are still there but are simply listed on related monetary documentation.

Depending on how the company proceeds, it can include entities that the parent company has a minority ownership stake in. This may include special purpose vehicles (SPV) that take on assets and liabilities, along with other entities such as joint ventures and research and development (R&D) partnerships.

Conclusion

When it comes to R&D partnerships, since R&D is capital-intensive and requires a long time for completion, OBSF is financially advantageous. It permits a company to reduce its liability over the research time since there are no substantive assets to help even out the liability. Industries such as healthcare can see benefits.

Another advantage of OBSF is that when an operating lease is used, it can create liquidity since capital is not tied up in purchasing equipment, and rental expenses are the only financial outflows.

When done according to GAAP guidelines and state and federal laws, companies that use OBSF can maximize their financial landscape.

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Get a Jump on Holiday Shopping: Key November Dates

3 min read

Holiday ShoppingFor some of us, last-minute holiday shopping is just what we do. That said, it’s probably never fun, and two things invariably seem to happen: The gifts you want aren’t available, and you end up paying too much. That’s why shopping in November to get the best savings on what you want just might be the right thing to do this year. Here are a few sales dates to put on your calendar.

Singles Day, November 11. Originally started in China as a humorous “anti-Valentine’s Day” event, it’s become one of the biggest shopping days of the year, surpassing Black Friday and Cyber Monday. To top it off, the date, 11/11, was chosen because it symbolizes, you guessed it, four ones – aka singles. On this day, you can find huge discounts at a lot of high-end clothing stores like Athleta, Nordstrom, Lululemon, Abercrombie & Fitch, Madewell, Neiman-Marcus, and J. Crew, to name a few.

Pre-Black Friday, November 20-27. Yes, there is such a thing, as if Black Friday isn’t enough in and of itself. Nevertheless, lots of retailers get in on this. This year, you’ll want to check out early access on holiday deals at Costco, Lowe’s, Best Buy, as well as Kohl’s, GameStop, and PetSmart. You can find other merchants who offer deep discounts here.

Black Friday, November 28. It’s probably the most famous shopping day of the year, where you’ll find huge price cuts across all categories. If you’re into tech stuff, head to Apple, AT&T Wireless, Dell, Google, HP, Lenovo, or Micro Center to start. The big box places to hit are Walmart, Target, and Sam’s Club. For home goods, you’ll find savings at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Ashley Furniture, and Crate & Barrel. If you want a comprehensive list, go to blackfriday.com. (See? There’s even a website dedicated to this day!) But get ready to scroll because there’s a lot there.

Small Business Saturday, November 29. Originally launched in 2010 by American Express, this day is all about shopping at your local stores. So hit your neighborhood shops, markets, coffee shops, and boutiques to support your friends and neighbors. If you don’t know where to start and don’t have a lot of time, just Google “small business Saturday sales near me” and you’ll be good to go.

Cyber Monday, December 1. To cap off all the November savings, you can’t forget this day. And yes, it’s not technically in November, but that’s OK. This date is great because you can let your fingers do the shopping. Online-only offers are king, so hunker down and start searching. Some places with the biggest deals are, again, (and not surprisingly) Amazon, Target, and Walmart – the big three. For more price-cutting goodness, go here.

Life gets busy around this time of year, but if you take a moment, get your list and hit a few of the aforementioned stores, you’ll be way ahead come the holidays. And that just might be the best gift of all.

 

Sources

Holiday Shopping Calendar: Key Discount Dates 2025 | GiftList Blog | GiftList

https://giftlist.com/blog/holiday-shopping-calendar-key-discount-dates-2025

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Understanding Contribution Margin After Marketing

3 min read

Contribution Margin After Marketing (CMAM)Contribution margin after marketing (CMAM) measures how much money is generated per unit retailed after factoring in a company’s variable costs, along with marketing costs.

It’s analogous with contribution margin, however, a business must factor in marketing costs the company experiences when publicizing a good to likely consumers with details on the business’ wares. This metric determines how well net sales can satisfy expense obligations and what percentage of net sales may remain to satisfy fixed expenses.

Comparing Variable Versus Fixed Costs

Variable costs, as the name implies, are expenses that rise and fall according to output quantities. Fixed costs, conversely, are expenses that don’t change despite variation of production quantities. Understanding these concepts is helpful when calculating CMAM to see how both types of expenses impact the different calculations.

CMAM = Sales Revenue – Variable Costs – Marketing Expense

It can also be determined on a per-unit basis to help a business understand how a single product unit contributes to the company’s comprehensive profits. One can calculate the CMPU (contribution margin per unit) as follows to provide a more granular analysis:

CMAM/Unit = Sales Revenue/Unit – Variable Expenses/Unit – Marketing Expense/Unit

What separates variable costs (including marketing expenses) from the sales revenue is CMAM. The balance is profit along with fixed costs. To calculate if a business saw a net loss or profit, the formula is:

Net Operating Profit = CMAM – fixed costs

If a profit is reported after subtracting variable costs, costs to market, plus fixed costs, it means a business or specific department is profitable. If it’s negative, the business sees a loss that won’t enable it to pay its bills.

Illustrating CMAM

When it comes to a company producing widgets, the following is already known. Variable costs for production for a single widget are detailed below:

  • $2.25 for unprocessed inputs
  • $1.80 firsthand production expenses
  • $0.50 power
  • $0.40 freight expenses
  • $4,500 business equipment rentals
  • $6,000 factory rent
  • $30,000 management salary
  • $10,000 marketing costs

Each widget costs $10, and the business sold 30,000 last year. Therefore, it’s calculated as follows:

CMAM = Sales Revenue – Variable Costs – Marketing Expense

Sales Revenue = $10 x 30,000 = $300,000

Variable Costs = ($2.25 + $1.80 + $0.50+ $0.40) x 30,000 = $4.95 x 30,000 = $148,500

CMAM = $300,000 = $148,500

The next step is to calculate net operating loss or profit: we take CMAM ($148,500), then subtract fixed costs:

$148,500 – ($4,500 + $6,000 + $30,000)

$148,500 – $40,500 = $108,000

Based on that calculation, the company producing widgets realized $108,000 for its net operating profit last year. The next section will discuss how businesses can use this information to improve their operations.

Using CMAM for Business Analysis

Managers use this metric to determine the viability of a product. If there are multiple iterations or options of a product, it can help managers determine which product sells the best and rank them if there are multiple versions of a widget. Businesses can analyze each unit’s contribution margin for each version of a widget to determine which versions provide the greatest option for profitability. Depending on the outcome, the company may choose to produce only the most profitable one or two widgets.  

When it comes to the CMAM, businesses that use it for analysis can increase their sales efficiency for the present and future.

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The Silent Threat: How Simple Misconfigurations Are Fueling 2025 Worst Cyberattacks

4 min read

Simple Misconfigurations Are Fueling 2025 Worst CyberattacksAs organizations invest heavily in next-gen firewalls, AI detection, and threat intelligence, grave cyberattacks have been reported as a result of overlooked misconfigurations. According to the latest statistics, about 23 percent of cloud security incidents are directly connected to misconfigurations. These missteps create easy entry points for cybercriminals that may lead to data breaches, ransomware demands, and financial loss.

What are Misconfigurations?

Misconfigurations are overlooked errors in system setups that create vulnerabilities without the need for hackers to apply advanced hacking techniques. These silent threats are human-driven oversights when configuring software, hardware, or cloud services. Good examples include improperly set permissions in cloud storage, insecure API keys left in code repositories, inadequate security monitoring, and unsecured access points like IoT devices with default passwords.

These issues arise from human error, which accounts for 82 percent of misconfigurations. This is also compounded by today’s cloud era, where businesses depend on cloud platforms, software as a service stacks (SaaS), and AI-driven infrastructure. Many organizations now use multiple providers, and this makes configurations challenging. Rushed deployment also adds to the misconfiguration problem, especially when a thorough audit is not conducted. Unlike malware or phishing scams, misconfigurations remain undetected until exploited.

2025’s Worst Cyberattacks Fueled by Misconfigurations

This year alone, there has been a surge in incidents related to misconfiguration, which is alarming. There were more than 9.5 million cyberattacks in the first half of the year. A good example is the Coinbase breach of May 2025, in which data from more than 70,000 customer records was stolen. This breach is attributed to insider threats exploiting misconfigured permissions.

Recently, cybersecurity researchers revealed a botnet campaign that exploited misconfigured DNS sender policy framework (SPF) records across 20,000 domains and compromised more than 13,000 MikroTik routers. This enabled large-scale spam and spoofing attacks.

In many regions, misconfigured VPN gateways and remote access tools have also contributed to ransomware campaigns. This is through attackers bypassing perimeter defenses by exploiting a misconfigured VPN portal.

IoT weaknesses have also seen entire networks of smart devices compromised, simply because administrators did not change the default login credentials. The entry points ranged from security cameras to industrial sensors, allowing attackers to access more sensitive corporate systems.

Why Organizations Keep Making the Same Mistakes

  • Talent shortage – Many IT teams are stretched and lack sufficient experts to catch every misstep.
  • False confidence in automation – While automated tools are a great help, they are not foolproof. Overreliance on these tools and having a set-and-forget mindset can leave room for security breaches.
  • Velocity over security – This happens when rapid delivery of product features overshadows the slower discipline of security reviews.
  • Siloed responsibility – In many organizations, security is delegated to a separate team instead of being embedded across different units like the development, operations, and business units.
  • Awareness gap – Many teams underestimate how a single overlooked setting, like an open test environment, can escalate into a full-scale breach.

Prevention Strategies and Best Practices

Fortunately, misconfigurations are one of the preventable causes of security breaches. Preventing misconfigurations requires proactive measures that include:

  • Continuous auditing and testing – It is crucial to ensure regular audits and testing of automated tools for configuration management to detect and reduce the window of exposure.
  • Adopt zero-trust models – No device or user should be trusted by default; grant only minimum access where required.
  • Strengthen access controls – Always change default device credentials, partition networks, and enforce MFA across all accounts.
  • Automated detection tools – Use cloud security posture management, compliance-as-code, and drift detection to catch misconfigurations in real time.
  • Cross-functional training and culture – Employee training is vital, as human error accounts for 82 percent of incidents. Security literacy should extend to both technical and non-technical teams.
  • Follow industry guidelines – Align with recognized security frameworks (NIST, ISO, CIS) and CISA’s published guidance on the Top Ten Cybersecurity Misconfigurations. For example, avoid using default configurations, enforce patch management, and properly segment networks.
  • Incident response readiness – Have a well-drilled response playbook to ensure minor disruption in case the defenses fail.

Conclusion

Simple misconfiguration remains a silent enabler of devastating cyberattacks through avoidable errors. Business owners must prioritize configuration hygiene to build resilient digital infrastructures and protect against future threats.

It is a clear lesson that cybersecurity doesn’t always depend on battling sophisticated hackers but rather ensuring they don’t get an easy way in.

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Enhancing Homebuyer Protections, Wildfire Risks, 911 Response and Domestic Manufacturing

3 min read

HR 2808, HR 2483, HR 3400, S 306, S 725, S 433Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act (HR 2808) – Introduced by Rep. John Rose (R-TN) on April 10, the House passed this bill on June 23, and the Senate passed it on Aug. 2. Signed into law on Sept. 5, this bipartisan bill prohibits a consumer reporting agency from selling a mortgage applicant’s personal information to other lenders without their explicit consent. The legislation is designed to safeguard homebuyers’ personal financial information and eliminate the frequent bombardment of other lender marketing offers during the financing process underway with the applicant’s existing lender.

SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025 (HR 2483) – This bill renews billions of dollars in federal funding for programs responsible for preventing overdoses and further strengthening treatment and recovery services. The renewal of funds to nationwide county programs is timely, given the current behavioral health and substance abuse disorder crises. The bill was introduced by Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) on March 31, passed in the House on June 4 and in the Senate on Sept. 18; it currently awaits signature by the president.

TRAVEL Act of 2025 (HR 3400) – Also known as the Territorial Response and Access to Veterans’ Essential Lifecare Act, the purpose of this bill is to enable VA physicians and specialists to travel to hard-to-reach areas in U.S. territories for up to one year. The Act is designed to help fill critical gaps in VA medical services across the Pacific territories by compensating providers with travel bonuses. The legislation was introduced by Representative Kimberlyn King-Hinds (R-Northern Mariana Islands) on May 14. It passed in the House on Sept. 15 and currently lies with the Senate.

Fire Ready Nation Act of 2025 (S 306) – Introduced by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) on Jan. 29, this legislation would establish a fire weather program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The new program would enable scientists to better predict wildfires, fire weather, and fire risk via forecasting, detection, and modeling, as well as respond quickly to prevent devastation to families, homes, and businesses due to wildfires. The legislation was passed in the Senate on Sept. 10 and is now under review in the House.

Enhancing First Response Act (S 725) – This bill was introduced on Feb. 25 by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and passed in the Senate on Sept. 10. The law would reclassify 911 dispatchers as public safety workers from their current role as office and administrative support in the federal Standard Occupational Classification system. In addition, the bill contains provisions to improve access to the 911 call system during major disasters and make the system more resilient against outages and disruptions. The fate of this bipartisan bill now rests in the House.

National Manufacturing Advisory Council Act (S 433) – This Act was introduced by Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) on Feb. 5. It seeks to establish a working group of representatives from industry, labor, and academia to advise Congress on policies and programs to enhance domestic manufacturing despite the challenges of global competition, U.S. supply chain issues, and the current tariff solution. The bipartisan legislationwas  passed unanimously in the Senate on July 14 and is currently under review in the House.