May 30, 2014
Published by 
Dan Isard on May 30, 2014
Dan Isard on May 30, 2014Reading Financial Statements If you can read a nutrition label or a baseball box score, you can learn to read basic financial statements. If you can follow a recipe or apply for a loan, you can learn basic accounting. The basics aren’t difficult and they aren’t rocket science.
May 22, 2014
Published by Dan Isard on May 22, 2014
Dan Isard on May 22, 2014Preneed isn’t just for funeral homes. Cemeteries can certainly benefit from boosting their advance sales – but it’s not an easy task, especially with the rise in cremation. We spoke to Daniel M. Isard, president of The Foresight Companies, and Paul White, vice president of client development and marketing with Funeral Services, Inc., who shared their thoughts on best practices for making advance sales. Click below to see full published article.
May 22, 2014
Published by Dan Isard on May 22, 2014
Dan Isard on May 22, 2014If you are in business there is one supreme, almighty financial goal: earnings. We can talk about things that enhance your reputation and long-term growth, but the goal always remains earnings. Therefore, the key question of any business owner or manager should be: “How do you measure earnings?” I have looked at all methods to measure earnings, but the one measure I use consistently is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, otherwise known as EBITDA. Click below to see full published article.
May 16, 2014
Published by Dan Isard on May 16, 2014
Dan Isard on May 16, 2014Isard leads off his analysis by stating, “In the 28 years I have calculated Funeral Service Inflation, this past year showed a number of trends that were totally unpredictable.” click link below to see full Press Release… Press Release on FSI 2013
May 14, 2014
Published by Dan Isard on May 14, 2014
Dan Isard on May 14, 2014The funeral and cemetery profession has survived somehow, often in spite of itself. I think that memorialization is a perfect example of this fact. Allow me to point out that both the funeral and cemetery sides of our profession have not provided the long-term service that memorialization needs, to the detriment of the emergent services. Can we establish a time period that the funeral home maintains a vested interest in the relationship it has with the consumer? I think there is no doubt that the three- or fourday period from the time of death until the time of interment or cremation is a given. I have long thought that this period is too short as we serve the family when dad dies but then do nothing for the next 10 years, waiting patiently to serve them again when mom dies. […]