SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Fifteen business owners, presidents, operations managers, and key employees spent four days at the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors-National Association (PHCC) Educational Foundation's latest offering of its Strategic Management Workshop, a training program sponsored by American Standard and Trane. The session, held in Scottsdale, Ariz., demonstrated to attendees how smart management and close attention to company financials can save their businesses significant amounts of money while best serving the needs of their employees, vendors, and customers.

A session early in the program taught attendees how to analyze their financial statements using the same ratios that banks and bonding companies use to check the fiscal health of contracting companies. Two class attendees in the process of buying into contracting businesses were able to use these formulas to analyze their purchases, giving them crucial information on the quality of the companies they are buying and identifying issues that they will need to work on. All the attendees learned how to compare their company's data against what are considered "ideal" industry numbers.

"Financials are the gauges and indicators on the dashboard of a contractor's company," said Tim Gallagher of American Standard. "We are thrilled to be supporting a class that is showing business owners just how important the numbers are to running a successful company."

"Watching for trends and managing by numbers is what keeps good business owners on the road to fantastic profits with less risk," added Kirk Alter, director of the Foundation's management courses and lead instructor for the Strategic Management Workshop.

American Standard and Trane also sponsor the Foundation's Essentials of Project Management Course that teaches project managers how to cut waste and boost labor productivity and profits. The next Essentials course is scheduled for June 7-10, 2006, in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Falls Church, Va.-based PHCC Educational Foundation is dedicated to developing and delivering business management educational programs for p-h-c contractors and their employees. For more information, visit www.phccweb.org/foundation.

Publication date: 04/17/2006