Nearly 100 contractors attended a pair of financial planning seminars hosted recently by Cleveland Brothers Equipment Company. The “Rewind, Rethink, Reset” seminars, held in Harrisburg and Murrysville, Pa., provided these businesses with key insights regarding financial best practices for their business and an in-depth understanding of tax rules and financial products available.

Carl Tinkham, director of marketing at Cleveland Brothers said “Our customers want to learn as much as possible about how to manage cash flow and run their businesses effectively during these tough economic times. We’re pleased to be able to offer these educational seminars as part of the overall value that Cleveland Brothers provides.”

Keith Eldredge from the York, Pa., office of Parente Beard LLC, an auditing, tax and accounting firm in the Mid-Atlantic region, spoke to the audience about the key financial benchmarks of a healthy contracting firm, the 10 most important situations to avoid, and provided suggestions on how to grow their businesses when the economy improves. Tax accountants from the firm then gave detailed presentations about Bonus Depreciation, Section 179 and 199 Expensing rules, and the tax impact of different types of leases.

Representatives from Caterpillar Financial, including Vice President Chris Regas, Regional Manager Richard Longbottom, and Territory Manager Laura Carron provided in-depth analysis of the economic outlook for the industry in 2010 and explained in detail the many financial solutions available from Caterpillar and how to choose the product that’s right for each business. Joel Greener and Tim Mallon from Cat AccessAccount spoke about the benefits of their unsecured credit product, while Sean Higgins of FCC Equipment Financing explained the financing options offered for non-Caterpillar products available from Cleveland Brothers.

At the conclusion of the seminar Laura Carron said, “This was a great opportunity to help customers understand all of the options we have available to help their businesses be more successful. The most frequent comment I received was ’this was great…when are you going to do this again?’ We’re definitely looking forward to working with Cleveland Brothers on more of these sessions in the near future.”

Attendees were in universal agreement that the seminars were very timely and helpful, as many thanked the presenters for helping them think about the financial management of their companies in new ways. In addition to the educational experience, the attendees also took advantage of the opportunity to network during the dealership tour and luncheon that concluded each seminar.

One attendee summed up the experience by saying, “This was very beneficial. I now know what financial benchmarks I should have for my business, and have a much better understanding of different leasing and finance options than I had before. It’s tough out there, but it’s good to know I’m not alone.”

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