Financial Report

FLORENCE

Business author to hold Shoals seminar

Carl L. Gould, a renowned business mentor and author of several books, will be in the Shoals on Oct. 13 to discuss methods that businesses can use to maximize performance.

Gould will present a program called "Discover the Hidden Value in Your Business" that he says will help most businesses improve.

The Shoals Chamber of Commerce is hosting the seminar, which will be 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Shoals Center for Business and Economic Development in Florence.

Cost to attend is $25 for chamber members and $40 for nonmembers.

Participants also can participate in a private consultation with Carl Gould for $79 for chamber members and $99 for nonmembers.

Registration deadline is Oct. 10. Contact the chamber office at 764-4661 or go online to shoalschamber.com for details.

With 90 independently owned and operated offices worldwide, Gould has created the farthest-reaching business mentoring organization in the world.

His teams have overseen the development of thousands of small businesses on six continents and have conducted more than 50,000 coaching sessions with entrepreneurs.

Gould will show participants:

• what you can do to launch, grow or turnaround your company.

• how much of the value of your business is determined by intangible assets not found on your balance sheet.

• what stage of the business cycle you are in.

"This seminar will really help boost growth of small- to medium-size businesses in the Shoals area," said chamber President Steve Holt. "It will provide essential information for businesses, especially given current economic conditions."

Gould's seminar is designed to show businesses how to create a 22.4 percent return on investment in one day.

Tips offered to improve credit score

A UAB professor of finance is offering tips to consumers who want to improve their credit score in preparation to secure a loan even during the current volatile economic downturn.

Stephanie Rauterkus, assistant professor of finance, said market factors have reduced loan opportunities for consumers. As a result, that makes a person's credit score extremely important.

Rauterkus said a person can improve credit scores by:

• paying bills on time. A person's credit score is penalized with each late payment.

• keeping debt low. She said creditors want to see that a person has a low ratio of outstanding debt to available credit.

• writing out a monthly budget. She said people should write down how much they will spend each month and on what, and then stick to the plan.

• communicating with creditors. She said you should let them know when issues arrive about making payments. Creditors will usually work out a solution.

SCA makes donation to hurricane victims

SCA Tissue North America, which has a tissue-producing plant in Colbert County, is involved in the relief effort for victims of recent hurricanes by donating 34,560 rolls of paper towels to the Feeding America program.

The paper towels will be distributed to food banks in Baton Rouge and Houston areas.

"Victims of these hurricanes now face having to rebuild their lives, and it is the responsibility of corporate America to pull together and give them the resources to do so," said Don Lewis, president of SCA Tissue North America. "These victims can't take anything for granted - not even paper towels."

SCA Tissue has 405 workers at its operation in Barton, which began operations in 2002.