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  • The New SBA SOP | What the Quality of Earnings Requirement Means for Business Acquisitions

    The New SBA SOP | What the Quality of Earnings Requirement Means for Business Acquisitions
    2026/09/17

    The SBA's newly issued standard operating procedure, SOP 50 10 8.1, is one of the most significant updates to SBA 7(a) lending in years, particularly for change of ownership transactions. Among its most discussed provisions is a required independent Quality of Earnings (QoE) analysis for acquisitions with a business purchase price of $3 million or more, taking effect October 1, 2026.


    In Episode 15, host and CEO Fran San Diego moves beyond the technical language of the SOP with a panel representing every side of the transaction:


    Melissa Bustarde, Partner at Branfman Mayfield Bustarde & Reichenthal LLP, a business attorney representing buyers and sellers of small businesses

    Josh Siler, CPA, Senior Finance Consultant and Quality of Earnings Specialist at PBO Advisory

    Ryan Smith, Principal and Founder of ThinkSBA, a leading SBA loan brokerage

    Steven Hanson, Owner of Transworld Business Advisors San Diego North and an experienced business broker


    Together they cover what the SBA is working to solve, what a Quality of Earnings uncovers, how sellers are responding, how LOIs and purchase agreements should address QoE outcomes, the difference between a QoE, an audit, a tax return, and a valuation, the findings that concern lenders most, why sellers are commissioning their own QoE before going to market, and a hypothetical $6 million manufacturing acquisition viewed through each panelist's lens.


    The panel closes with the biggest misconceptions about the new SOP and what the lower and middle market M&A environment may look like one year from now.


    Read the full transcript and key takeaways: https://pboadvisory.com/new-sba-sop-quality-of-earnings-business-acquisitions/

    Read the companion blog: https://pboadvisory.com/sba-sop-50-10-8-1-quality-of-earnings-requirement/


    If this episode resonated with you, subscribe to PBO Perspectives and share it with a business owner, buyer, or advisor preparing for a transaction.


    Visit pboadvisory.com to learn more about PBO's Quality of Earnings, transaction readiness, and integrated finance and people advisory services, or to start a conversation with the team.


    Chapters:

    00:00 Welcome and the New SBA SOP 50 10 8.1

    02:34 Meet the Panel

    03:46 What the SBA Is Working to Solve

    05:28 What a Quality of Earnings Uncovers

    06:20 How Sellers Are Responding

    08:18 LOIs, Negotiations, and Transaction Timelines

    09:57 SBA Offers vs. Non-SBA Offers

    12:17 When the QoE Requirement Comes Into Play

    14:38 Purchase Agreements and Working Capital

    16:18 QoE vs. an Audit, Tax Return, and Valuation

    18:47 Findings That Concern Lenders

    20:31 Commissioning a Sell-Side QoE Before Going to Market

    23:20 Adjusted EBITDA vs. Normalized Earnings

    25:39 Industries That Will See More Scrutiny

    27:17 Preparing 12 to 24 Months Ahead: Books and Records

    29:15 How QoE Findings Can Affect Financing

    30:45 Keeping Deals on Track With a Strong LOI

    32:28 Hypothetical: A $6 Million Manufacturing Acquisition

    37:01 When a QoE Comes In
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    49 分
  • Total Rewards | Building It Together ft. Lisbeth Fletcher

    Total Rewards | Building It Together ft. Lisbeth Fletcher
    2026/09/17

    In most organizations, finance builds the compensation model and HR administers it. The result is a total rewards program that lives in two different places and serves neither. This episode of PBO Perspectives explores what changes when the CFO, CPO, and operations leaders build total rewards together from the start, with the CEO setting the strategic framework.In Episode 14, host and CEO Fran San Diego is joined by:Kristy Facchini, Consulting CFO at PBO AdvisoryNicole Devine, Consulting Chief People Officer at PBO AdvisoryLisbeth Fletcher, Director of Staff Operations and Administration at Feeding San DiegoTogether they cover where total rewards conversations lose their anchor, why the CEO's single most important business outcome should shape every plan, four operating principles for compensation decisions, how to talk with boards about return on talent investment, designing rewards for a multi-generational workforce, the rising cost of benefits and the value of no-cost benefits, and why communication is the difference between a benefit that exists and a benefit that matters.Lisbeth brings the view from a mission-driven nonprofit, where every dollar supports the work of ending hunger in San Diego County, and shares how peer-to-peer recognition, employee-led committees, a total rewards summary, and consistent communication keep Feeding San Diego's team engaged.Read the full transcript and key takeaways: https://pboadvisory.com/total-rewards-with-lisbeth-fletcher/

    Explore the Total Rewards Hub: https://pboadvisory.com/total-rewards-resources/If this episode resonated with you, subscribe to PBO Perspectives and share it with a leader who is rethinking compensation and benefits.Visit pboadvisory.com to learn more about PBO's integrated approach to finance, people, and strategy, or to start a conversation with the team. Learn more about Feeding San Diego at feedingsandiego.org.Chapters:00:00 Cold Open: A Total Rewards Strategy No One Owns01:17 Meet the Panel and Feeding San Diego03:31 Where Total Rewards Conversations Lose Their Anchor05:47 Aligning Bonuses to Margin, Not Just Revenue07:28 Rewarding Behavior That Builds Enterprise Value09:33 How Feeding San Diego Defines Success12:13 Peer-to-Peer Recognition and Culture13:10 Starting With the CEO's Single Business Outcome14:08 Messaging and Total Rewards Storytelling16:45 Clarity Before the Comp Plan18:40 Four Operating Principles for Compensation Decisions20:29 Transparency, Equity, and Market Data22:15 Talking With Boards About Return on Talent Investment24:44 Designing Rewards for a Multi-Generational Workforce28:37 Flexibility and In-Person Collaboration30:47 Connecting Employees to the Mission33:29 Benefits, Well-Being, and Rising Healthcare Costs35:46 Modeling Benefit Costs and No-Cost Benefits37:43 Culture as a Reason People Stay38:38 Employee-Led Committees at Feeding San Diego40:33 Culture and the Total Rewards Viewpoint42:27 Communicating a Total Rewards Program45:47 Making Incentive Compensation Visible48:22 How Feeding San Diego Communicates Value53:37 Final Takeaways56:01 Closing
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    57 分
  • Succession Planning Part 4 | The Human Side of Succession ft. Mary O. Andrews

    Succession Planning Part 4 | The Human Side of Succession ft. Mary O. Andrews
    2026/06/26
    The first three episodes of PBO Advisory's succession planning series covered the framework, the financial architecture, and the practical first steps any business owner can take. Episode 4 stays with the people inside the process, the human beings who live through a transition. Succession planning is not just about roles, timelines, and financial models. It is about the human beings who live through it.In Episode 4 of PBO Advisory's Succession Planning series, host and CEO Fran San Diego is joined by a distinctive guest panel: Mary O. Andrews, U.S. Olympian, business owner, and executive coach and performance consultantNicole Devine, Chief People Officer at PBO AdvisoryKristy Facchini, Consulting CFOTogether they explore the dimensions of succession most frameworks leave out: how outgoing leaders process the identity shift of stepping back, why loyalty resets at the moment of transition while respect can endure, what psychological readiness really requires of incoming leaders, why the white space of the org chart matters more than the boxes, and how to execute a succession with the emotional intelligence the process actually requires.Mary brings the lens of elite performance coaching to a conversation about organizational change, and Kristy connects the human side of succession to its measurable financial outcomes. The result is a conversation that completes the picture the series began.If you have been through a leadership transition, are heading into one, or are building an organization you want to outlast you, this episode is for you.If this episode resonated with you, subscribe to PBO Perspectives and share it with a leader in your network who is navigating change.Visit pboadvisory.com to learn more about PBO's integrated approach to finance, people, and strategy, or to start a conversation with the team.If you missed Episodes 1 through 3, make sure to listen to them here.Part 1 | Authentic Insights from the C-SuitePart 2 | From Plan to PracticePart 3 | Boards, Clients, and Where to StartThe series is designed to be experienced together.Chapters:00:00 Cold Open and Welcome01:49 Who Succession Planning Is Really For04:13 The People Lens on Systemic Change06:35 The Financial Case for Attending to the Human Side07:11 Letting Go: The Outgoing Leader's Identity Work08:42 Retirement, Mortality, and Designing Act III11:19 Loyalty vs. Respect During a Transition13:40 Culture as the Foundation Through Change14:43 The Peer to Leader Dynamic17:04 When the Founder Stays On18:15 The Financial Cost of Emotional Disruption20:38 Surveys, 360s, and the Difference Between Information and Feedback25:14 Drag and Drift on Talent Capability26:53 Functional vs. Psychological Readiness27:31 The White Space of the Org Chart30:13 Building Leaders Throughout the Organization34:11 Readiness, Standards, and High Performance Dynamics37:05 Financial Readiness for the Whole Organization38:43 Normalizing the Impact of Change41:36 Communication as the Discipline42:07 Org Design for Agility and Adaptability44:39 Giving Yourself and the Team Grace45:25 Pulse Checks and Knowing Your Teams46:16 Emotional Intelligence in Execution48:35 Mary's Closing Reflection on Succession and Performance50:59 Closing
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    52 分
  • Succession Planning Part 3 | Boards, Clients, and Where to Start

    Succession Planning Part 3 | Boards, Clients, and Where to Start
    2026/06/04
    In Episode 1, PBO Advisory's CEO Fran San Diego, CFO Jennifer Rebis, and CPO Nicole Devine introduced the framework PBO uses to help organizations build succession plans that work. In Episode 2, the team went deeper into the work of execution: the conversations most organizations avoid, the difference between tenure and readiness, and thefinancial discipline required to make development a capital investment. Episode 3 answers the questions most leaders want answered before theybegin.Host Joey McCoy is joined again by Fran, Jennifer, and Nicole to cover what sophisticated boards now expect beyond an org chart, why governance of risk is the lens boards bring tosuccession, how succession applies to client and referral relationships, and the simplest, most practical first steps any business owner can take to move from intention to action.The team also discusses why nonprofits benefit from a dedicated succession committee, how single point offailure relationships show up in due diligence and M&A activity (especially for founders whose relationships are central to the business), and why “start with the end in mind” is the question every founder needs to sit with before the succession plan can be built.If this episode resonated with you, subscribe and share it with a leader in your network who is navigating change.Visit pboadvisory.com to learn more about PBO's integrated approach to finance, people, and strategy, or to start a conversation with the team.Connect with PBO Advisory on LinkedIn for ongoing insights from Fran, Jennifer, Nicole, and the broader team.If you missed Episodes 1 and 2, find them in the show notes. The three episodes are designed to be experienced as a series.Chapters 00:30 - What Sophisticated Boards Expect01:15 - Where to Start at the Board Level02:37 - From Risk to Confidence and Governance04:47 - Succession at the Client Relationship Level05:37 - Mission Critical Roles and Risk Insulation08:26 - M&A, Due Diligence, and Client Stewardship09:15 - Referral Partners and Single Point of Failure Risk10:06 - Cross Training and Organizational Design10:28 - Where to Start: The Leadership Lens12:28 - Where to Start: The Financial Lens13:51 - Where to Start: The People Lens16:49 - Final Thoughts: Don't Be Overwhelmed17:41 - Final Thoughts: Be Proactive18:30 - Final Thoughts: Just Start19:35 - ClosingGuest Bios ⁠Francesca San Diego, CEO, PBO Advisory ⁠Fran leads PBO Advisory's integrated approach to finance, people, and strategy, advising CEOs and ownership groups through transitions, growth phases, and succession planning. ⁠Jennifer Rebis, CFO, PBO Advisory ⁠Jennifer brings the financial architecture to PBO's client engagements, including the modeling and capital allocation discipline required to make succession planning real. ⁠Nicole Devine, CPO, PBO Advisory ⁠Nicole leads PBO's people strategy work, including executive readiness assessment, culture continuity, and the development pathways that turn high potential leaders into ready ones. ⁠Joey McCoy, Host ⁠Joey moderates the PBO Perspectives podcast series. Links and ResourcesPBO Advisory websiteEpisode 1: Succession Planning — Authentic Insights from the C-SuiteEpisode 2: From Plan to Practice — The HonestConversations Behind Real Succession PlanningFran San Diego — Succession Planning as Strategic RenewalJennifer Rebis — The Financial Architecture of Succession PlanningNicole Devine — Succession Planning as Culture ContinuityConnect with PBO Advisory on LinkedIn
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    20 分
  • Succession Planning Part 2 | From Plan to Practice, the Honest Conversations Behind Execution

    Succession Planning Part 2 | From Plan to Practice, the Honest Conversations Behind Execution
    2026/05/27
    In Episode 1, PBO Advisory's CEO Fran San Diego, CFO Jennifer Rebis, and CPO Nicole Devine laid out the framework PBO uses to help organizations build succession plans that work. Episode 2 goes deeper into what it takes to execute that framework in practice. Host Joey McCoy sits back down with Fran, Jennifer, and Nicole to unpack the parts of succession planning most organizations avoid: the conversations about readiness that require separating contribution from potential, the gap between tenure and genuine executive capability, how culture continuity is preserved through leadership transitions, and the financial discipline required to treat development as a capital investment rather than a discretionary expense. The team also covers what boards and stakeholders need to see, why client relationship succession planning is one of the highest return investments an organization can make, and the specific first steps PBO recommends to any business owner who knows they need to start this work but hasn't yet. If succession planning is something your organization has been putting off, this conversation will give you the framework, the financial case, and the language you need to start. If this episode resonated with you, subscribe and share it with a leader in your network who is navigating change. Visit pboadvisory.com to learn more about PBO's integrated approach to finance, people, and strategy, or to start a conversation with the team. Connect with PBO Advisory on LinkedIn for ongoing insights from Fran, Jennifer, Nicole, and the broader team. Chapters 00:00 Welcome Back 00:30 Where We Left Off: Plan to Practice 03:04 The Conversations That Are Hard to Have 06:08 Coaching CEOs Through Hard Messages 08:22 The Financial Cost of Avoidance 09:29 Readiness vs. Tenure: The Honest Assessment 11:54 The Four Dimensions of Executive Readiness 13:16 What Development Looks Like in Practice 15:01 The CFO's Role in Building Financial Acumen 16:05 Surprises in Both Directions 18:05 Culture Continuity, What You Can and Cannot Transfer 20:20 Coaching CEOs on Culture 22:16 Culture as a Financial Asset 23:14 The Financial Discipline Behind Development 24:06 How Financial Framing Lands on the People Side 26:25 Allocating Development Resources Intentionally 27:54 Closing ReflectionsGuest Bios Francesca San Diego, CEO, PBO Advisory Fran leads PBO Advisory's integrated approach to finance, people, and strategy, advising CEOs and ownership groups through transitions, growth phases, and succession planning. Jennifer Rebis, CFO, PBO Advisory Jennifer brings the financial architecture to PBO's client engagements, including the modeling and capital allocation discipline required to make succession planning real. Nicole Devine, CPO, PBO Advisory Nicole leads PBO's people strategy work, including executive readiness assessment, culture continuity, and the development pathways that turn high potential leaders into ready ones. Joey McCoy, Host Joey moderates the PBO Perspectives podcast series. Links and Resources PBO Advisory websiteEpisode 1, Succession Planning Part 1Fran San Diego, Blog on Succession Planning as Strategic RenewalJennifer Rebis, Blog on the Financial Architecture of Succession PlanningNicole Devine, Blog on Succession Planning as Culture ContinuityConnect with PBO Advisory on LinkedIn
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    27 分
  • The Integration Imperative: Building Analytics That Actually Informs Decisions

    The Integration Imperative: Building Analytics That Actually Informs Decisions
    2026/05/01

    In Episode 1, PBO Advisory CEO Fran San Diego, Consulting CFO Leena Gupta, and Senior Finance Consultant and Human Capital Advisor Kristin Pantle established why analytics is a leadership discipline. In Episode 2, they go deeper into the practical mechanics of building it.

    This episode covers why financial and people data are structurally difficult to integrate - and what it actually takes to bridge that gap, the shift from lagging indicators to leading ones and why most organizations have not made it yet, the four types of analytics every leadership team needs to understand, and what PBO learned from going through this exercise themselves.

    The conversation closes with a discussion on AI: what it accelerates, what it cannot replace, and why data governance is the prerequisite for getting real value from it.


    CHAPTERS

    00:00 - Introduction and recap of Episode 1

    00:53 - Welcome back - Leena Gupta and Kristin Pantle

    01:06 - Why integration is structurally difficult for most organizations

    02:36 - What it takes to build the bridge between financial and people data

    03:20 - Why integration is a CFO imperative, not just an HR initiative

    04:14 - What integration looks like when it is actually working

    05:30 - Lagging vs. leading indicators: the distinction and why it matters

    06:21 - Why leading indicators are harder to build

    07:17 - Leading indicators on the human capital side

    08:37 - How leading indicators changed planning at PBO

    09:28 - The four types of analytics: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, prescriptive

    10:33 - Where most organizations actually sit on the analytics spectrum

    11:08 - Applying the four types to human capital decisions

    12:58 - Moving from HR reporting to human capital analytics

    14:30 - What PBO discovered when it restructured its own sales and marketing function

    16:15 - Making financial model assumptions explicit and testing them

    17:09 - Building predictive and prescriptive human capital capability

    18:06 - When data becomes an objective narrator instead of a point of debate

    19:18 - Where AI fits in integrated analytics

    20:15 - Why data governance is the prerequisite for getting real value from AI

    21:15 - The permanent role of human judgment that AI cannot replace

    22:03 - Closing insights: we are not in a data shortage, we are in an alignment shortage

    22:59 - Final thoughts from Leena: start with one assumption and make it explicit

    23:25 - Final thoughts from Kristin: you can't copy a leadership team that makes better decisions

    23:54 - Close and where to find resources


    RESOURCES

    Learn more about PBO Advisory Group: pboadvisory.com

    Episode 1 - Analytics as a Leadership Discipline: available now
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    23 分
  • Business Analytics as a Leadership Discipline

    Business Analytics as a Leadership Discipline
    2026/04/03

    Every leadership team has more data than ever. Most are still making decisions on instinct. In this episode, PBO Advisory CEO Fran San Diego sits down with Consulting CFO Leena Gupta and Senior Finance Consultant and Human Capital Advisor Kristin Pantle to explore why the data advantage so rarely translates into better decisions - and what it actually takes to close that gap.

    This is Episode 1 of a two-part series on business analytics as a leadership discipline. The conversation covers how financial and people data need to be integrated, why data governance is the unglamorous work that makes everything else possible, and the specific metrics that turn HR conversations into capital allocation conversations.

    Episode 2 drops May 1st.


    CHAPTERS

    00:00 - Introduction

    01:19 - Welcome - Leena Gupta and Kristin Pantle

    01:34 - Having data vs. making better decisions

    02:37 - The hidden assumptions inside every financial model

    03:39 - The gap between financial and people data

    04:33 - Analytics as a leadership discipline, not a tech project

    05:57 - Three layers of analytics capability: outcomes, governance, and judgment

    07:58 - Why data governance is unglamorous but essential

    09:00 - The open roles example: when both teams are right and neither knows it

    10:11 - How PBO aligned definitions across its own sales and marketing team

    11:23 - How the CFO role has evolved from reporting to modeling the future

    12:33 - Why culture changes before systems do

    13:16 - Treating human capital as a financial investment

    14:16 - How analytics changed decision-making at PBO

    16:34 - Analytics does not replace instinct - it makes instinct better

    18:33 - What boards and investors now expect from the CFO

    19:18 - Surfacing and stress testing the human capital assumption

    20:17 - Analytics is a team sport, not a finance project

    21:21 - What organizations are missing: connecting people decisions to financial outcomes

    22:04 - The metrics that matter: revenue per employee, speed to productivity, talent market constraints

    23:39 - Turning HR updates into capital allocation conversations

    24:27 - How human capital data improves financial modeling

    24:53 - Practical advice: start with the outcome, not the dashboard

    26:06 - Invest in your data foundation before your analytics tools

    27:27 - Put your CFO and HR leader in the same room and compare their answers

    28:22 - Closing and preview of Episode 2


    RESOURCES

    Learn more about PBO Advisory Group: pboadvisory.com
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    26 分
  • Succession Planning Part 1 | Authentic Insights from the C-Suite

    Succession Planning Part 1 | Authentic Insights from the C-Suite
    2026/02/16

    What does succession planning look like when the leadership team does it themselves? In this candid episode of PBO Perspectives, host Joey McCoy sits down with PBO Advisory's executive team - Francesca San Diego (CEO), Jennifer Rebis (CFO), and Nicole Devine (CPO) - as they pull back the curtain on their own succession planning process.


    This isn't theoretical advice. It's a vulnerable, real-world conversation about how PBO is actively planning for leadership transitions while maintaining the strategic alignment of their two largest resources: People and Money. You'll hear how they're defining the right seats for future leaders, financially modeling succession scenarios, and ensuring continuity of their competitive advantage.


    Key Topics Discussed

    • The 2025 Retrospective: Navigating uncertainty during succession planning
    • The Right Seats Framework: Defining leadership roles before identifying successors
    • Financial Modeling: Calculating the cost and ROI of succession transitions
    • Year-End Succession Audits: PTO planning, KPIs, and leadership readiness
    • Building a Succession-Ready Organization for 2026


    Chapters

    (00:00) Introduction

    (00:49) The 2025 Market Recap: How Uncertainty Impacts Succession Planning

    (02:46) The Right Seats Framework: Designing Leadership Roles First

    (05:53) Why Succession Planning Requires Finance & HR Alignment

    (07:36) Financial Modeling: The True Cost of Leadership Transitions

    (15:20) Setting Up Successors for Success: Forecasting & KPIs

    (19:13) Executive Advice for Succession Planning in 2026


    Links & Resources

    • Articles & Podcast on Year-End Planning & Succession
    • Francesca San Diego, CEO
    • Jennifer Rebis, CFO
    • Nicole Devine, CPO
    • Visit our website: pboadvisory.com
    • Connect with us on LinkedIn


    Ready to build a sustainable succession plan that protects your business legacy?

    Visit pboadvisory.com
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    25 分