GWI Case Study

Great Works Internet

Great Works Internet
Biddeford, ME (1998 - 2002)
     Chief Financial Officer, Board Member (variable hours, 10 hrs/wk to full-time) - In early 1998, Great Works Internet was a company in crisis. Chairman Fletcher Kittredge and President TC Hazzard had just had to fire their controller, after discovering that he had embezzled many thousands of dollars, abused Company credit cards and stolen other Company property. The accounting records were now in the hands of the billing department manager (a capable young manager, though still a college student) and the Company was showing greater profits than anyone believed it should. To re-establish financial control and to regain confidence in the financial information he was receiving, Kittredge turned to Clint Marshall. Capitalizing on Marshall’s twenty years of small business systems and management experience, Kittredge saw an opportunity to add depth and maturity to his ranks, while resolving the current confusion.
     As Chief Financial Officer, Marshall’s first priority was to ensure that all bills were paid and that the Company’s accounting records were accurate. This necessitated an account-by-account reconciliation of all vendor accounts in coordination with a complete audit of the general ledger. When this analysis uncovered dozens of unrecorded accounts payable, it became evident that the recently filed income tax returns dramatically overstated the GWI’s profitability. A conversion to the Peachtree Accounting System allowed an opportunity to establish a new, clean set of records and provided the basis for amending the 1998 tax returns. Unfortunately, the filing of an amended return, dramatically reducing net income and requesting a substantial tax refund, generated a IRS audit. Marshall then guided the new accounting manager to successful completion of the audit with absolutely no adjustment – the books now were as accurate and well documented as they could be under the circumstances and the auditor could find nothing to recover!
     In another step toward improving the information flow to GWI's executives, Marshall developed a comprehensive departmental budgeting and reporting system and then went still further by developing a new set of financial and operational reports to provide current, accurate measurements of the business’ performance. In other thrusts to improve the business’ operations, he negotiated new telephone service contracts and researched and installed an innovative, IP-based telephone system. The combination of these two actions shaved nearly fifty percent off of the Company’s monthly telephone charges.
     Perhaps Marshall’s most important contribution at GWI was the creation of a stock option program, fulfilling the founder’s dream and a promise made in late 1997. This option plan, implemented in late 1999, provides long term incentives to employees while aligning their interests as owners of the Company. A great success, over half of all employees participate in the plan and more become shareholders each quarter.
     Other important efforts having long-term benefits for GWI included Marshall's efforts to negotiate partnership agreements, explore new initiatives, and review of potential acquisitions. Marshall was even responsible for developing a formal Board of Directors to which he was later elected.
     Finally, in a year of leading Sales and Marketing for the organization, Marshall called upon his business school training to upgrade the sales team with better systems and a new incentive plan. He then dramatically expanded the scope and quality of the marketing effort, hired professional sales and marketing talent to lead the re-invigorated effort, and catapulted the Company to successive 40% sales increases with a new pricing program.
     Marshall’s critical role in bringing GWI to stability and maturity earned him a seat on the Board of Directors. His efforts to proceduralize his duties, combined with his success in increasing both sales and profitability, enabled the Company to hire full-time talent to take over his responsibilities. After his departure from day-to-day operations, Marshall continued to serve on the Board of Directors of Great Works Internet, where he was a member of the Executive Compensation and Audit Committees.

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