What We Do

Want to improve profitability? Pacific Business Solutions evaluates and creates opportunities that will improve cash flow for global manufacturing, distribution, and service companies, both high and low tech.
In addition, Paul provides training, both on-line and in-house for clients in financial statement analysis, business credit, negotiating, international country risk management.

Paul Beretz, Managing Director of Pacific Business Solutions, has successfully capitalized on more than thirty years of business experience providing the following results:

1. Start-up to middle market sized companies:

• Initiated tactical and strategic processes for automotive service/wholesale-oriented, twenty-five year old company; guided the new president and three key operations managers to evaluate the needs of the market place and competition, establish personnel performance measures and utilize budgeting and forecasting tools.
• Established accounts receivable goals and process improvements for a thirty-year old floor covering distributor; evaluated capabilities of finance and operations organization; instigated an "order to collect" task force that improved customer satisfaction and accounts receivable quality and collections by twenty percent.
• Drove and mediated a successful buy-out between two partners of an established, fifty-year old company specializing in fluid handling and sale of processing equipment (a buy-out that had been stalled for two years due to the inability of the partners to agree on the terms).
• Formulated an approach and identified issues for a start-up subsidiary of a Fortune 50 company that wanted to establish an on-line auction of accounts receivable.
• Created and led management team-building process for a franchise of a national company serving the postal and communication sector; facilitated and established action plans including understanding the business culture, customer feedback and recognizing growing pains that are consistent with an expanding operation.
• Edited and enhanced web site content of a fast-growing organization that assists exporters in expediting documentary payments.

2. Middle market + companies:

• Formulated a "best practice" strategy to identify and improve processes negatively impacting the accounts receivable for a $1B software provider - the result? Reduced DSO (days sales outstanding) by ten days in one quarter; reorganized the department and re-defined and created new departmental job descriptions; authored a "desk procedure" for world-wide operations which provided - for the first time - a consistency in understanding and maximizing the credit and collection process.
• Provided expertise to resolving accounts receivable issues resulting from the merger of two multi-$ B, global manufacturers; assisted the Integration Team to develop world-wide action plans impacting personnel, facility locations and the accounts receivable process.

3. International:

• Provided guidance and recommendations to several multi-$B companies in the recognition of economic, country, and cultural issues fundamental to selling products and services in Pacific Rim countries.
• Retained by an international trade association to give seminar on "Expect the Unexpected - Selling Overseas."
• Presented several company in-house and on-line training program covering international credit risk management.
  

4. Systems/Enterprise Resource Planning:

• Founded and act as facilitator for an organization for companies in northern California who desire to enhance their understanding and application of the Oracle Order Entry and Accounts Receivable module (the group, Bay Area Oracle Receivable User Group, is recognized as a "SIG" (Special Interest Group) by the Oracle Corp.
• Retained to present a program to a global organization entitled "How to Prepare for an ERP installation or Upgrade" (My article on the subject was published in Business Credit magazine, the January 2000 issue).

Contact Pacific Business Solutions

Export - Import Bank of the US

I was re-appointed for a second year to the Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. for 2008-2009. The committee's primary task is to advise the Bank concerning its programs, especially with respect to competitiveness. The committee has been considering a number of areas of opportunity, including identifying the strategies and mechanisms to enable exporters to stay competitive in today's global marketplace. The picture above was taken with the Honorable Jim Lambright, Chairman and President of Ex-Im.

California Business Credit Executive of 2008, Presented by CMA

What an honor to receive the "Credit Executive of the Year" award for 2008" from CMA! I am really humbled by the recognition and now able to join the ranks of past CMA credit execs of the year.
I've spent all of my business life in and around credit management and this award is truly one that I will treasure. Much of my life has been devoted to education - first as an avocation when I was in the corporate world, and now as a vocation as I begin my tenth year in consulting. Besides the undergraduate and graduate programs I teach, I'm very pleased to have been involved in both the development and instruction for on line, certificate eduction. This would include the FCIB International Risk Management program as well as CMA's courses in Business Credit Principles, Financial Statement Analysis and Interpretation and Credit Risk Assessment.
It's a pleasure working with CMA, a vibrant association that is taking the lead in providing timely, on-line education for credit and business professionals.

New Edition of Trade Guide for Exporters Released

In April 2008, due to the excellent reception by US exporters to the first edition of the Trade Finance Guide, the second edition of the Trade Guide was released.

Since its release in April 2007, over 5,000 printed copies of the Trade Finance Guide (TFG) have been distributed to the public and its online version has been downloaded more than 20,000 times from the US Commerce Department website. The second edition includes a new chapter on foreign exchange risk management as well as updates to all of the other chapters. The additional content is in response to the interest expressed by a number of SMEs (small, medium size enterprises) that wish to export more efficiently in foreign currencies by mitigating the risk of currency exchange loss.

At the request of the U.S. Departmentt of Commerce, I provided overall guidance in the development of this update as I did for the first edition. I worked very closely in the editing with the project manager for the Guide, a senior Commerce employee, who was a student of mine a few years ago in the FCIB on line risk management course.

Q4 2007 Noteworthy Events

Washington, DC: I was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the Under Secretary for International Trade of the U.S. Department of Commerce for my contributions to the Trade Finance Guide, a reference publication produced by the Commerce Department to assist U.S. exporters.

I was elected to a three-year term on the Advisory Board of FCIB beginning in 2007. With FCIB having over 1,000 member-firms in 55 countries, the board will address the continuing development of educational programs while expanding global areas that provide solutions to international business concerns of its members.