Meet John Beck
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Prior to starting KCH Business Solutions, John's business background included serving in roles of President, Chief Operating Officer and/or Chief Financial Officer with a consistent track record of success in diverse industries.
Industries served in these capacities have included:
One of the added services John can bring to a client, is that he has walked in the same shoes as they have and can bring a big picture perspective knowledge in knowing what it takes to successfully run a small business. John has demonstrated abilities to implement sound operational and administrative procedures, streamline operations, improve financial reporting/forecasting, leverage technology for maximum efficiency, and schedule/coordinate complex projects for on-time, on-budget completion in high volume, 24/5 environments.
3/16/2010 - John testifying before the Maryland Judicary Committee on the rise of embezzlement in small businesses.
Mr. Beck has a unique perspective of organizational dynamics gained through broad experiences "in-the-trenches" and at the highest management levels facilitates effective strategic planning, team building, and process improvement efforts. He has been a "Go-to" executive routinely charged to establish structure and vision for rapid growth or struggling organizations, turn around losing operations to profitability, and resolve major financial and/or legal challenges.
2007 Frederick Chamber of Commerce Ambassador of the Year
Lori Friedman presents the Frederick County Ambassador of the Year Award to John Beck of KCH Business Solutions. The award notes outstanding service to the chamber, especially in helping new members to become involved and stay connected.
Article in the Frederick Gazette on April 1, 2010
Beck helps firms keep it straight
Firm offers bookkeeping, other services by Jo Taylor | Special to The Gazette
John Beck, who provides bookkeeping, strategic planning and troubleshooting for small businesses in Mount Airy and Frederick, walks the walk.
As president of a legal transcription company before establishing KCH Business Solutions in 2006, he said, "I'm your true small-business person. I know what these small businesses go through. I can feel exactly their pain."
Beck, 43, said the recession really didn't affect his business. In fact, "I saw business pick up," he said. "It has grown every year and it's been phenomenal in the past two years because my name has gotten out there."
Beck, who declined to disclose revenues, said he charges a $75 an hour for all his services.
According to his company's Web site, "It's a known fact that 80 percent of the businesses that start today will close their doors in five years. Of the 20 percent remaining, 80 percent of them will shut down within the next five years ... The most common causes of business failure are the lack of successful customer acquisition and retention systems and the lack of effective and efficient business management practices." Like many of his clients, Beck works out of his Mount Airy home, often at odd hours. "I'd work seven days a week because I enjoy it. I wouldn't trade it for the work," he said. The vast majority of his clients are limited liability corporations, with all tax liability of the business passing directly to the investors or, in most cases, the sole owner.
In the yearly run-up to tax time, Beck works closely with a number of certified public accountants, readying books for tax preparation. Having Beck do the bookkeeping saves clients money for the preparation work, said Robert S. Bender, a CPA with Aronson & Co. in Rockville, who refers clients to Beck.
"He's very passionate about producing a high-quality product," Bender said of Beck. "Everything we've done, without exception, has turned out beautifully."
Beck says even highly successful small businesses often fail to keep receipts or misclassify expenses. "You can't get an accurate financial statement if you have no idea what you've spent," he said.
During more than 20 years in business, Beck has worked with auto dealerships, cell phone distributors and event planning companies, plus those in landscape, construction, printing and video work.
One client, a kennel owner, had failed to save receipts for the dog food that represented a large portion of his operating costs; his previous bookkeeper had simply recorded the amounts spent.
Beck's simple solution: envelopes in both office and truck for the receipts. A year and a half ago, he was brought in to examine the books of a Frederick business that had suffered a $700,000 embezzlement by its bookkeeper over 21/2 years. "John stepped in and straightened it out. He found it all," said one of Beck's clients, Frederick businessman David MacFadyen of ihirejobnetwork.com, which matches employers with prospective employees. "He is very financially centered and a solid thinker. Within the realm of finance, he's a big-picture guy."
Beck said he was infuriated to find that the bookkeeper had embezzled before and that the record had been expunged because she had made restitution to her victims. As a result, he has become the driving force behind legislation that would keep all embezzlement charges in the public record.
"I couldn't believe you could have a record like that expunged," he says. "It made me sick to my stomach."
Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to embezzlement because they lack the internal controls that would catch the accounting hanky-panky and because "these businesses trust their bookkeepers," Beck said.
"It's a problem with a growing company," MacFadyen said. "You think you're doing good," based on a false record. Once the embezzlement stops, "you find out how good your business is really doing."
Beck advises companies to never allow their bookkeepers to sign checks or give them a signature stamp because there is no way of knowing if the person has a record of this kind of theft.
"Once someone has done it once, they'll do it again," he said.
Beck, originally from Rockville, said he fell in love with Mount Airy when he came to town for a softball tournament 17 years ago and "I've been in love with it ever since."
He and his wife soon moved from their Germantown townhouse to the Mount Airy home they share with their 11-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter.
The fiercely competitive Beck said he gave up baseball when he turned 39 and his children started sports, but he is planning a comeback this summer in the St. Ignatius church league.
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