Learn to Understand Your Funeral Home’s Finances: NFDA to Host Business Conference
Brookfield, Wis. – Created especially for small to mid-size funeral home businesses, the new National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) Business Conference will arm funeral professionals with updated, essential business knowledge and tools to ensure growth, profitability and financial strength. It will be held May 6-7 at the association’s headquarters in Brookfield, Wis.
During this highly interactive conference, attendees will learn from top experts who will help them make sense of their funeral home’s financial picture. Participants will engage with experts and fellow conference attendees in breakout discussions and roundtable sessions. In addition, attendees can network in a social setting while they enjoy a Milwaukee Brewers/Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game at Miller Park.
With many years of experience providing compassionate service to families under their belt, funeral home owners and managers often feel confident in their ability to care for the bereaved. However, managing a funeral home’s finances can be overwhelming.
“By the time funeral directors become owners or managers, the few business and accounting courses we took in school are a distant memory and don’t always reflect current best practices,” said NFDA President Robert Moore IV, CFSP, CCO. “We want to offer funeral professionals practical finance and business management knowledge in a fun and collaborative format that will help their funeral home succeed for generations to come.”
The NFDA Business Conference will be led by three highly-knowledgeable, successful and very engaging business management and financial authorities:
- Robert L. Buhrig Jr., CFSP, CPC, began his career in funeral service in 1987; in 2011, he became the owner and operator of Myer-Buhrig Funeral Home and Crematory in Mechanicsburg, Penn. He has successfully grown his funeral home, which is more than 105 years old, by adding a crematorium, café and reception facilities, a full-service monument business, and more.
- William McQueen, LFD, CPA, JD, LLM, partner at McQueen & Siddall in St. Petersburg, Fla., is a licensed funeral director and embalmer, CFSP, and attorney who focuses on estate planning, business succession planning, and wealth and legacy protection. Bill was president and CEO of Anderson-McQueen Funeral Homes for nearly 20 years.
- Steve Shaffer, chief operating officer of Homesteaders Life Company, West Des Moines, Iowa, is a well-known and influential executive in funeral service. Prior to joining Homesteaders, he co-founded and served as president and CEO of Foundation Partners Group. In addition, he serves as chairperson of the Funeral Service Foundation’s board of trustees.
Together these three experts will explore:
- The financial statements, reports and ratios that are most important to funeral businesses and how to understand them
- Financial needs valuation analyses
- Family business exit planning
- Financial disaster management
- How to expand a funeral business through organic growth or acquisitions
- And much more
“Focusing on service to families is a given for us, but if we don’t also pay attention to and fully understand our firm’s finances, our businesses may not survive,” said Moore. “Sometimes you need to work on your business in addition to working in your business. The NFDA Business Conference will give you the practical knowledge you need to confidently manage your firm’s finances and ensure it will stand the test of time. ”
Registration for the NFDA Business Conference includes handouts, lunch and refreshments. Your conference registration also includes a trip to Miller Park to see the Milwaukee Brewers take on the Los Angeles Dodgers the evening of May 6. The Miller Park outing includes a game ticket, transportation to and from the ballpark, a delicious buffet dinner, unlimited soft drinks and two beers per adult registrant. Additional game tickets may be purchased for guests of conference attendees.
| On or before April 10 | After April 10 | |
| NFDA Member
(Miller Park outing included) |
$475 | $525 |
| Nonmember
(Miller Park outing included) |
$650 | $700 |
| Additional Baseball Ticket* | $80 | $110 |
| * Includes a game ticket, transportation to and from the ballpark, a delicious buffet, unlimited soft drinks and two beers per adult. | ||
The Brookfield Suites Hotel, located just minutes away from NFDA Headquarters, offers you comfort and a host of amenities including a complementary cooked-to-order hot breakfast each morning and a complementary manager’s reception with beverages and snacks each evening. NFDA has secured a limited number of rooms at the Brookfield Suites Hotel for the discounted rate of $95 plus tax. Attendees should call the Brookfield Suites at 262-782-2900 and mention the NFDA Business Conference when making their reservation. Reservations must be made by April 15 to take advantage of this special rate.
For more information about the business conference or to register, visit www.nfda.org/businessconference or call 800-228-6332.
NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving 18,500 individual members who represent nearly 10,000 funeral homes in the United States and 43 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.nfda.org.
