Appointing a good accountant can help your business succeed. That might be obvious to some business owners. But other entrepreneurs appear to believe that accountants are simply about tax deadlines and other compliance matters.
A study by Sage, called Count on Accountants, recently found that fewer than half of SME business owners ever use their accountant for strategic business guidance. And only a third said they’d spoken to their accountant when starting up.
But if you have a good accountant, they can give you wise advice. And that will help free up your time to build your business successfully.
One of our clients was doing a great job in keeping their accountants and filing on time. But the problem was that it was diverting all her attention from the strategic part of running the company.
Giving you time to help your business succeed
Once that client invited us to take over the tasks that were monopolising their time, we were able to help them use it better. Rather than working flat out, they had time to think and plan.
Of course, there is a myth that a good entrepreneur must be a busy one. But what are they busy doing? Is that busyness productive? Apparently, not according to an article in Forbes magazine!
That misconception means many business owners feel that if they aren’t working 50 or more hours a week and weekends, they aren’t successful.
And that’s backed up by a survey last month that revealed 70% of entrepreneurs feel guilty about taking time off. Researcher from Uswitch interviewed 1,000 small business owners. Almost half said they were ‘somewhat guilty’ about having time off. Almost a quarter felt ‘very guilty’.
Much of the pressure, it seems, is that SME owners feel most overwhelmed by the time they spend on financial tasks. Managing cash flow and chasing late payments were just some of the financial stresses faced.
How we can help your business succeed
Accountants are not just there for year-end accounts. We can help your business in many ways that helps your company succeed. And that also means it gives you time to focus on other things, such as taking some time off! But how do we do that?
Financial planning
One of the most difficult tasks for business owners is understanding cash flow. Getting a clear picture of what money is coming in and out helps manage your operations. This helps to keep your business running smoothly by keeping things stable. It also helps you plan for future investment and adding new services or goods.
Even the most experienced business owner can miss cash flow issues, which is where accountants come into their own.
Growth advice
Growing a business is exciting and can be worrying at the same time. If you don’t plan it properly, then you could be putting your finances at risk.
Having a good accountant helps you grow your business by taking time to get to know you and your business. Understanding your goals means they can advise you on how to get the most from your resources to achieve growth.
It could mean advising on financial planning or how to price your goods and services. Good accountants also help identify potential risks that come with growth. By understanding them in the first place, you can plan ahead should they arise.
Simply pushing ahead without involving someone with financial experience could cost you in the long run.
Financing
As we’ve mentioned, growing your business means you may need to look at your finances. Do you need bridging loans? Should you consolidate your current debt? Whatever the question, an accountant can look at your finances and give you the best advice.
Getting your finances wrong could jeopardise growth or even worse, your entire business!
Freeing your time
Allowing an accountant to keep track of your finances frees up your time. This means you can focus on working on your business rather than working in it. And because you are able to devote more time on your business and your business goals.
And if that goal is to spend every Friday on the golf course, then not being swamped with financial issues means you’ll be able to do that.
How we can help
We’re an accountancy business that always focuses on our clients’ success. By using Concept Accountancy, we can give you back the time you lost on growing your business. Contact us today to find out how we can help.
