Growing Your Business

The 4 Best Ways to Utilize Your Accountant

The 4 Best Ways to Utilize Your Accountant

An unfortunately large number of business owners seem to equate accountants with tax season and little else. While it's true that financial professionals can definitely help make sure all of your tax documents are in order, or they can help you manage your payroll, or they can help check your math in a plethora of other ways - this isn't the end of the services they can provide. In fact, it's only the beginning.

If you really want to make sure you're utilizing your accountant to the best possible advantage for your small or medium-sized business, you'll want to keep a few core things in mind.

Involve Your Accountant At ALL Major Business Milestones

The single-best way to make sure that you're utilizing your accountant in the right way is to make sure they're involved at ALL major business milestones. While this process begins at the formation of your business, it certainly doesn't stop there. As you establish your business model, you'll also need to determine financing.

  • How much money do you need to get up and running?
  • How long can you go before you MUST start turning a profit?
  • What KPIs (key performance indicators) are you tracking to help guide your progress along the way?

Your accountant can be a close confidant throughout all of these milestones. Remember - they do a lot more than just make sure that every cent you spend is accounted for. With their insight and invaluable expertise, they can help make sure those cents are going to the right places as well.

Let Your Accountant Help You Grow

Another one of the best ways to properly utilize your accountant involves what happens as your business continues to grow and evolve over time. Let your accountant help guide you not just once you've already spent money but BEFORE you've spent it.  They can help reveal new and interesting ways to increase your profit margin. They can take a look at how much you're spending to produce or market your products or services, identifying new opportunities for growth (either by increasing prices or by saving money elsewhere) that may have otherwise gone unrecognized.

Other Key Metrics

Another one of the primary ways to help properly utilize your accountant is to let them help you track other key metrics like customer lifetime value. If you have a high-value customer, that's great - but if you're spending far too much time and money on them, you're potentially leaving a lot of money on the table elsewhere. An accountant can help you manage ALL of these ideas, helping to make sure you're not only putting your money where it can do the most good but to help guarantee you're focusing all of your other efforts in the right places as well.

In the End

Perhaps the most important takeaway from all of this is that the role of accountants in business (especially in terms of small and medium-sized businesses) is evolving right before our very eyes. Gone are the days where accountants are seen as "number crunchers," doing what they can to make sure that you don't wind up on the receiving end of an audit at the close of the fiscal year.

Instead, they're playing a pivotal role in ALL major business milestones, from the moment you form to the important strategic decision you're about to make tomorrow. They're providing more and more CFO-style advice on a daily basis, which is why it's so essential to work with them constantly throughout the year - or you might end up making a decision that you can't take back.

share this post
Search for matches...
Frank Jenkins Jr

Frank Jenkins Jr

Frank Jenkins Jr. is the managing partner of Adams, Jenkins & Cheatham, a CPA practice based in Midlothian, VA. Frank specializes in Consulting services, tax planning, accounting, audit & assurances. "I genuinely care about our clients because I have a personal connection with them. This job requires me to multi-task and work under tight deadlines. I get great professional satisfaction from balancing firm and client commitments while building a strong team here at AJC."

ADAMS, JENKINS & CHEATHAM
0 reviews

Virginia

Recommended Professionals

In the face of economic uncertainty, TaxBuzz is the industry's most up-to-date tax information.

Join 60,000 who get our weekly newsletter. No spam.

We know tax and accounting issues are complicated.

Do you have additional questions on this topic for this author?

Related Posts

Latest Posts