Building a successful business over time takes consistency and dedication. Your team and day-to-day accounting operations are working well to deliver the business’s current level of success.
Now you are ready to level up! Working with a client advisory accountant and outsourcing accounting will fill in the gaps and provide the extra support for you and your current accounting team need to grow your business and achieve your goals.
Filling in the gaps:
1. Accurate financials are needed for financing and supporting growth and expansion.
Challenge: Investors and bankers request financials to decide on lending options.
Many successful businesses are focused on operations and logistics to build the business. Basic in-house accounting serves to process routine transactions, but limited attention may be placed on how accurately and how completely the financials reflect the current status of the business.
Solution: An accounting advisor will review the Financial Statements regularly. They will work with your current accounting team by providing ongoing oversight, training, and on-demand support. Accounting policies and procedures will be created to ensure the day-to-day activities are handled efficiently and accurately thus supporting ongoing reliability of the Financials.
2. Reviewing Financials to understand the business.
Challenge: Understanding the Financial Statements
There are so many reporting tools that are needed when running a business that are not necessarily accounting-related and financials become an underutilized tool.
Solution: Meeting with an accounting advisor monthly or quarterly will give you insights into how your business is doing. You will receive the benefits of an experienced controller and/or CFO to expand the information your financials provide. You will begin to see trends and spot issues before they become problems. Additionally, you and your advisor can set goals and regularly review and adjust the targets.
3. Creating Cash projections
Challenge: Ensuring the business has enough available cash to meet current demands and fund growth goals.
Access and availability of cash are vital for the continuation and expansion of the business.
Solution: An accounting advisor can analyze cash flow trends and projections to spot possible cash availability issues. The advisor will use current financial data and project how much money will be available for immediate concerns such as payroll and operational costs. The information can also provide a timeline for when additional capital might be needed. Cash flow projections are dynamic, and you will work with your advisor so that it is updated on a timely basis as changes occur in the business.
4. Creating a Budget or Spending Plan
Challenge: Identifying whether resources are being used as planned to support company objectives.
A working budget can support business goals and give a framework for spending decisions.
Solution: Through collaboration with company management your accounting advisor will help create budgets to support the company’s strategic goals, both short- and long-term. Just like any predictive tool, budgets should be reviewed periodically with your accounting advisor to identify significant findings, plan for corrections or adjustments, and when necessary, re-evaluate the targets.
5. Cost Analysis of your current business and expansion
Challenge: Determining that new capital commitments are beneficial.
There are always risks in any money decisions. Using a cost analysis report can be helpful to review different spending decisions and the possible outcomes.
Solution: An accounting advisor can work with you to create a cost benefit analysis of potential capital outlays thus providing insights into the return on your investment. Different scenarios can be analyzed to identify the best choice for your business investment.
An accounting advisor is another member of your team that can seamlessly fill in the gaps in your current financial and accounting systems. The advisor’s broad knowledge and access to the collective knowledge of an accounting firm create a unique partnership with you and your growing business and is available any time to support you, your team, and the success of your business.
Reach out to LSL CPAs today to discuss how we can provide you and your team with this support!
