Most, if not all, of the decisions you make as a business owner have a financial impact. If you don’t have a professional CPA as your trusted business advisor, you may be making decisions without considering all the pertinent facts. Some of the areas where this could be relevant:
- Lease vs Buy decisions: This could be anything from a copier to your IT infrastructure. The world is constantly evolving and providing new options for you to choose from.
- Leasing of an office or building space: Long term commitments of big dollars need I say more.
- Contract review with customers and with vendors: Are you sure you can comply with the terms spelled out, possibly in the fine print?
- Outsourcing of labor or services: A variant of the lease vs buy decision with additional compliance components for payroll.
- What are the tax implications of the plan you have in mind?
- Do you have compliance needs, such as bank loan covenants or investor metrics, and need help with monitoring and reporting on these? Do you know how to measure them and manage toward them?
More than just accounting
Before starting my own accounting practice, I spent 10 years in industry – that is, working as a senior member of the finance team of several small and medium sized businesses. Partnering with operations, vendors, customers, sales, and others outside of finance was my biggest and most important role. I’m skilled and experienced in breaking financial issues down into non-financial terms and asking the key questions needed to help you see the path ahead for your business. Those years in industry taught me how to communicate across disciplines, and affords me a perspective very different from other CPAs who have spent their entire careers in client service. Some of the skills needed to run a business that probably drive you crazy, but which I have direct experience with include:
- How to track sales for key products and customers,
- Track and collect on accounts receivable
- Monitor sales pipelines and forecasts
- Develop, implement and monitor budgets and budget vs actual performance
Small Business Consulting
If you don’t have a professional accountant on staff (usually with the title of Controller) to help you weave through the maze, you may be spending a lot more time on administrative functions and less time with your customers or clients. Many CFOs come from the world of finance and aren’t as comfortable with accounting or taxes. The services we provide include on-demand as well as part-time recurring assistance. It might surprise you to find out that the cost of asking for help on the front end is usually less than the cost of fixing a problem after its happened. All of the services available are customized and tailored to YOUR business needs, and we can spend as little or as much time as you wish. Much of the work can be done remotely and it would all be without the hassle of adding another payroll head since I’m a vendor not an employee.
With over 25 years of experience overall, including 17 years as a licensed CPA, you can rest easy knowing you’re working with someone who’s been there before.