Solutions for your business

Growth Potential

Your accountant should do more than advise and complete your tax return; they should help you grow your business.

By leveraging their expertise and understanding of business finance, a growth accountant will help you identify opportunities and will not just discuss past performance but will be pro-active in helping you plan for your future.

Your growth accountant will give you practical real-world advice and strategies to help you every step of the way.

Exit Planning

That you will Exit is inevitable, planning for success should be an integral part of your Business Plan from day one.

Your accountant should be instrumental in helping you prepare for a successful exit, whether via sale, merger, or succession planning. They should be assisting you by valuing your business, helping you ensure it is sellable, and making sure you and those you care about avoid paying too much tax when you do exit.

A business growth accountant will regularly discuss and help you update your exit plan as circumstances change.

Profit & Cash

Whether you want to grow or not, your accountant should help you increase profitability and improve cash flow.

A pro-active accountant will discuss various strategies to help you achieve your objectives, be that spending more time with family, or scaling and taking your business to the next level by helping you understand where things are going well, and where they are not, and helping you model various growth strategies.

When your accountant is pro-active in these areas, they will be an invaluable asset and help you drive your business forward.

Forecasting

A robust plan, and a detailed financial forecast is critical for effective management and control.

Your forecast puts you in control, always knowing your cash flow position, so you are never caught unawares. Your forecast forms the basis of your Management Information, allowing you to track and report Performance vs Forecast and when necessary, demonstrating to banks, investors, and other stakeholders that you are totally in control.

This allows you to sleep soundly, minimise risk and jump on opportunities as soon as they arise.

Strategic Tax Planning

Tax liabilities should never be a surprise, they should be a part of your plan and your forecast.

Some tax strategies need to be in place years in advance, and your accountant should take time to understand your goals and your time scale to help you identify legitimate tax mitigation strategies that ensure you pay the tax you owe, without paying a tip. Get this right and you can significantly increase your bottom line and free up capital for reinvestment.

Tax planning should be an ongoing activity that is kept under continual review.

Performance Review

Regularly reviewing your financial performance with your Growth Accountant invariably identifies opportunities.

It is not about the numbers, it is all about the actions that drive the numbers because at the end of the day, revenue, profit, cash, and the value of your business are outputs.

To improve and grow you need to focus on what matters, and that is the inputs: Number of Transactions and Average Transaction Value, Customers Acquired and Customers Lost, Gross Margin, Overhead Costs and your Cash Flow Drivers: Debtor Days, Creditor Days and Stock Days.

Business Education

If your accountant does not offer financial, business growth or exit planning training and education, you almost certainly have the wrong accountant.

In a world where the vast majority of entrepreneurs learn a trade, but don’t learn how to run a business, it is critical you and your management team are able to access good quality education and training on financial management and how to grow, scale and exit successfully.

Growing your business should be a logical, step-by-step process. It’s easy when you know how, impossible when you don’t…

Systems & Process

If you don’t have clearly defined systems and processes, it is impossible to scale beyond a certain point.

Your accountant should help you establish robust financial systems and controls to ensure your financial management is sound and fit for purpose. If they do not obsess about the need for documented, repeatable systems and processes for all your key functions and activities, guess what… you have the wrong accountant.

Systems and process are key to stress free, controlled, and enjoyable growth, the alternative is chaos…

Outsource Finance

Fact: For most SMEs, your financial staff are not the best, they rarely use the best (or any) automation software, and you lack the ability to offshore effectively. Which means your financial function is almost certainly inefficient and expensive.

If you have the right accountant, for the average business, you should be able to reduce the cost of operating your financial function buy approximately 50%, AND get better financial control, reporting and board support at the same time.

If you have not explored the potential to streamline your finance function, cut costs and get more ‘bang for buck’ talk to us because you will be amazed how much money you are potentially wasting on ineffective financial management.