Did you know that over 50% of small business owners prefer managing their money without external help? Did you also know poor money management is usually one of the leading causes of a business’s failure? CEOs must stay on top of their finances if they want their business to remain healthy and prosperous. The best financial help often comes from valuable advisory services from a trusted CPA.
What Are Business Advisory Services?
Business advisory services, or client advisory services as some firms call them, are beneficial additions to your comprehensive accounting package that allow you to talk through your finances and receive exceptional advice and information to help you optimize your business decisions.
Think of it like this: Imagine there are two car dealerships in town that provide routine oil changes and tire rotations to keep your vehicle in good shape. However, included with service from one of the dealerships are added diagnostics that a) inform you where your attention should be with your car and b) deliver trustworthy advice for how to correct detected or predicted issues and optimize conditions so that you can extend the life of your vehicle for many years. You would likely visit the dealership that delivers both services instead of the one that only provides the basics.
Although cars and businesses are very different in nature, this example shows the difference in value between offerings—the option that provides more benefits and advantages for your dollar is worth pursuing.
Business advisory services are that added bonus that goes way beyond standard accounting and bookkeeping services. They give you the chance to share your finance-related thoughts and ideas with a trusted and financially focused advisor so that you can make the wisest decisions about your business.
Advantages of Business Advisory Services
Full Accounting Services
Before you can receive advice from your accountant, they must be familiar with your books, cash flow, and overall performance. As your business advisor and your accountant, they will provide money-saving and timesaving accounting services designed to help you:
- Put your attention back on business operations and other daily, weekly, or monthly tasks.
- Improve your margins or simplify margin management.
- Free up your schedule so that you can give more time to running your business.
And in addition to accounting services, your advising accountant also likely provides other services, such as:
Thorough, Neutral Reviews
By looking at your books, your advisor can perform an unbiased review and assessment of your financial health. Through their evaluation, they can pinpoint areas where new processes or changes may strengthen numbers, and they can suggest ways to improve.
Your accountant automatically brings financial expertise and a keen eye for identifying issues, even small or nuanced ones. Often, advisors catch what seems like a clear and obvious cash flow or financial operations issue that their clients never noticed before or never realized was a problem. An unbiased review allows them to spot the problems that are hard to identify for someone who is too close or invested.
Don’t mistake unbiased for indifferent, either. Your accountant is rooting for you to succeed, and in order for you to grow and prosper, they must be able to provide an honest, neutral account without sugar-coating, exaggerating, or downplaying.
Better, Clearer Forecasting
In reviewing your financial health and how it either changes or stays the same month to month, your advisor can cast expert predictions to help guide your current decisions.
Let’s say you initiated changes to your business operations earlier in the year, and your cash flow has slowly trended downward over the last two quarters. Your advisor can help you determine if those changes earlier in the year are playing a part in the slow but steady dip or if there is a different cause. They can also provide predictions for what your performance may look like if improvements aren’t made to reverse the trend and increase your cash flow again.
Forecasting-related advantages your advisor can provide include:
- Business insights that guide your next steps
- Strategic ideas and tactics for improvement
- Upcoming costs or future experiences to plan for so there are no surprises
- Recommendations that focus on risk mitigation, best practices, and ultimate goals
Business advisory services offer game-changing advantages for your company. Experience the benefits by talking to ClaytonCarter today.
Cristen Carter is a CPA and business advisor with over 30 years of experience serving clients in Georgia. Her firm offers business advisory services that improve your decision-making for your company. Let Cristen and her team monitor your finances and provide valuable insight to help make improvements or rethink processes. Contact our team today to change how you do accounting at your business! (478) 621-4145
Recent Articles