If you are thinking about starting a small business or own one already, this article is for you. If you’re one of these people, you’ve definitely spent time crunching the numbers, attempting to get organized, and projecting out for the future. These tasks are critical for your business growth but can be laborious and complex in many instances. The right accountant can make a world of difference.
Small business owners are in a position where cutting costs, transforming processes, and working smart are essentials for survival. Partnering with the right accountant can not only help you sustain your business, but flourish. Whether you’re just starting out, or a veteran in the self-employed world, bringing on an extra set of experienced eyes, at a fair cost, can make a world of difference.
Here are just a few of the ways an accountant can change the way you do business:
Starting the Business
Starting a business and building a foundation entails taking many actions and setting up many systems. An accountant can help by:
- Assessing your financial situation
- Determining the best structure for your business (C-Corp, LLC, LP, etc)
- Setting up your accounting software and base
- Creating templates to track all financial information
- Providing set-up best practices to get your started on the right foot
Physically starting the business can be one of the most stressful phases of the self-employment journey. With many incorporation services offering the same product, it’s important to be able to “cut through the noise” and understand what you need on a technical level. Partnering with a trusted advisor at BSM can help you do just that!
Ongoing Operations
Ensuring that you continue to closely monitor and scrutinize your business as you grow is essential in order to achieve longevity. You will need to maintain your accounting systems and payroll while you focus on achieving growth. An accountant can:
- Oversee and manage company payroll and payments.
- Compiling and submitting your taxes, paperwork, and financial reports to the IRS
- Providing advice on estimated tax payments to make, as well as deductions
- Creating financial reports to track progress and analyze processes
- Pinpointing opportunities for growth or pivot
As a small business owner focused on growing their company, keeping track of all the “little things” can be surprisingly difficult and burdensome. Investing and partnering with an accountant in these early stages can make a world difference and save you thousands of dollars down the line. Some of the clients we initially performed CFO services for have opted to keep us on the team permanently!
Growth Stage
While in the growth stage, a reliable accounting partner can be a critical resource that provides advice, technical experience, and industry expertise.
- Helping you identify areas of strength and weaknesses
- Establish industry benchmarks and comparisons
- Help you prevent an IRS audit
- Create budgets that work for you and your business
- Virtual CFO Services
- Help identify industry trends and optimize operational processes
When you get your business up and running, an accountant can play an integral role in the continuation of the best-practice processes you implemented from the start. The best businesses have a team, and most usually involve an outside-actor/consultant in order to provide insight, bring outside expertise, honest opinions, and technical knowledge. In the case of an accountant, you get all of the above.
Arguably, the most important thing you can do is to recognize when your business needs the help or support of an accountant. Identifying the areas of need and reaching out can be the difference between struggle and success! Investing in your team and ensuring your businesses finances are up to par will keep your mind at ease and help allow your business to grow in the direction you want it to.
You run the business, we’ll do the rest.
