This comes up a lot, both in conversation and presentations.
The subject of what accountants do, relative to what small businesses wished they would do.
The dissonance here is that accounting is basically history.
With clean inputs and a pristine book you know exactly how you’ve been performing in the past, up until the present day.
I spent countless mind-numbing hours in accounting classes at the undergraduate level, learning how to apply transactional analysis to a wide spectrum of scenarios, but one thing I can’t remember learning enough about is forward-looking analysis and forecasting.
Wouldn’t YOU like to know, if you plugged in a specific variable into your budget, what you could expect in net outcome?
Hence the dilemma, and the cognitive dissonance.
I quite often quote what I’ve come to think of as an average figure that I keep seeing in multiple books regarding the proactivity of accountants.
It goes something like this: over 60% of business owners polled wish their accountant was more proactive.
I get it, because I talk to new prospects frequently, and a one-minute glance at their previous tax preparer’s work product tells me everything I need to know.
These things so often get treated like an oil change customer: bring in a vehicle, do the things to get it running smoothly with clean oil, and away you go.
Dealing with past events and tax compliance is great work if you can get it. So, what’s the problem?
No compassion for the taxpayer’s current and future situation.
I call it churn-and-burn. Not terribly eloquent, I know.
The burn part comes in with the things that get missed.
Asset depreciation is a huge example. If I had a dollar for every accountant that didn’t ask enough questions to save their clients thousands of additional dollars I could retire early.
How do I know? From looking at people’s prior-year tax returns.
We do a lot of amendments, and get extra cash back for people because, to put it baldly, it just wasn’t done with enough due diligence the first time.
I know I know, taxes are hard, and taking more time on each return cuts into volume.
And, don’t even get me started on the self-employment tax!
Therein lies the problem, dear Horatio. Volume-thinking.
It works for McDonald’s, but if you believe they’re in business to wow the public with the best hamburgers in the business you are sadly mistaken.
They’re in the real estate business, frankly, but that’s a side-tangent subject for another time.
So what, pray tell, do you do when you know you want and need more for your steadily growing empire?
Comprehensive Client Advisory Services
This is the descriptive industry phrase I most identify with when I think of what we refer to as Transformational Accounting Consultation.
This has accounting in it, but only to describe what we’re really doing for the select few we do this for.
From my conversations with business owners and a little research, I find that forward-thinking clients craving more from their accounting professional want:
✓ Strategic business consultancy/advisory
✓ Finance operations management
✓ Forecasting and microforecasting
✓ Revenue growth and business modelling
✓ Budgeting
✓ Tax planning
✓ Risk management
✓ Advanced KPI reporting
✓ Cash flow management
✓ Business valuation
✓ Financial dashboards
We feel strongly that a relationship with a Transformational Accounting Consultant should provide you:
- Strategic Planning: Small businesses need to have a clear understanding of their financial and operational objectives. They may seek client advisory and forecasting services to help them develop a strategic plan that aligns with their goals.
- Financial Planning: Small businesses need to manage their finances effectively to ensure they are profitable and sustainable. Client advisory and forecasting services can help small businesses develop financial plans that consider factors like cash flow, revenue, expenses, and profits.
- Risk Management: Small businesses may face a variety of risks, such as economic downturns, market competition, and changes in regulations. Client advisory and forecasting services can help small businesses identify potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them.
- Performance Evaluation: Small businesses need to monitor their performance regularly to identify areas where they can improve. Client advisory and forecasting services can provide small businesses with regular reports and analysis that help them evaluate their performance and identify areas where they can make changes to improve.
- Investment Decisions: Small businesses often need to make critical investment decisions, such as whether to expand, hire more staff, or invest in new technology. Client advisory and forecasting services can provide small businesses with the information and insights they need to make informed investment decisions that align with their objectives.
Overall, client advisory and forecasting services can help small businesses make better decisions, manage risk, and improve their financial performance. By working with an experienced Transformational Accounting Consultant, businesses gain access to insights and expertise that they may not have in-house, which can help them achieve their goals more efficiently and effectively.
When asked, assuming price was not an issue, what small businesses polled by a major accounting website wanted most, 68% responded they wanted strategic business consultancy/advisory.
This, we feel, puts the mere mortal fractional CFO services on an anabolic steroid diet.
What heights could you reach in your business with this kind of support?
What if you could put thousands of dollars of overpaid taxes and other avoidable cash hemorrhages back into your business every single year?
Would your quality of life improve?
If you could plug in the cost of a prospective hire into a microforecast, and predict with a reasonable certainty the profitability of the decision with real data (an actual scoreboard, not a crystal ball), how much sooner could you delegate your logistics and actually enjoy the life you’re leading.
It’s worth thinking about, isn’t it?
If your real estate investment operation is producing or projecting to produce $1M/year in gross revenue, and you want to make the absolute most of your information with proactive consultation that arms you with the power tools to scale your wealth…
There is a solution.
Would you like to learn more?
Take a look at this, first:
I provide 7 additional strategies in my new book, and one of them will save you thousands of dollars EVERY YEAR you’re in business as an investor.
Save Thousands Every Year as a Property Investor
This will send you to a survey that will help me to help you and others as we continue to learn from the people that know exactly what real estate investors want.
You, the real estate investor.
The end of the book will provide you a way to book a discovery call with me directly, but if you want to skip to the call right now, here’s how:
Here’s to putting your accounting and proactive business vision back into harmony!