How Hiring an Accountant can Help you Make Smarter Business Decisions
As an entrepreneur, hiring an accountant to become part of your team comes with a lot of great benefits. Apart from the obvious crunching of numbers and filing your taxes, your accountant can play an important role in the success of your business by helping you make smart business and financial decisions. Below are some of the ways your accountant can help you make smarter business decisions.
They Help With the Start-Up Process
If your business is just starting out, your accountant can employ their financial knowledge to help set your business up for success. They can do this by helping you out with the loan process, helping you choose the correct business structure (partnership, LLC) and setting up the right accounting processes to ensure that your business stays organised and in compliance with all the laws and government regulations. Smaller independent firms such as Sloane Winckless & Co will even be able to give you entrepreneurship advice, since with small firms you are likely to be dealing with the founder directly.
Business Organisation
A critical component for success in any business is proper organisation. By applying their understanding of the principles of financial accounting and bookkeeping, an accountant helps prepare your business for when tax season arrives. This way, your business can take on any challenges or opportunities presented.
Regulatory and Reporting Compliance
This is especially important for start-ups. Hiring an accountant ensures that your business is in compliance with all the local and federal government regulations and laws. They ensure that all tax filings and form submissions are made on time. In cases where auditing is involved, they ensure that the auditor is provided with the accurate data necessary for the auditing process.
Operations
Accountants can also help with the regular operations of your business. They do this by providing you with monthly analyses and preparations of financial statements. The analysis they provide will help you or your business managers to make more informed decisions with the most up-to-date data. Other ways they can help with operations include; estimating tax payments throughout the year and overseeing payroll.
Growth
An accountant can also help your business experience or achieve growth. They do this by providing business managers with insight into inventory management, cash flow management, and business financing. They can also help with creating budgets to help guide the business and ensure the steps taken are in line with the business goals and objectives. Accountants can also ensure a smooth transition with business mergers, acquisitions and sales.
External Financial Relationships
Since businesses often work with various financial organisations, having an accountant can come in handy as they can help manage those relationships. They can also handle the work that needs to be done by CPA firms for banks (and other lenders) and tax filings.
Prevent Accounting Mistakes
Your accountant can help prevent you from making financial mistakes (both large and small) that could cost your business money.
Conclusion:
It goes without saying that hiring an accountant as part of your business team is a worthy investment. In addition to minding your books and filing your taxes, they provide valuable insight that can help you make smart choices for your business.
