Small Business Accountants Are Your Most Trusted Advisor and Confidant
By Wayne Messick
Often business owners find themselves investing in the wrong people - the wrong employees, the wrong vendors, the wrong business to business relationships, over and over again. They know something is missing, something is not right but they either do not have the courage or the time and energy to step back and take an objective look at what’s going on - and then doing something about it.
Our small business accountants have an opportunity to help here, if they will, by becoming that voice of reason that says, “wait a minute - is this someone you want to be involved with, or not” making us take a look at the potential outcomes that result from the sub-optimized situations and people we so easily get involved with.
A small business accountant who is actively acting as more than just a number cruncher will look at a situation - something we’ve been doing that has never delivered the results we were expecting and remind us that doing the same things with the same people over and over again and expecting a different result is madness - insanity.
Successful business owners focus on doing what’s working over and over and over again. If something is working OK, not perfectly but alright - they are likely to let it go, rather that taking the time to change it. Small business accountants looking out for their best interests beyond just preparing the tax returns will call them on it.
It is amazing to me that with the universe of choices available today some business owners will choose a tiny narrow approach to solving a problem and then concentrating on it. Their accountant who is their advisor and sounding board - someone with a wider understanding of the possibilities and the courage of their convictions, may just be able to open their eyes to a different, more profitable, approach to the situation.
Each business owners is unique - some bring to their decision making a narrow minded viewpoint perhaps from the founders of the company. Some simply have little or no imagination, while others are under financial pressure and are afraid to take a chance on a different approach to the solution.
This narrow vision, fear of change, leads to the sameness of ideas even when they don’t work. They concentrate on their limited vision - without ever considering the possibility of a better way. Small business accountants who understand the person, care about their clients as people and have a range of experiences with other successful companies will help them see the alternatives that are often right there in front of them.
These small business accountants have a larger view point and their courage in sharing it with you, helping you see the up side and the down side of doing what you’ve been doing or considering alternatives - can mean the difference between realizing your organization’s potential or not.
Don’t be one of those business owners who keeps their business accountants in the dark. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your company’s issues, challenges, and opportunities are unlike all the others. The opposite is true. Business accountants naturally understand the financial implications of every decision you make - whether you make it on purpose or by default.
Beyond their understanding of tax and regulatory compliance - those things we are likely to think of first to describe the accountant’s role, they are like a GP - the doctor who knows something about everything - when it comes to you and your business.
Imagine if you will that every time anyone was operated on - whether it be a gall bladder operation or kidney stones, the organs were in different places. The heart was sometimes here sometimes around there and the lungs were never in the same place twice. I bet medical progress would be severely limited to a one-off process, every time it was a guess, not a procedure.
Business is like that and small business accountants see more ways of doing things in a year than a successful business owner will see in a lifetime. And every time they see something done successfully in one company they become instantly aware of how it can be used again and again in others - like yours.
Successful business accountants understand the “rinse and repeat” process - using what works again and again. If their relationship with you is that of a confidant they will keep you from falling into the holes that seem to be everywhere.
Small business accountants, those who are your advisors and friends, will also help you understand the “theory or holes” which says, “when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging” - so you won’t waste the time, energy, and money normally associated with the mistakes business owners - even successful ones, make.
If you want to be successful, put together a team of professionals to help you. Typically, management of the progress of the team falls to the business accountants you have on board. They understand that the valuable insights of their
business accountants can help them focus on what is important to them, their family, and the business - for years to come.
