Holden Associates Blog

We all know what an accountant does, or do we?

Most would reply that an accountant accounts for the money, taking expenses off what you have received and calculating your profits and any tax thereon, and not forgetting those several pages called your accounts together with your tax return.

I guess that really is what a lot of accountants do, and it’s known as compliance work, it has to be done for the regulatory authorities (the taxman!).

But is that all an accountant can do? No, absolutely not, although in most cases it is all they have the time to do, and that in part is down to you, the client!

But this posting is not about bashing you, the client, after all, you are guided by your accountant, and if he/she hasn’t said the way you do things is no good then how should you know?

So, why is it important you find an accountant who will guide you? Well firstly, the compliance side of what the accountant does is not how he/she is best utilised, although in fairness it is the side we all seem to end up doing, thank you Gordon! So find an accountant who will help you make short work of ‘keeping the books’. We do this through the use of online accounting software, winweb.

Now you have dealt with your ‘books‘ what else is there for your accountant to do during the year? Well strangely enough most of us don’t wait around to just deal with the ‘compliance’ side of everything, we are actually doing something for our clients. We are advising them.

This advice often takes the form of business advice/consultancy/coaching, helping clients assess what is important to them in their life, what do they want to achieve, both personally and in business?

We do this by asking them, the client, what do you want?

• Some want financial security, this can come from growing the business or sometimes simply changing the structure/direction of a business, sometimes it even comes from scaling the business back.
• Some are looking for a happier work/life balance, for too long many have been used to working hard that they come to think of it as the norm.
• Others need direction and focus, they need help setting clear goals for both their business and themselves, but you have to remember that not everyone uses the same measure when setting targets for success.
• Some are looking for more than just financial rewards, they are looking for a rewarding, challenging and enjoyable role in their business.

As you can see everyone wants something different, but often lack the knowledge or experience to get there, this is often where a good business advisor accountant can help.

Finding the right advisor to partner you is important, but you have to be honest with them, we all have ‘pipe dreams’ it’s up to the advisor to steer you in a direction that may just make them a reality (or part of them anyway), but it’s not all one sided, you the client also have to do your bit, you have to listen to the advisor, put measures in place to deal with the mundane part of running a business and free your advisor from the compliance work to let them loose on you and your business.

Good luck, and remember to enjoy being in business!

 

Share This

Rate this:

3.2