Do you have an great accountant?
How do you know if you can afford to employ a new tradie or admin staff? Buy a piece of equipment? Buy a new truck? The list is endless.
To gain this knowledge, you need an awesome accountant in your corner.
What information can they provide you with to help you make informed decisions?
1. Expenses and payments due
Monitoring your outgoings is critically important to your cash flow, and therefore, your business’ financial health.
Discussing this with your accountant regularly can turn an overwhelming and often dull task into one that provides you with clarity, and potential opportunities to cut costs and increase profits!
Ask your accountant to create daily and monthly reports so you easily monitor and track your finances. This way, you can make quick decisions and take action where necessary.
2. Discuss goals
Your accountant should be more than someone who grinds through reports and numbers. They should be a strategic member of your financial team.
Opt to have regular meetings with your accountant to discuss your monetary goals and devise a plan together.
For example, discussing your goal to purchase new equipment by the end of the financial year may result in a plan to increase turnover by X% and cut costs by $Y in order to be able to afford it.
3. Stay up-to-date with laws and regulations
Business laws and regulations are constantly changing. It is important that you stay up to date!
If your accountant is experienced and proactive, they’re the best one to update you on these.
4. Defences against fraud
Unfortunately, fraud is all too common in life, and especially in business. But what has your accountant got to do with it?
Your accountant can actually help protect your business against fraud by ensuring your accounts up to date. This is done by performing a weekly reconciliation of all your business accounts (including credit cards), it makes it far easier to detect fraud in your business!
As you can probably tell, understanding your trade business’ financial situation (past, present and future), is critically important. This is best done by scheduling and attending regular monthly meetings with your accountant to discuss the above topics and more.
Gaining clarity around these topics means you have greater control over your business and your future and also enables you to make more educated decisions as they arise.
What’s next?
- Join our Kick-Ass Tradies Facebook Group, for access to trade business specific conversations, tips and resources, plus a like-minded community of tradies.
- Book a 15-minute Game Plan Call with Andy, owner of Dr. DRiP plumbing and co-founder of Lifestyle Tradie, to clarify your priorities and get clear action steps.
