What your accountant should do for you
This week’s video is all about what your accountant should be doing to help the success of your small business.
Nathan, Director and Principal Accountant at NGR Accounting, sheds light on the realities of what a good accountant can help you achieve, whether that is giving you advice regarding the growth of your business or helping you make the tough decisions.
The right accountant will be there you every step of the way. So, if you’re currently unsure about what your accountant can do, then this week’s topic is for you.
Why I started NGR Accounting?
Before we get started, I thought I would quickly give you guys a back story on my ‘why’. Why I started NGR Accounting.
I first started NGR Accounting back in 2014. Before NGR I use to work for other firms, who were very old school and traditional in their ways, not embracing any new accounting technology. The firms I was working for were not heading in the direction I wanted, and I found that they were not as client focused as I wanted to be.
Basically, they continued to give accountants the typical stereotype of “boring”.
When I broke away and created my own unique accounting firm, I wanted my mission and vision to be more about the clients and supporting them while they created their own successful small business.
What every accountant/tax agent typically does:
Let’s review the ‘compliance side’ of accounting, what you will find with any accountant. They will…
- Prepare your personal and business tax returns and company financials.
- Provide you tax and business advice.
- Help you structure your business, looking from sole trader, to partnerships and company structures.
- Keep you on the right side of the ATO, providing an understanding to the legislative requirements for your tax, financials and reporting commitments.
Even though, each of these factors are an important part of accounting, providing these alone may not just make a good Accountant for your needs.
Embracing Technology:
One of the most important factors of a good accountant is embracing new technology as we continue to develop as a society.
With many small businesses now using Accounting software packages, like Xero, Accountants should be able to use and navigate their way around these new apps. Xero is one of the well-known software packages that can help your monitor and manage your business at the same time providing access to third-party apps (called the Xero Eco-System).
These form a basis for your business to be able to manage systems and processes to help in making money, protecting your money and managing your CRM (Customer Relationship Management), so it’s important to find an Accountant who will also adapt with your business.
One example of using Xero and the Xero Eco-system is a local Primary School P&C committee who recently set up Xero. This provided help with:
- Payment Services – E.g. Stripe, Square etc. This provides an invoicing solution and a collection system where parents could pay online and via credit card. Parents are no longer required to be on site to pay for the items (like specific uniform needs) or providing a young child with a sum of cash to hand over to a P&C Member.
- Stock control – The school now have a system to see what stock they have and could work out the gross margins of what they are selling. After all, the P&C is a business too.
- Reporting – The P&C could track revenue sources and produce reports within minutes. Previously their data was outdated and P&C members never had a complete picture of where they were financially.
- Documentation Control – The P&C using Xero and Dext was able to have source documents, like receipts attached in Xero and the payments made. This meant their audit fee was significantly reduced due to ease of accessing records and source documents for the auditor.
Business Advice:
One important factor to know when choosing an accountant, is whether they have experience or understand the complexities of running a small business.
A good accountant will give you advice on Product and Services and the price analysis. Getting your pricing right is a critical step in the success of your business.
- Are you charging too much or too little?
- Are you providing the right balance in your services?
- Are your products having an adequate turn over, or are remaining in your stock for too long?
Your accountant should be there for you through the different stages of being a business owner. They should be helping you make decisions regarding your financial wellbeing.
Ability to see past their own skill set:
An important quality of an Accountant is understanding that they cannot solve every problem in your business. When you have marketing issues or human resource issues, an Accountant should have a basic understanding of these and the impact to your business and also realise that is not their area of expertise.
Ideally, Accountants should have basic knowledge about general business issues like marketing and human resources, and be able to recommend people within their own network that, like Solicitors, Human Resource Managers, Marketing Managers that will be able to help you navigate these areas.
I am proud to state that here at NGR Accounting we have a wide range of referral partners who we refer clients to if there is ever an issue with your business that NGR cannot solve. For example, referring you to a business coach to help solve blockages in your business growth.
Many Accountants tend to feel threated if you go seeking help elsewhere and are worried that they will lose a client. A great Accountant will help you seek this extra support from a recognised professional to help your business to succeed.
There are many factors that differentiate a good accountant to a great one. Here are NGR, I know my team places our client’s needs first and understands that this is more than just your Business, its your livelihood.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact NGR Accounting at 02 9011 6669 or via email at info@ngraccounting.com.au
Updated 18th January, 2023
JM