We frequently talk to business owners about what their CPA does for them. Ninety percent of the time, the answer we get is, “they do my taxes.” That’s an essential service, but it’s just a fraction of the financial services your business needs. When you find the right partner, you can build a true relationship that will take the stress off you and help your business grow.
Of course, it’s important to have your taxes done – and done competently. But your business needs more than an accurate tax return. You need a partner who can help you plan, build, and maintain the financial health of your company.
We tell our clients, “You don’t know what you don’t know. You’re in business because you’re good at what you do – you know a lot about your profession. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you know a lot about managing finances.”
As a business owner, here are some of the processes you need to implement and maintain: setting goals and planning, choosing the right metrics, and finding the right financial software. You should set up a dashboard so you can see where your key performance indicators stand at any given moment; what’s going well and where you should pay more attention. You need to understand cash flow, budgeting, planning, receivables, payables, and payroll. Most business owners don’t have the full expertise to master these skills, and it might take a while to find competent practitioners of each accounting specialty. That’s why we have built a team to offer a full range of accounting services for the businesses we serve. When we get the chance to build a true partnership, we can transform the business – and the business owner’s experience
One of our first clients has become our longest partnership. She’s an accomplished professional who purchased a practice when she was in her late 20s. She’s whip-smart and very good at what she does but didn’t have the experience, inclination, or time to become an expert on the financial side of her business.
But we did. We asked her what her goals were, and she told us how much she wanted to earn and how many hours she wanted to work. We built a plan and a budget to make that possible. We put systems in place to improve her efficiency and help her understand her cash flow. We put controls in place so her daily cash intake was secure. We found a credit card processor that could save her hundreds of dollars in fees each month. We helped guide her on when and how to make large equipment purchases.
We advised her to install cameras in her lobby so she’d have a record of any incidents or accidents, which earned her a discount on her practice’s liability insurance. We built policy handbooks that helped stabilize and professionalize her workforce and crafted offer letters for hiring an associate veterinarian. We helped her build a payroll system, a benefits plan for her staff, and a retirement plan for herself.
Oh yeah – and we also did her taxes.
With us focused on her financial operations, she could focus on her practice. She grew from about $550,000 in revenue to over $1.3 million over the seven or eight years we’ve been working with her.
That’s the kind of relationship we can build with any professional practice. We smile when a business owner asks us (and they always do): “What do you know about our specific line of work?” The answer, little about your specific business. We don’t need to. No matter what you do, sell, or what service you provide, your business runs on the same infrastructure as any other business. We understand the systems that never change – the lifeblood of your company. Cash flow, revenue, expenses, accounting systems, payroll… and of course, taxes. We take on the business side of your business so you can focus on doing great work.
About Andrea Bone:
Andrea Bone is the Founder & CEO of Accounting & Business Partners. As a hands-on controller for multiple businesses of various sizes from 1995 to 2021, she has been responsible for for all the “back office” operations. Her firm manages accounting, payroll, human resources, taxes, banking, insurance, and legal work. Her favorite part of working with business owner clients is seeing them achieve their goals.
Andrea holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Master’s degree in Business from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi. She is a Certified Public Accountant and has over 25 years of experience running businesses as a financial controller and CFO.
