What should you expect from a good accountant?
Today, any accountant will have your compliance work sorted (and if not, that’s a real problem!). Long gone are the days where your accountant prepared just your VAT Returns, last year’s accounts and last year’s tax returns.
Today, a proactive accountant will also help you with the strategic side of your business. This work is known as ‘Business Development’ (“BD”) work, and is what drives your business forward from a slow organic growth stage to a fast paced growth one. This is what we do for businesses all across Hertfordshire, Essex and the wider Home Counties.
Business development (BD) puts the right expertise and knowledge in place to turn your strategic ideas into tangible financial results. So, how can Julian Hobbs & Co help you achieve this?
- Help you create a clear Business Plan
We think that a good business plan is the best starting point for business development work. Having a defined set of BD goals is a good starting point. But to put this all into action in a productive way, you’re going to need a comprehensive plan for your BD projects.
A good business plan should look at formalising:
- Your core values (why you get up and do what you do each day);
- Your ideal client description;
- Your financial goals for 90 days, 1 year and 3 years;
- Your marketing actions;
(Plus a lot more)
- Help you create a clear Budget and Forecast
We really think that a good budget, and periodic reforecasts of that budget, are key parts of your BD strategy. We often hear clients say that a budget is hard to create because they just know what will happen.
However, without a budget you have no destination in mind. Your business journey is then like getting in your car and just going for a random drive. You’ll end up where the road takes you. We don’t want to see you being a passenger on your own business journey.
Set a budget, and have in mind what you are working hard towards. Your destination, or at least milestones on your journey towards your destination, are so important to keep in mind.
- Help you track and measure your business performance
Having a business plan and setting a budget are excellent starting points, but to leverage this effort you need to monitor your performance against these. Some folks will call this ‘having accountability’. It is this process of holding yourself accountable to your desired direction that will make sure you stay on track as much as possible.
Your good accountant will create the reporting and metrics you need, so you have clear data to track your progress over time. You should always be in the know about what you need to do to meet your targets.
This is where your ‘homework’ becomes clear. It is possible you will need work on any of the following areas:
- Improve your marketing function to drive revenue growth;
- Take pricing action to drive higher margins and profitability;
- Undertake cashflow analysis to work out why you are not converting your profits into positive cashflow;
- Take action on your overhead base which is not appropriate for your current level of trade;
These areas are the levers at your disposal to change the direction of travel for your business. However, you will only properly understand which lever to pull at which time by going through the proper business development process.
If you want to get more from your Business Development process, get in touch – call us today! We’ll partner with you to put some real drive, experience and impetus behind your Business Development strategies. We’re accountants and business development advisors based in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, and would be absolutely thrilled to hear from you.