BENEFITS OF HAVING A GREAT ACCOUNTANT
By Debby Miller

Why did you start a business?  Was it to be your own boss? Maybe it was so you could make lots of money.  Maybe you are the best at plumbing, or cake decorating and you wanted to share your talents with others.  Whatever the reason, I’ll bet it wasn’t so you could become an accountant. 

When we are a small business owner we tend to wear a lot of hats.  We are the sales manager, the secretary, the janitor, and the worker.  But if you are trying to be the ACCOUNTANT, you are doing yourself a great dis-service.

In order to effectively run your business you need to leverage your time and your talents.  If you are a painter or any other business owner, you can leverage your time and talents by working with a GREAT accountant.

DO YOUR ACCOUNTING-
You can not run your business successfully by check book balance.  You must do some accounting.  You can either sit at your computer for hours on end, entering receipts and checks into your computer, or you can have an accountant do it for your in a fraction of the time.  When you love what you do it tends to get done much quicker.  I know you don’t like doing it, but accountants LOVE it.  They will balance your bank statement, provide a checkbook adjustment for you, give you financial statements that summarize everything, and best of all EXPLAIN it to you in words that make sense.  If you have employees, they can do your payroll and payroll taxes and make sure all your deadlines are met.  Why pay penalties for late payments just because you had a client emergency that needed your attention.

KNOW THE TAX LAWS-
If you try to do your own income taxes you are truly missing out on one of the most powerful benefits of having a GREAT accountant.  Taxes are a game, and the IRS (the referee) changes the rules every year.  A GREAT accountant goes through many hours of training every year to keep up on the latest tax changes that will affect you.  They can teach you the rules that apply to you, and show you the best ways to maximize your deductions.

LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE-
You have goals, and your business can be the key to reaching those goals.  A GREAT accountant will look at the big picture.  They will analyze your numbers and compare them to others in your industry citywide, and nationwide.  They will point out problems, and provide solutions.  They will give you this on a timely basis, so you can make good business decisions.

GIVE FINANCIAL ADVICE-
Wouldn’t it be nice if you knew the consequences of your financial decisions BEFORE you made a mistake? That’s something else that a GREAT accountant can do for you.  Since they deal with your finances on a day to day basis, they can tell you the impact of your decisions on your business as well as your taxes and together you can make the right choices.

PLANNING AND COACHING-
A GREAT accountant will help you plan for the future, they will be your coach.  They will help you with things like increasing your profit margin, managing your labor costs, knowing your break even point, and evaluating your business success.

If you have a GREAT accountant, their services will save you hours of aggravation, they will save you lots of money in taxes, and they should help your business to grow.  They will become your financial parter, and your greatest business asset.

Debby Miller is the owner of Phases Accounting and Tax Service, Inc. 548-1646