What do Accountants do for businesses?

Starting your own business is a complicated learning process of finding out things as you go along and solving problems you never thought you could. One of the most important and in-depth sides of building a business is the management of cash flow, tax and other money-based tasks. To get past these financial hurdles, most businesses, small and large, choose to hire an accountant. By using Bark to hire an accountant, you can find the perfect candidate for the job and in your local area. 

But before you hire an accountant, you might be wondering what accountants can actually do for your business? Without prior knowledge of an accountant’s career, finding answers to these questions can be a little allusive. 

In this article, we’ll take you through the role of an accountant and what they can do for your business; by the end, you too will see what a great addition they can be.

Ensure businesses adhere to regulatory compliance

As the owner or director of business, it is your job to ensure your business is following all the rules and regulations set down by Canadian law. Yet, with such a maze and an overwhelming set of information to absorb and follow, this can often be a very difficult task. 

Having a professional accountant employed by your business will guide you through the trips and traps of tax laws, compliance and the general national and local business laws of Canada. As a straight businessman or woman, you may not have the intricate knowledge that is needed to comply with laws, but your professional accountant will.

Your business will need to adhere to different rules and regulations when dealing with sales tax, value-added tax, income tax and pension funds. This seemingly endless list can be a little overwhelming to uninitiated but is the everyday to professional accountants.

Help businesses create, (and stick to!) budgeting strategies

One of the biggest downfalls for businesses, especially newer and smaller ones, is the failure to stay within budget and out of debt or liquidation. Finding an accountant for your business will bring on board a wealth of budgeting and money-management skills. These skills will ensure your business keeps to a realistic budget and target. Drawing on former experience of working closely with businesses and their budgets, an accountant will understand what is feasible and what is unrealistic when it comes to spending and saving.

The best way to save on your budget is to allow your accountant to write up a budgeting strategy. This strategy will take into account all your previous incomings and outgoings and future plans. After taking in all of these different factors, your accountant will draw up a chronological and financially sound plan, ensuring you stay within budget. 

Assist with a businesses’ decision-making process 

While you may think of an accountant as having a background role, experienced accountants can be far more than that. Having worked closely with businesses before, accountants will have knowledge that spans right across the board. Drawing on these previous experiences, business managers can, and should, bring accountants into the decision-making process. Accountants can increase the efficiency of a business process and get things done far quicker than an inexperienced team of people.

As the accountant deals with financial issues every day, they are in the perfect position to make decisions based on financial matters. For example, allowing the accountant to assist with pricing the business’s product or service and the cost of materials in which to make them is a sensible idea.     

Support businesses applying for a small business loan 

No matter how successful a business is in the long run, nearly all businesses will need to take out a loan at one point or another. Small business loans can be used to prop up cash flow, pay off outstanding debts, or simply pay for company materials that will be turned into products. Having an experienced accountant pitching for a loan on your behalf will make a world of difference and will ensure all correct procedures are followed down to the letter.

As well as coming up with watertight figures, an accountant will also have experience in writing the correctly-worded pitch, increasing the chances of having the loan accepted. They will craft a compelling pitch and convince the lender that this is a money-making opportunity and one they shouldn’t miss out on.

To sum up  

Considering everything we have covered, it is easy to see that an accountant does far more for a business than some may have first thought. Granted, they are generally employed to cover financial matters, yet through this role, but they are much more experienced in business than one may realize. By hiring an accountant and allowing them to flourish in a variety of different roles, they can bring a plethora of skills and attributes to your business.