Crucial Information about your Growing Business that you should ask your Accountant to provide

Tax season can be overwhelming, but that’s when your accountant on board is there to help you. They can file your taxes on your behalf and take care of the tedious accounting work and remittance of tax responsibilities to the fitting authorities. However, what you need to take care of is having a good system in place to organize the records required for this tax filing. This will ensure that the accountant can carry out their tasks are per the timeline without delay once they obtain all required documents ahead in time. The best person who can help you set up an efficient system for this record maintenance too is your accountant. They could come up with suggestions such as using certain online tools or accounting software’s to make the process of tax filing easier, quicker and more efficient.

Cash flow is an important indicator of a firm’s financial performance and health. If a company functions efficiently, manages its operations and finances well, this will result in a healthy cash flow. Thus, you can consult your accountant to help set up a robust cash flow model that equips you to better manage accounts payable, and account receivables and fill gaps in operations.

Given the expertise accountants possess in finances and taxation, they would be fitting to help you identify your strengths and limitations. They can guide you to make expansion plans ahead based on their understanding of your financial performances and forecasts on cash flow. Thus, they can tell you what growth plans would be best to pursue and what’s to be left out.

There are several ways to start a firm, but you must pick the way that best suits you and benefits you. An accountant could help you make this decision based on their understanding of your financial standing and goals. While sole proprietorship or LLC allows an individual to have major control over a firm, a corporation is run by a board of directors who act as key decision-makers. Regardless of if a corporation or a small new company, you have to maintain a record of all actions that have an impact on the company overall.

Depending on the ownership, the periods to maintain and preserve financial documents vary. For example, if it is a sole proprietorship or partnership, the period is up to 5 years after the date of tax return submission date of a fiscal year. This period is however 6 years for a corporation. Thus, an accountant with expertise in such areas will help you preserve the right documents for the right periods.

This question should be a no-brainer and is a good test to see if you are dealing with the right accountant for your business. An accountant has a good understanding of all the expenses of your business and its impact. Costs can be saved directly by an accountant in terms of tax preparations and by maintaining accuracy in cost claiming. Other costs such as office upkeep, repairs, supplies and other everyday expenses can be deducted. Meanwhile, other company costs can be depreciated a little each year for many years. Your accountant can help you figure this out.

The Break-even point is crucial to a business, it refers to that level of production or service you put out that brings your net income and net expenses to an equilibrium. Having a clear idea of this point will form the base of your pricing structure and profitability projection. Thus, an accountant who can understand the ins and outs of your business and forecast well can help you understand how long or how much your business needs to work to achieve the break-even point and go ahead from there.

It’s your business and maybe even the simplest adjustments you make can have a major impact. Even if you are always on your toes to keep your business afloat, take out time to discuss and plan with your accountant to make changes that will bring about positive impacts on overall business performance. You will get better at arranging and managing your money simply by spending productive time with your accountant on a regular basis.

Though sounds too good to be true, you’d be spoilt for choice when it comes to funding your business. This however doesn’t necessarily mean good news, picking the right way would be crucial and form the foundation of all your finances. These various funding methods all have their pros and cons and these can be listed to you by your accountant hence helping you make an informed choice. They will guide you if you should opt for various business loans available or crowdfund or obtain other forms of funding.

If taxes are not withheld from your income, you might have to pay estimated taxes as a business owner in a timely manner. You can consult your accountant to submit and remit these taxes.

Taxes, rules, timelines, incentives etc vary from industry to industry and have a significant influence on the functioning of businesses. You need to be well aware of these and comply to them. An accountant who has industry knowledge can help you pay taxes as per industry requirements and avoid paying unnecessary taxes.

Having a business plan that considers the industry happenings and competitor success strategies can help your business grow and thrive. An accountant can provide you with detailed information on your product or service profile. This can help you pin down the ones that bring you maximum sales and profits vs the ones with low sales and profit margins. This knowledge will help you build your plans of growth by focusing on the profitable ones while laying off or phasing down the others.