At first glance, you may not see the need for consultative CFO accounting for your small business in Fort Collins. Why would you when you can still manage things on your own? As you attend to business matters, you still have the time to work on the payroll and other administrative tasks. It can feel like your system works. The question is: can your small business survive the demands of the industry with a small team carrying out the financial goal-planning for a larger–or more complex–financial situation?
To grow your business, you need to focus on the marketing and product development side. Juggling this with accounting and other administrative tasks will not guarantee success. For example, as you put in too much time for the business development side, the long-term goals and perspective might suffer and instead of expansion, you may face bankruptcy and closure.
You can’t serve two masters at the same time. As your business grows, you need to give up the other responsibility to a Fort Collins CFO accounting expert who can handle the financial business planning and goal setting. During a challenging time, a Chief Operating Officer will help bring in more profit and organization to your company by providing you with the right advice.
How Consultative CFO Accounting in Fort Collins Can Put Order in Your Chaos
There are many instances where small business owners get caught up in chaotic financial records. Often, their former accountants left tax bills that they find hard to understand or plan for future sales and goals. With their busy schedule, there is just no time to review all the company’s financial statements and understand where their goals should be. Other issues like IRS notices, payrolls, sales taxes, and other matters that involve money can be hard to comprehend within this general overview.
It’s hard to keep up when your schedule becomes too tight to see the forest (long-term financial goals) through the trees (the everyday tasks that need to be done). At this point, the only way to save your business is to hire someone with accounting experience and expertise, just like a CFO or Chief Financial Officer.
Goal-Oriented CFO Accounting for Small Business in Fort Collins: Helping Overwhelmed Entrepreneurs Get Through the Hard Times
Sally reached out to Steven J. Wick and Associates, P.C. when she finally recognized that what she was doing wasn’t getting her where she wanted and could barely keep things going for her business to survive.
Sally’s team was swamped. Her e-commerce business in Fort Collins was on the brink of huge growth, and her finances were all over the place. She knew she was making a decent profit but wasn’t sure things were properly being calculated for taxes, that invoices were being fully paid, or where she could be saving more money. Her financial goals were just as all over the place, with nothing tying them to real data.
A Growing Business Meant More Time Required for Financial Planning and Taxes
Since tax matters and business economics were becoming more complex with the growth, Sally hoped to study their books further to find out how to reach her goals. But as much as she wanted to, her busy schedule would not allow her to sit down and review her company’s financial records.
Sally needed a lot of time if she wanted to resolve these issues, but this undertaking will take away too much from business growth. It’s important to work on her financial records as they will help determine the direction of her small business. Aside from the fact that her busy schedule would not allow her to study them, she’s not an expert in finances. From data interpretation to trends analysis, her limited accounting knowledge will not help.
Sally is a goal-oriented entrepreneur who aims to maintain explosive growth with her manufacturing company. One of her goals is business expansion with diverse product offerings. Achieving her short and long-term goals for her company would be inconceivable if she focused on the work of an accountant while dealing with product development on the side.
So, the team decided to help Sally by following a comprehensive business development plan. “We sat down and talked about the current status of the business and what they were doing about it right then. We made sure that we were on the same page as Sally so we could plan together and move forward with a goal in mind.”
Getting All Financial Records for a First Statement Review
“On the first meeting, the first thing I ask is: where are you at, what are you doing today, and where do you want to be,” says Steven. That’s how it worked with Sally, who has huge business goals in mind. “I want to make sure that what’s on my mind is also what’s on her mind.”
In the first 90 days, the team received all the necessary financial information for the first statement review. “As a starting baseline point, we try to find something good to work with.” Some good financial records may need a few tweaks, but nevertheless, things need to move forward.
Getting to Work with a Consultative CFO Accounting Team in Fort Collins
With guidance from her consultative CFO accounting team in Fort Collins, Sally got to work. First, Steven obtained financial documents – primarily their business expense and income report (including credit card records, invoices, checks, and old tax records, among others). Then they sorted through it to look at the numbers. It’s one way for Steven to have an idea of her company’s expenditures and understand her vendors at the same time.
Constant Communication is Key
Steven J. Wick and his team always communicate with you in person or virtually including email, but the submission of documents is done through the company portal. Using the company portal helps protect your sensitive financial records instead of email attachments and fax machine, which is now obsolete.
Occasionally, meetings with Sally were held to further discuss the business and where they were at. It is important to update her on the progress so they can make immediate plans and changes if something unexpected occurs.
Conducting a Business Development Meeting
After the first statement review, the team proceeded to a business development meeting. These meetings are intensive in that they can last up to two hours. As a CFO, Steven discussed with Sally all corners of the business, and issues that are not related to accounting. This included company policies, employee relations and review systems, business plans, products offered, and even how much the company makes.
These are valuable information that can help both parties work through things that are beneficial for business growth.
Moving Forward with Action Plans
Action plans, short-term and long-term goals and smart goals have to be realized after the business development meeting. These will help the CFO and business owner to get started on actionable things. It is important to implement these plans starting with the first and moving on to the next.
It takes time, but Steven regularly checks up on his clients. “I’m an adviser so when there’s something that’s not important to her and she doesn’t want to do it, that’s OK, but there are consequences.” Each action put on hold can come back later, so Steven makes sure that you resolve an issue as soon as possible.
For some time, Sally was all over the place. But, with Steven J. Wick & Associates’ help, she was able to understand the numbers and formulate a list of action plans that she executed one after another. The list of action plans that her consultative CFO accounting team recommended was set up to be accomplished in milestones. This process helped redirect her company to the path of success and keep her on track for long-term goals.
What Sally’s company had gone through had been a challenge, which led her to sign up with a consultative CFO accounting expert in Fort Collins, and it was the best decision she made. Today, things are clearer with regard to her goals. What seemed unachievable because of her busy schedule is now within her reach.
Consultative CFO Accounting Services Can Help Your Fort Collins Business Get Back in the Game
Work can get overwhelming and your business may suffer without a CFO accounting service to keep your Fort Collins company heading in the right direction. If expansion is part of your vision, it’s high time you consider hiring one. A chief operating officer will help identify so can resolve any accounting issues your business may be having and provide you with insights that can help grow your business and take it to where you would like it to be five or 10 years from now.
A consultative CFO is your business partner. Steven J. Wick says: “Each business has three sides: marketing and sales, product, and admin overhead sides.” As you take care of marketing and product improvements and development, a CFO can take charge of the financial planning and goal-setting side, and provide you with business analyses that you can use to achieve your dreams.
Steven J. Wick & Associates, P.C. has worked with several business owners in Fort Collins providing goal-oriented, consultative CFO accounting services. We have helped overwhelmed entrepreneurs straighten up and organize their financial records so they can redirect their businesses to a more successful path.
If you are in the middle of financial chaos and business management issues, we can help. Talk to us today, and we will start working on things as soon as possible.
