Steven J. Wick & Associates in Fort Collins provides financial advisors, CPAs, accountants, and business consulting services to companies of all types and sizes. Unlike other Fort Collins financial advisors and accountants, we offer business consulting services that provide you with the information you need to make more effective decisions about capital investment, expense management, and improving your long-term financial position. You’ll find that our CPA and CFO services are a valuable part of your business team.
Our Fort Collins financial advisor and business consulting services provide an impartial and professional set of eyes that can identify financial and accounting discrepancies and help your company manage expenses by limiting unnecessary expenditures and outlays. We aim to help our clients save money and increase the profitability of their business through our professional CPA services.
We can also provide advice to help tighten up your accounting procedures so that nothing falls through the cracks. Our team of experts is also able to recommend alternative procedures and programs that can improve the efficiency and profitability of your business. Our team is accessible, personable, and has the willingness to help our clients succeed.
Tips on Choosing the Right Business Consultant– What You Need to Know
When you’re not sure where to go with your business or how to get there, a small business consultant can help. Selecting the right business consultant for your company can be hard, though, because you don’t want to choose the wrong one (and wind up in a place you don’t want to be at all). Here are our tips on choosing the right business consultant.
- Find out if the consultant you are about to hire has ever worked with a business like the one you’re running before. It’s not always true that consultants have to have experience working with similar companies (and sometimes this can be a bad thing), but it’s nice to know that the person you’re going to hire understands your industry.
- Expect to answer questions. Good consultants will want to know a lot about your company before they work with you. If a consultant takes the job without asking any questions, it could mean that person doesn’t have a lot of experience.
- Know what you want. You can simply ask a consultant to help you with everything or to tell you what you need to do in all aspects of your business, but that will lead to a big bill. If you define your goal from the start, you can then ask a professional to bring you to that exact place.
- Understands and respects your budget. Consultants are out to make a living just like everyone else, but a business consultant should be conscious of your budget, and that means respecting your limits.
- Doesn’t give you a Band-Aid solution. Here’s where experience can be a bad thing. If a consultant tells you something like, “We’ve done this a million times before with a bunch of similar companies” be wary. Your business is unique, and it should be treated as such. Cookie-cutter solutions aren’t the way to go.
- Asks you to sign a contract. Contracts are security blankets for both parties. On your side, everything that you agree to in a contract is binding and on paper, so you can always point back to that contract if things go awry.
- Knows his or her limits. Is there anything worse than a professional that claims to know it all? Everyone has a specialty or a skill, but nobody has the answer for everything. A good consultant will be more than willing to admit when they do not have the right answers, and they will be able to find an expert that does.
- Brings the right people in. Sometimes the whole team needs to be there. Other times, you only need to work with a few people in order to accomplish your goals. A good consultant will only work with the right people – but not all people.
- Guides and teaches: the goal of any consultancy is to get where you want to go, and to have a future plan for staying afloat. Beware of consultants that do not give you that plan – it’s far too easy to become dependent on a consultant. If you find yourself asking your consultant for permission every time you make a move, it’s time to re-evaluate the relationship.
- Regular conversations. Hiring someone that you never speak to is awkward, and it doesn’t really help you move forward. It’s important to keep the conversation going at all times, and that will include regular base touching.
Considering Ways to Gain Capital and Investments for Your Business: Business Consultative Considerations
Small businesses face several inherent challenges, that should be faced with advice from a financial and small business expert. Chief among the obstacles that hold new businesses back is the lack of assets and revenue needed to generate personal income and business growth. However, this impediment can also be your greatest strength. Newer small businesses are great candidates to receive venture capital because their potential for growth is high. Rather than load up on debt, many small businesses choose to seek outside equity investment. There are certain benefits, and certain drawbacks, to this type of capital investment:
The Ability to Grow Exponentially
Investment capital can be more effective in growing your business than a traditional bank loan. Bank loans limit your future borrowing capacity and fail to provide continued capital support. Venture capital investments in your business can provide continued support as your business grows.
The Need to Offer Collateral
Although this type of capital helps you maintain your credit, generally a portion of your business is offered as collateral for the investment. Your professional business consultant can help you determine the right terms for investment that can work for you. Seeking too much venture capital can inevitably limit your control of financial decisions down the road.
Continual, yet Short-Term Support
In general, there are two types of capital investments that you can seek. Capital equity firms often need to see the potential for rapid growth for a high return. They issue funds in rounds so that your business gets a continual injection of capital necessary to continue growing your business. They will often determine a time when they will discontinue investment. If all goes well, the equity firm will receive its intended return, and you will have grown your business autonomously for the future.
The other type of capital investment can come from “angel” investors. These are individuals or groups of interested investors that have the personal capital to invest in special projects. Angel investors are often particularly motivated to help your business succeed, but in return, they generally require a certain level of involvement in your business operations or financial management.
Be Your Own “Angel”
When you find yourself in the position of investing in other enterprises or using existing capital to gain investment revenue, the CPAs at Steven J. Wick and Associates can help. Many established businesses use capital from outside investments to continue to grow their small business. Small business consulting can help you manage your investments so that they work for your business and for your personal financial health. Personal financial success can also be reinvested in your business. With the help of professional managerial accountants, you can find out how this can help you and your business.
Working with a Fort Collins, CPA-Business Consultant: Your Answer to Real Business Development
Making sure that you reach your financial goals when it comes to your business is where we can help. Not only do we work with you to make sure that your business stays afloat, but we can also help you reach any financial goals that you have, in addition to making sure that your books are handled professionally. As your Fort Collins CPA, our goal is to understand your numbers and help you reach your goals by creating a solid plan for you to follow. Small business accounting is our specialty, and we can help you with any small business accounting matters.
We offer business consulting services that can meet the needs of any company. If you have any questions about our consulting services, don’t hesitate to contact us and set up an appointment with a member of our friendly and knowledgeable team. A representative from Steven J. Wick & Associates will sit down with you one-on-one and tailor a custom solution to meet your business’s needs.
