An accounting company is no longer just an accounting company
A growing number of companies are looking for support in business management through financial management. In fact, the latter is no longer seen as a separate entity whose main function is to provide figures for measuring the outcome of the latest month or year. Instead, these days, financial management is a leadership tool that is closely linked to HR, taxation and even business law.
Let’s look at an imaginary growth company: One of the entrepreneur’s first tasks is to find someone to keep the books, as required by law. An accountant is quickly found, virtually next door. Soon after, the company hires its first employees, at which point it must become familiar with all its statutory obligations as an employer.
Even though the entrepreneur is not counting the hours he is putting in, he knows better than to spend his time studying payroll management.
In other words, the entrepreneur must now find a competent payroll accountant to handle the salaries and employer’s compulsory social security contributions in a correct and timely manner.
With the help of the new staff, the business begins to grow. The entrepreneur monitors the figures monthly. However, the entrepreneur feels that they need support in assessing the company’s profitability and predicting cash flow rates. Some regular – or at least occasional – coaching from a controller or similar would not go amiss.
Above all, the entrepreneur needs someone to interpret what the figures are saying about the company’s future prospects.
The company is doing well, and the employees are able to generate so much invoiced income that the company exceeds its target turnover. The entrepreneur wants to hold on to this talent. Correctly paid out salaries are no longer enough, and instead some good ideas and HR approaches are required to retain the current staff members and attract new ones.
The entrepreneur or more fittingly CEO by now, has been responsible for the HR by himself. This adds to the workload considerably but taking the next step to hire a permanent HR manager still feels too big.
Where to find a part-time HR manager who has gained experience from working for other companies and also benefits from the expertise of their own organisation?
Also, there must be a more modern alternative to Excel spreadsheets when it comes to recording annual leave and absences, right? One that could also keep track of the appraisal documents and personal goals. As the CEO stops to think about this for a moment, he realises that in its current form, HR management is simply taking too much time.
At some point, a business acquisition will begin to seem like an attractive growth option. Now more than ever, the CEO needs an advisor who can look at things from the financial, legal and tax-related points of view and can take part in the takeover from the initial negotiations onwards.
The story of the growth company has only just begun, but its need for financial and HR management, as well as legal advice, is constantly increasing. However, searching for suitable partners and familiarising them with the company takes resources that the company does not have.
What if the entrepreneur had – right from the start – selected an accounting partner who would have been there all the way from basic accounting to the business acquisition?
A partner who could also have provided the right software and systems, and who would have been able to scale up their service from the very start far into the future.
When an accounting company serves a client through all its stages of development, it inevitably gains an invaluable understanding of the client company’s business operations. This understanding allows the accounting company to evolve. It becomes a diverse financial, HR and legal advice partner whose success is measured in terms of its client company’s success.
