COVID-19 has changed a lot of things about the world and how businesses operate. One week we are working a full 40+ hours, the next week the Government has shut everything down. While uncertainty and unpredictability are frustrating for small business owners, it’s also a prime time to lean on your accountant to maximize your business.

While PPP Loans, EIDL Loans, city and state grants, and other sources of small business funding became available for small businesses to lean on during all the uncertainty, too many small business owners were unsure of how to take advantage of them. With the constantly changing economic landscape, we are not sure what will be available in the future, but we do know that we need to be ready for anything. So, while you have a moment, here are 7 things your accountant needs to be helping you with:

1. Making sure you are the correct type of business entity
2. Creating a plan for your business to be debt free
3. Creating a system to be profitable
4. Creating a marketing plan
5. Teaching you how understand your financials
6. Reviewing your financials with you on a monthly basis
7. Reviewing your budget and tax plan quarterly

Planning is key and is the most important thing that your accountant needs to be working with you on. Here are some questions and thoughts for you to ask your accountant about:

1. How do my personal and business goals affect my business budget?
2. How do I become a Profit First business? What is a Profit First business?
3. How can I make sure my debt is low or gone?
4. Can you help me with Business Plans and Marketing Plans so we can build a budget?
5. Can you help me with my goals and review my budget on a quarterly basis?
6. Can you teach me how to read my financial paperwork? I hear there is more to it than the bottom line.

Many of my clients went after the PPP and EIDL loans. The clients that showed a profit and had all their financials in order were the ones that received those loans while the clients that like to keep profit close to zero did not receive them.
 

Some people think profit is one of those negative, four-letter words but, in all honesty, it is what we all should be striving for. As business owners, we are always putting ourselves last, taking the table crumbs of our own business, and that’s the wrong way to approach accounting. We put our heart and soul into our businesses and we should be first in line to get a paycheck and to take a quarterly profit distribution. Why? Because you earned it.
 

If you haven’t done so already, call and schedule an appointment with your accountant and maximize them to your benefit. That is why you are paying them, after all.

Contact Piña Business Services today!