- When should we be communicating with our accountant?
You should be establishing expectations and deadlines with your accountant. Frequent communication is the key to a healthy and beneficial relationship with your accountant. To establish early if you will meet monthly or bi-monthly.
- How can you assist me in preparing my tax submission?
You should know the difference between individual and business tax. Understanding that business owners still pay personal tax. Business tax and personal tax are not the same things! Understanding processing dates, submission dates, payment dates and the risk of not submitting tax return on time are important.
You should compile essential documents for your accountant to do your taxes to ensure that you are in compliance with tax obligations. Your accountant will let you know if you are missing something essential for tax preparation. You will want to ask whether there are any tax credits and deductions that you should claim. Also ask him or her if there are any new tax laws you should take advantage of tax benefits such as accelerated depreciation and outright grants or tax rebate.
- How can you help me manage my cash flow?
How can we understand money flow? The path to helping you with this leads to the discipline of accounting. It will help to answer key questions on where and how money is allocated, from share capital to profits to external bank finance. Separating your personal money from your business money is crucial. Keeping a positive cash flow is essential to many small business owners’ existence.
Managing cash can be more time consuming and difficult to manage. Your accountant should be able to help you develop an organized, effective cash flow model that allows you to adjust your operations in ways that help you survive shortfalls, as well as improve receivables and manage payables.
- What is my break-even point?
Your accountant should be able to analyze whether your business is making a profit or a loss. Once your accountant helps you identify yours, you should have a strong estimate of how many products or hours of service you have to sell to cover your costs. Your accountant can also help you analyze and understand your cash flow, so you can make better plans.
- What action should I take that would help my business?
Business owner is always the one held responsible. You should be establishing RED flags with your service provider. Ignoring your financial responsibilities will not make it go away.
Do take some time with your accountant to plan for your future expansion. Hiring an accountant is for their expert advice, you should see a positive change in the way you organize and handle your finances. To put better practices in place every day, and achieve greater financial stability. For any small business owner, that is a great step toward a healthier business.
