Love Your Accountant
“5 Ways to Build Up Your Business” is the title of a short article in the Dec. 1, 2014 Fortune.
The 5 ways are:
- Don’t be myopic about marketing
- Fight process paralysis
- Love your accountant
- Teach your people well
- Invest in systems
These are the right things to do and each is explained briefly and right on point. However, I want to single out the one about loving your accountant. The article says “the accounting function should not be undervalued or understaffed and you should hire a sophisticated pro that can provide you with the data to determine if you’re making money by product, customer, location or salesperson.” The right information at the right time can lead you to the quickest way to increase profits and cash flow.
Accountants are generally the closest advisers to their clients offering knowledgeable, informed and sensitive counsel. They also bring experience from exposure to the many critical decisions their other clients faced and made. CPAs are part of a strong profession with mandatory continuing education, solid undergraduate and graduate programs, stringent ethics requirements, self-regulating mechanisms and public institution licensing and oversight. Personally, CPAs are comprised of some of the nicest people you could deal with and who are usually super concerned with their clients’ issues. They also devote substantial hours serving on boards of charitable organizations and otherwise contributing to the public wellbeing.
The article was written by Verne Harnish, CEO of Gazelles Inc.and should be read in its entirety…and then followed.
And, love your accountant!
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