Good accountants can be used as a key tool for growing your business, so here are our top five ways to get the most from them.

Give them the right information

In an ideal world your accountant would follow you around, recording and considering all of your financial transactions and advising you of the tax implications.

Fortunately, accountants generally don’t have the time or desire to stalk their clients 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, they depend on you to give them a complete and accurate summary of your financial year!

A good accountant can usually draw out the relevant information with some basic questions, but the more effort you put into the basics, the less time you’ll have to spend on getting what you actually came for – an informed opinion on how you did with your finances from a tax perspective, and advice on how to minimise your taxes going forward.

So in simple terms, your first step in getting the most out of your accountant is to create an accurate and concise snapshot of your finances.

Tap into their networks

>As a small business, it is likely that the accountant you’re using is also working for a host of other businesses. Ask your accountant if they’re willing to initiate networking opportunities between you and other clients. This could lead to business deals, partnerships or a support network of people facing the same problems as you.

Value their advice

Your accountant will have expert knowledge of not only your business but of others like it. This means they can help you uncover ways of expanding your business and reducing your costs, as well as indicating areas where you need to spend more. It’s likely that any problem you face will be familiar to an experienced accountant, so they will most likely know how to solve it. Trust them!

Never lie!

Doctors can save your life, lawyers can save your freedom and accountants can save your livelihood, so always tell them the truth. Accountants need to know every fact about your business so they can work out how much tax you pay and how your business can make the maximum amount of profit. If you lie to them about your finances, this could lead to mistakes in your bookkeeping and possibly even the downfall of your business.

Arrange regular catch ups

Accountants usually have a large number of clients, meaning you can’t rely on them to contact you all the time. You should arrange to have monthly meetings or weekly phone calls with them, allowing you to discuss any problems you have before they gets too big. If you delay speaking to them and then dump all of your difficulties on them at the end of the tax year, problems may escalate and cause a last minute panic.

 
Check out our accounting support hub for more help and resources, or to ask a tax question.

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How can marketing help?

After spending money on initial set-up costs such as workspace and website design, marketing can sometimes feel like an afterthought and less important. Managing Director of Platform Black, Caroline Langron, says, “I would clearly identify what you are trying to achieve from marketing ahead of meeting with agencies. Ask your peers how they market and who your direct competitors are.”

The Partnership Lead at the Start-up Loans scheme, Alex Mitchell, recommends creating a ‘Love Mark’ – a business that creates passion for the customer. Mitchell says, “Social media is a great way to engage but it is only part of the solution. If you are B2C I would suggest creating a small group of local customers who are brand advocates and could help raise awareness.”

Another strategy for promoting your business is by tapping into Facebook’s targeting capabilities. Chris Barling, founder of mobile invoicing app Powered Now, says “If you already have a reasonable number of customers, I would look into Facebook lookalike advertising. This enables ads to be placed in front of people who are similar to your current customers.”

How to go about finding a mentor

Mentors can help you to grow your business, and hopefully they will have experienced similar bumps in the road. Finding a mentor who can help can often be quite challenging. Alex Mitchell, who runs his own social enterprise called Causarma, says he has been quite targeted in the mentors he’s chosen.

“I’ve been open in going to somebody I feel I could learn a lot from, and then asking them directly. The worst they can do is say no! I have done this by attending relevant events, researched on LinkedIn. Targeting someone who has been through a similar journey to you – but it doesn’t have to be in the same sector – is key.”

Dannie-Lu Carr is an actor and founder of The Five Gateways, a coaching company that helps women step up for their own business breakthrough moment. She thinks that rather than seeking a mentor, businesses should focus on doing an excellent job, and then ideally, a mentor will notice them. “Self-belief that you are more than capable of getting to a good standard without a mentor is important.”

Take a step back

Sometimes taking your foot off the accelerator can speed up the growth of your business. Barling says that if you are ambitious, then you can never really step back. However, he suggests pausing to review is vital: “There is absolutely a need for a periodic review of what you’re doing, and sometimes when you’re growing fast there’s a time to take your foot off the accelerator and let cash flow, process or recruitment catch up.” Turner agrees: “I think it’s healthy to come up for a breath every so often and pause to reflect and reassess what you’re doing and why.”

So take a step back. Do you need to increase your networking or focus on social media? How can you create the perfect conditions for your business to grow?

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