Financial Leadership in Smaller and Growing Businesses

In any business, there are many financial issues to cover beyond simply keeping the books.  These can have a significant impact on growth and/or performance, including:
  • Efficiency,
  • Cost competitiveness,
  • Legal entity structuring,
  • Financing terms,
  • Access to alternative sources of finance on competitive terms,
  • Cash flow management,
  • Budgeting and forecasting,
  • Management information, and
  • Risk monitoring and mitigation. 
Covering these well and efficiently actually needs many years of experience.  The typical methods adopted in smaller businesses have challenges:
  • Using a bookkeeper: provides full-time focus however there is a very high likelihood issues are being missed, as bookkeepers do not have the experience or expertise to cover these issues.  Often there can be no formalised reporting programme meaning the business is guessing as to its financial performance.
  • Using a junior accountant: also provides full-time focus however there is a high likelihood issues are being missed, simply due to the level of experience.
  • Business owner(s) performing this role: this detracts from time which could be spent on other areas of the business and, in most cases, does not bring the benefit of many years’ experience across many businesses.
Growing businesses will become more successful more quickly with appropriate financial leadership reflective of their phase of development.  The role is unlikely to be full-time in most businesses. 

If owners could focus the time that they currently spend on these issues on the areas they know best (like products/services and customers), surely that help their business grow faster?  This can be achieved at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated senior finance resource – utilising that adage that 80% of the value can be achieved in 20% of the time.

The most successful clients will, in time, continue to grow and have full-time requirements.  In such cases, they will need to appoint their own full-time finance directors.  This will be a measure of success for those firms helping their clients through the growth phase.

Adauxi  (that's a - dow - xy )

It's Latin, meaning "to grow by adding to".

Which really sums up what we're about: to help you grow your business further and faster, with our involvement.

Not familiar with Xero?  Follow this link for more information:

Our expertise includes:

  • Start ups
  • Rapid growth
  • Financial difficulties (breach of banking terms, financial & operational restructuring)
  • Product expansion
  • Preparing for exit
  • Businesses in run-down
  • Change of management team
  • Corporate transactions
Growth. By design.

The Future of Accounting Services

The world has moved on and today’s businesses need and deserve a lot more than just accounts and tax return preparation services from their accountants. 

The accounting firms that will prosper in the future will recognise that they need to work much more closely with their clients.  The time of clients “dropping the books off” and accountants preparing accounts / tax returns within a few weeks is long gone.

Accountants with the right background and experience will have a much wider role to play in their clients’ businesses, and will add a lot of value back to their clients.

Today’s business world demands visibility on pricing.  Paying for accountants’ services based on how long somebody takes to perform the work is an old world methodology.  It discourages efficient working and accountant-led resolution of issues (as this reduces fees), and business owners are reluctant to take advice because of the incremental cost.
Key issues to consider in selecting your accountant:
  • Will the accountant invest the time to understand your business?
  • Why should you go to the accountant's offices for meetings?
  • Can you contact your accountant for updates regularly?
  • Accountants who have run and/or worked in other businesses are far more likely to be able to relate to your issues
  • Are you getting advice on how to improve your profits?
  • Do you pay by the minute for ad hoc advice?
  • Whose time is more important to your accountant - yours, or theirs?
  • Can you access software in your business which is easy to use?
  • Do you have the comfort of fixed pricing?
As you grow, do you need to think about:
  • Financial strategy and leadership solutions
  • Support for projects (e.g. acquisitions)
  • Outsourcing non-core activity