Guide SMEs Through Challenges: Your Advisory Role Matters
Peter Towers
Founder of ESS BIZTOOLS Pty Ltd | Certified Public Accountant | Business Advisor | Mentor and Coach
SMEs are facing challenging times
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are under immense pressure. High interest rates, persistent inflation, and rising business failures are creating ripple effects that impact the entire SME ecosystem. As an accountant, bookkeeper and business advisor, you’re uniquely positioned to help your clients navigate these turbulent times—but traditional tax advice alone isn’t enough.
The solution: Financial and Commercial Advisory Services
Most SMEs already rely on accountants for tax compliance, but the real challenge lies in supporting their day-to-day operations and long-term resilience. The preparation of annual accounts and tax returns—often delivered months after the financial year ends—offers little practical help for real-time decision-making.
What SMEs need is proactive, ongoing financial and commercial advisory services throughout the year.
Introducing the 52-Week Business Enhancement System
To support SMEs in building sustainable, profitable businesses, your firm can adopt tools such as the ‘52-Week Business Enhancement System’, developed by ESS BIZTOOLS. This structured approach ensures clients receive continuous guidance across key areas, such as:
Due Diligence Reviews
An annual review of your client’s business operations ensures you stay updated on their internal controls, processes, and systems. Are their sales strategies aligned with leadership’s goals? Are debtors being effectively managed? By understanding these dynamics, you can identify risks and opportunities early.
Collaborative Business Planning
A robust business plan is a cornerstone of success. Involve your client’s leadership team in think tank sessions to create actionable plans, complete with timelines, responsibilities, and metrics. Remember, your role is to facilitate, not dictate. The leadership team must own the plan to implement it effectively.
Predictive Accounting Reports
Transform the business plan into actionable financial reports, including individual budgets for each unit and cash flow forecasts. Highlight critical areas like inventory, debtors, and capital expenditure to help clients manage their resources and make informed decisions.
Daily and Weekly Insights
Equip leadership teams with concise daily updates and weekly performance reports. These tools provide real-time visibility into gross profit, sales metrics, and cash flow, enabling quick responses to emerging challenges.
Monthly Reviews and Reporting
Monthly financial reports should reconcile with weekly data, ensuring consistent, accurate tracking of progress. Summarise results in a leadership report, creating a foundation for informed board discussions and strategic pivots.
Proactive Fiscal Management Saves Businesses
In challenging economic conditions, strong fiscal management is essential. Help your clients optimise cash flow by improving debtor systems, negotiating supplier terms, and planning tax payments. Offer guidance on setting charge-out rates that align with profitability goals and adjusting budgets when productivity or costs deviate from forecasts.
Fostering Innovation and Growth
Encourage clients to explore innovation through Research and Development (R&D). Inform them about tax incentives, record-keeping requirements, and funding opportunities like Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising. As their trusted advisor, you can facilitate these growth initiatives, positioning them for long-term success.
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Capital Raising: Unlocking New Opportunities
SMEs often need extra funding, and accountants play a critical role in helping them access it. By guiding clients through the preparation of business plans, predictive reports, and offer documents, you enable them to leverage government programs such as Crowd Sourced Funding and Early-Stage Innovation Company.
Get ready for 2025
The coming year presents both challenges and opportunities. By delivering tailored financial and commercial advisory services, you can help your SME clients thrive.
If you’re looking for resources to enhance your service offerings, ESS BIZTOOLS provides tools and training to prepare your team. For a limited time, we are offering a substantial discount of up to 50% off on all of our product packages, available until 23 December 2024.
Make the most of our Christmas promotional offers and equip your firm to make a difference in 2025.
Visit our website – www.essbiztools.com.au – to discover the detailed overview of the services provided by ESS BIZTOOLS. You are also welcome to contact us on 07 4724 1118 or email peter@essbiztools.com.au.
Accountants Minute Podcast
In this podcast episode, Peter Towers, Managing Director of ESS BIZTOOLS, expounds on Issue 389 of Accountants Minute. Peter explores how the Business Plus Newsletter equips accountants, bookkeepers and business advisors with the tools to empower your SME clients for success.
Want to know more?
Visit www.essbiztools.com.au.
If you would like to have a discussion about how this concept of virtual CFO services can be supplied by Australian accounting firms please ring our Managing Director, Peter Towers, on (07) 4724 1118 and we will arrange a complimentary 45-minute Zoom meeting to discuss your firm’s position and to give you our advice.
We believe that this is the blueprint for the delivery of an enhanced range of services by Australian Accounting and Bookkeeping firms to assist SME businesses to add value to their businesses and to assist accountants and bookkeepers not only to attract but to retain outstanding talent who want to be involved in the delivery of “real accounting services”.
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