Making the hard decisions, backed by expert knowledge and guidance.
Business Advisory Services
At Canny Accounting our services to our business clients includes both Business Advisory Services, and Business Coaching.
Whilst they may sound similar, the detail below can guide you through the differences. In reality Business Coaching is one type of advisory service, so does fall with in the general banner, but has some particular differences to general advisory services that make it stand out and offer distinct benefits to you, the business owner.
Why do we offer business advisory services?
Tax accountants are often seen as something you have to do. You have to lodge a tax return and if you are registered for GST you have to lodge your Business Activity Statements.
Advisory services on the other hand are considered optional. There may be circumstances such as bank reporting that require Advisory Services, but these services are all designed to help business owners achieve even more from their business. More clarity, more profits, more freedom
Both are designed to help our Business clients, and whilst there are some crossovers, there are some key differences.
What Does A Business Adviser Help With?
As Business Advisors, we leverage the expertise, training, experience and systems to provide the best possible advice on the setup, operation and financial state of your business, including but not limited to:
Business Structures: how you set up your business and protect your assets;
Buying and Selling a Business: from considering the purchase or sale value to government registration requirements;
Operating a Business: staffing, technology, financing your business, systems you use;
Cashflow Management: cash is the lifeblood of your business, understanding and control of the cash is crucial to ongoing success;
Employing staff and contractors: either, both, or none might be best for you;
Tax Optimisation: planning how your actions today will impact year end tax time and planning for that impact;
Record Keeping: no shoeboxes please!; and
Succession Planning: this can be (and is) a whole topic on its own, but operating a good business means you should look to the future and how that business will transform as you chose.
What Is The Difference Between A Business Adviser + A Business Coach?
As Business Coaches, our role is to help you get the most out of your business, ensuring the way your business operates is aligned with your goals.
We help you set action plans both long and short term, and then keep you accountable to competing those actions. We support you and your business with an eye on the financial matters, but always looking at your goals.
How that might look in practice?
An example of the difference between Advisory and Coaching is Budgeting.
As a Coach, we would definitely want you to have an operating budget, and an action might be for you have a budget in place in a months time. As your coach, we would then follow up in a month to make sure your operating budget was in place.
An Adviser, on the other hand, might work with you on the budget, and actually draft it up after gaining critical information from you.
Both the Coach and the Adviser can run through it with you, provide feedback and insights, but the Coach will be focused on making sure it is done. The Adviser will focus on helping complete the budget if you need.
How Can Small Business Advisory Services Help My Business?
As your advisers, we want to ensure you are clear on your business operating performance, and how that impacts on you.
This will be grounded in the financial facts of your business, and then working with you on ways to optimise the performance and financial outcomes.
This may include looking at your structure, or the structure of your goods and services, how they are delivered and the financial outcome of that flow.
As your adviser we will be keen to explore how you are financing your operations, what you are capable of drawing from the business and the tax implications of both operations and those drawings.
What Is The Aim of Business Coaching?
Helping you achieve your business goals!
It really is as simple as that. We work with you, provide accountability, always being honest and transparent with feedback.
Your Business Coach really does want to help you achieve your business goals.
With a wider focus that just the financial facts of your business, we look at your role and the roles of your team in your business, to ensure that the key personnel are operating where they need to achieve the goals you set. We call this “highest and best use”, and can also relate to resources you have like machines, referral partners and trading stock in your business.
As your coach we will occasionally need to provide “tough love” sometimes in hard facts, and sometimes in accountability for doing what you said you would do. As your coach, our role is to coach you, not do your work.
Canny Business Advisers are here to help, with the knowledge, experience, systems and people to support your business, be it general advisory or more specifically business coaching.
For a no obligation meeting with our advisers to discuss your business, get in touch via the form below.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is The Importance of Business Forecasting?
Before you walk out the door in the morning, you look to the forecast to determine appropriate clothing.
So before you make significant business decisions, would it not make sense to look at a financial forecast to understand the financial impact of such decisions?
The value in a business forecast is providing key financial information to make educated decisions.
What Is Cashflow Management?
Cashflow is the lifeblood of a business.
Cashflow management is the process of collecting, disbursing and accumulating cash.
If you collect more than you disburse, you are cashflow positive. If you disburse more than you collect, you are cashflow negative so need to work out how you will fund the shortfall.
Selling goods and services, collecting debtors, purchasing stock and paying bills are all elements of cashflow management.
Good management means you understand your cash position at any time.
What Is The Difference Between Financial Planning and Forecasting?
Forecasting is about planning the business financial performance and outcomes for a period, which can be 12 months or can extend to three or even five years (although, think about what your business was doing 5 years ago!).
This is all about the business, even if you as the owner are the beneficiary of the business profits.
Financial Planning on the other hand refers to a totally different professional service, which we are lucky to have on hand at Canny Wealth.
Financial Planning is about planning your personal financial goals, investment strategies and managing personal assets and debts.
Can New Businesses Forecast Their Cashflow?
Absolutely!
The quality of the forecast will be determined by firstly the quality of the assumptions used in developing the forecast, second the quality of how the business is operating and third the willingness of the business owner(s) to take the actions necessary to achieve their goals.
Of course the forecast cannot foresee everything, but by using the forecast as an active tool not just a document on the shelf, achieving your desired outcomes will be more likely.
What Cashflow Management Services Does Canny Accounting Offer?
We offer many elements of cashflow management, commencing with budgeting, progressing that to scenario based forecasting, and can then follow up with coaching to ensure all the steps in cashflow management are being done as they should be.
Not only that we offer specific training in cashflow management for elements such as collecting your debtors faster, reducing your work in progress, managing debt repayments, optiminsing your tax position, and not forgetting growing your sales revenue and minimising the urge to discount.
How Does Cashflow Management Work?
We are here to help you understand that all elements of the cash cycle interact in cashflow management.
Your budget and forecast that can guide you along the path of invoicing and collections, bills and payments, GST and income tax, loan funding and more.
Cashflow management works when you understand how the elements work together, what “levers” you may have available to improve your position, and when you may have to make a tough decision.
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