5 Ways a CPA Can Help You Grow Your Business When You're Just Getting Started

If you already have a CPA you work with, then you know how valuable they are. Did you know that most people only visit their CPA when it’s time to file their taxes? If you’re a business owner, this can be detrimental to the health of your business. CPA’s can help you with so much more than just filing your taxes.

You’re probably thinking that hiring a CPA is expensive but once you see all the benefits their services provide, you’ll realize a good CPA is priceless. Besides saving you tax, increasing your profit, and filing important paperwork you may not even realize you need to file, CPA’s can also help you grow your business which is essential when you’re first starting out.

Here are just a few ways a CPA can help you grow your business when you’re getting started.

Identify and Achieve Your Goals

Setting goals that don’t make any sense for your specific business can end up leaving you discouraged. If you hire a CPA who has experience working with other businesses in your industry, they will be able to help you set achievable goals.

For example, when you’re just getting started, you might not know an appropriate monthly or annual target revenue to aim for or how much to budget for your expenses. Setting appropriate goals will help you reach your revenue targets so you can grow your business.

Set Up Your Bookkeeping

You might be wondering how setting up your bookkeeping can help you grow your business. It’s hard to know if you’re on track for meeting your goals if you don’t know how much money is coming in and going out. Ensuring you have a bookkeeping system in place that you are using on a regular basis will help you monitor this.

There are so many options when it comes to record keeping that it’s hard to know which one to choose. A CPA can help you decide which system will work best for you, setup your accounts, and show you how to use the system properly. Keeping proper records will help you track your income and expenses so you can use this information to grow your business.

Manage Cash Flow

Cash flow can be a huge concern for businesses starting out. It's one reason why I recommend starting a business with savings rather than getting a loan. Loan payments really cut into the cash generated from your profits.

A CPA can help you identify areas where you can improve your cash flow. They can create a cash flow statement and a business budget that will show you exactly where your money is going. Once you know where you're spending your cash, you will be able to cut back in certain areas  and save money or invest in your business in order to grow it.

Increase Sales

Increasing sales is one way to improve a business’s cash flow. A CPA can help you determine which products or services are the most profitable and give you ideas for how to go about marketing them to make the most impact in your business.

By marketing your business to increasing sales you can grow it rapidly. Most CPA's have taken marketing training as a requirement of earning their business degree.

Hire Employees

It might surprise you that a CPA can help you find the right employees for your business, but many accountants are required to take courses like human resource management and organizational behaviour as part of their business degree.

Hiring employees can be tricky. It’s an important step that indicates your business is growing but if you hire too soon, you risk cutting into your profits. If you wait too long, you run the risk of burning yourself out while you handle everything on your own. Enlist the help of a professional accountant to help you determine if your business is ready for employees and who is going to be the best person for the job.

Finding the right CPA is extremely important. If you’re serious about your business, you want to find an accountant who will become a true business partner. When you’re a business owner, you’ll communicate with your accountant a lot more than once a year when it’s time to do your taxes, so it’s important that you find someone you trust.  

If you’re not sure about how to find the right accountant, check out my book Keep More Money where I cover this in great detail as well as many other reasons why it’s important to work with a professional accountant.