Accountants for small businesses are professionals who specialise in helping smaller or new businesses find their financial feet, while also meeting all regulatory requirements. When entering a new market or trying to establish market share your company is bound to face many financial obstacles. From dealing with every more complicated accounting technology to having to remain compliant with the South African Revenue Service (SARS), these are just some of the common challenges faced by inexperienced entrepreneurs. The most effective way to deal with this is by calling in professional help, educated in your particular situation.
At SureBooks, our accountants for small businesses team are well equipped to help you out no matter the financial obstacles you face. We pride ourselves on our professional accountants who are not only well versed in a wide variety of accounting tasks but are also experienced in working with smaller businesses and the unique challenges they face.
We understand that, as a small business, you may want to cut costs wherever possible and may assume that it would be more cost effective to handle the multitude of accounting requirements in house. But in this article, we want to show you just a few of the services our small business accountants handle on a daily basis. In this way we hope to present you with a strong value proposition that will convince you as the owner of a small business to consider teaming up with SureBooks, so that your financial worries can be a thing of the past.
Financial Analysis
All professional accountants for small businesses will emphasise the importance of understanding and making use of financial analysis. Through accurate analysis one is able to effectively understand their business – being able to precisely target critical needs while also promoting its unique strengths.
However, the term “financial analysis” is simply a blanket term and can refer to a wide range of important metrics, making it difficult to know where to start or what to look at. One may simply define financial analysis as the transformation of several key financial data points into indicators which can give you an accurate representation of the business’s financial health.
In this section, let us review a few key data sets that are important for accountants to be able to understand in order to provide your business with the integral analysis smaller companies need to succeed and grow.
Budgeting
A business’s budget is part of the backbone of any financial system. In many situations a long term budget is actually required for a business to receive funding. A budget is simply a way for a company to present its strategy on how it will spend money coming into the business. Budgets will generally highlight all the businesses short and long term costs, well also making provisions for emergencies and any will include any other foreseeable costs that may need to be handled. It should also look to highlight all income revenues, and the projected amount the company has to spend each month, quarter and year.
An accurate and detailed budget can provide our accountants for small businesses with a reliable picture of your company’s overall income and expenses. Our team will not only interpret this data, allowing for better financial strategy, but can also help you set up a detailed professional grade budget that will be easy to understand and use.
Financial Statement Analysis
A budget and financial statement actually work as a pair of important business documents. Whereas the budget looks to estimate possible income and expenses the company is likely to run into, a financial statement is a formal record of the business’s financial activities. In a perfect world you would want your financial statement to closely resemble your budget, as this would represent a complete understanding of your businesses daily financial operations.
A small business accountant who is either there to help analyse your financial statements or help institute a better financial statement system, will want to have three specific categories included:
- Income Statements: A record of all money generated and spent by the business over a predetermined period of time.
- Balance Sheet: This is a quick look at a specific moment in time of a business’s current financial condition. It simply lists the companies’ current assets and liabilities.
- Cash Flow Statement: This statement tracks the liquidity of your business and records the inflow and outflow of cash.
Although this may seem similar to an income statement, their focuses are completely different. The income statement records how your business is performing and whether it is making a profit, whereas a cash flow statement indicates how your business is currently using the money that is coming in.
Tax Compliance
If you were to ask accountants for small businesses what they believed the most common issue is – that they spend the most time assisting owners with – a large portion of them would list tax compliance. Although proper financial analysis is integral to you being able to plan for the company’s future, tax compliance is as important if not more so.
Taxes are a legal requirement in order to operate any business no matter the size, and when it is found that a business is non-compliant there can be massive legal requirements that can easily threaten the end of your business. These legal ramifications can be imposed upon your business even if you were unaware of your non-compliance.
Because of this serious threat, many business owners, even of large corporations will call in professional accounting help to manage their taxes. There are a number of reasons that make remaining compliant a complicated process. This includes changes to the system made by the South African Revenue Service (SARS), new legislation put in place by the government or even changes to your own business. These will all alter how your taxes should be completed.
Luckily at SureBooks our accountants for small business are well versed in tax law and are specialised in dealing with taxation on small businesses. In this way with our help, you can rest assured that you are being protected from any tax mishaps. Let us review a few of the ways our accountants can help you with tax:
Preparation
One of the most important ways our SureBooks accountants can help your business with regards to tax, is through tax preparation. Being prepared will help to reduce stress levels when the tax season rolls around and all tax documentation needs to be submitted.
At SureBooks our performance in this department has allowed us to form connections with SARS, who is one of our trusted partners. This should help convince you of our expertise in the field and our ability to help you prepare. When preparing your taxes we provide the following services:
Tax Planning: Here we help you optimise your tax position. Taxes are highly dependent on several varying factors which will influence the amount you are expected to pay. Our team will help you legally minimise what you owe the tax authorities through planning – which, in the long run, will save you money.
Tax Compliance: For any business, this service is the most essential tax service we can offer. To be compliant means to submit all financial documentation in such a way that it meets all legal requirements as determined by the government and tax authorities (SARS). As already highlighted, compliance is mandatory, as failure to do so can lead to harsh legal consequences. At SureBooks we make sure to stay updated with all regulatory changes to our countries tax laws. In this way, we can guarantee that your taxes will be compliant.
Optimising Deduction: Did you know that there are certain expenses to a company that cannot be taxed? These costs are referred to as tax deductibles, as they are generally excluded from the tax you are required to pay. However, in order to claim these reductions, it is important to declare them beforehand, so that tax authorities do not include them in final calculations.
However, what can be declared as a deductible is very specific, and it is best to seek the assistance from accountants for small businesses to make sure this is done accurately and that you maximise the number of deductibles declared. In this way you can minimise your tax obligations drastically.
Record Keeping
In the financial analysis portion of this article, we examined just how critical it can be to clearly translate the businesses financial data into usable information. This information with the help of accountants for small businesses can be translated into smart financial planning or even a clear representation of the current financial health of the business.
With how critical financial analysis is to the longevity of a business you may be wondering where the data is found and how it should be recorded. This data can only be collected when the correct record keeping systems are in place. Without them, you are essentially operating your company blind. Even when you do instil them into your corporate structure, are you sure you are getting all the data possible, and are the systems robust enough to be considered industry standard?
Our accountants for small businesses are perfectly suited to help you adopt these systems. We will help you build up record systems that any accountant would be happy to work with, and that promises to provide you with all the data needed for accurate financial analysis.
Record Keeping Systems You May Need
Sales Tracking System: One of the most important data sets you should be recording is your business sales. It is essential that every sale your company makes is accurately recorded. There are a number of reasons this data is so important. Not only does it indicate the demand for your products or services, as higher sales are generally linked to higher demand, but it is also a key factor in being able to manage inventory.
Expense Tracking System: In the same way it is important to track money coming into your company through sales, it is just as important to record money going out of the business. There are a wide variety of expenses that businesses have to face. From operational costs to tax and even reimbursements. All of these amounts should be accurately recorded, so that you are able to tell what it costs to run the business, and whether you are generating enough income to cover all these costs.
Payroll System: Even small businesses may need a team of people in order to run effectively. In the same way taxes are a legal requirement, so too are you legally required to pay your employees a fair and competitive wage. In many cases a company may also be required to handle certain other expenses related to employees like income taxes, unemployment benefits, insurance and pensions. All of these amounts should be accurately recorded in order to prove that you are a fair and reliable employer.
SureBooks: A Team Of Accountants Ready To Assist
In this article we have examined three of the most important services accountants for small businesses provide. At the same time, we highlighted just how integral all these aspects are to operating a business in a legal, fair and effective manner.
At SureBooks, our team of accountants for small businesses are ready to assist you anytime you need. So don’t hesitate to reach out; become a better business owner by gaining control over your company’s finances today!
