In this weeks episode of “I hate numbers” my topic is ‘What do accountants do’?

Five headline things that accountants do, spoiler alert, money features amongst that.

Making money

Making money is a big business goal, if you want to move from hobby business to something more. When we talk money, we mean cash in the bank and making profit.

You need a strong and vibrant number story if you want your business to prosper and to continue.

Saving money

A good accountant saves you money.  You see where the money goes, choose the right business structure and deal with VAT.

Business growth

Thirdly, accountants help you grow your business. If you don't grow then your business is going backwards.

A good accountant helps you make good business decisions. You will make objective choices that are good for your business.

Taxes

You can’t escape death or taxes. A good accountant helps you reduce your tax bill, and can navigate the tax rules and regulations.

Work life balance

Your accountant can help you achieve a good work life balance. And if you're not spending time doing whatever you don't like or are particularly good at, and all of us have got those things that we're not good at, you can balance your time better.

What Next

Grab a coffee, make yourself comfortable, sit back and listen.

I love doing this podcast and sharing my love of Numbers with you. Check out the link to subscribe and do not miss an episode.

In This Episode

• Understanding what accountants do
• Knowing the impact an accountant can make on your business
• Finding out accountants help you make money, grow and deal with taxes
• Accountants helping you get that work life sorted
• Developing your own Numbers confidence and decisions
• Take more control of your numbers to help make you money, survive and thrive

Links

https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/proactiveresolutionss-podcast/id1500471288

https://play.google.com/music/m/I3pvpztpjvjw6yrw2kctmtyckam?t=I_Hate_Numbers

https://open.spotify.com/show/5lKjqgbYaxnIAoTeK0zins

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/proactiveresolutionss-podcast

https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business–Economics-Podcasts/I-Hate-Numbers-p1298505/

Get in touch with us to find out more about some money making tips. For more business and finance , news, advice and tips, don’t forget to watch our weekly broadcasts, subscribe to the weekly podcast I Hate Numbers.

Pro Active Resolutions

The Numbers Crew – Here to help you!

You are listening to the I Hate Numbers Podcast with Mahmood Reza. The I Hate Numbers podcast mission is to help your business survive and thrive by you better understanding and connecting with your numbers. Number love and care is what it's about. Tune in every week. Now, here's your host, Mahmood Reza.

Hi, folks, and welcome to episode 27 of I Hate Numbers. Now, my topic today is a question I often come across is, what on Earth do accountants actually do? That's a great question and that's a question I'm going to explore in this week's podcast episode. I'm going to flag out five things that accountants do, and as a spoiler alert, money features amongst that.

That might not be a shock for a lot of you out there who know me, but let's crack on with the episode. So, what does your accountant do to help you make money? So, making money has got a feature in your business. Otherwise, you just stay forever with a hobby, a very time-consuming activity, and you want to move to something that's more successful

and success needs money to make it happen. But more specifically, a measure of success has got to be making money and by money, we're talking about cash in the bank and making profits. Now, numbers are a big part of that move to success, and your number story needs to be part of everything that you do.

Having a strong number story is crucial that if you want to attract additional funds into your business, if you want to form business relationships, if you want your business to prosper and to continue. Now, an accountant can help you prepare that number story, to make it attractive and as compelling as possible.

So, you might see that in terms of planning that you do, business plans that you put together, identifying areas for growth, giving you insight on cash flow, pricing, managing inventory, identifying the areas where you are making profit, which customers are more prosperous for you, which services provide greater value in financial terms for you as well.

Apart from making money, an accountant, certainly a good accountant will help you save money and save you money isn't just about the expenses that you've got, where that money's going, which areas that you are spending on, but it's also about the correct business structure for your business. Now, in previous podcast episodes I've talked about sole traders, limited companies, and partnerships.

That's something that a good accountant will advise you on and having the right business structure is certainly going to have an impact on the money that you can save. Should you be VAT registered? Should you be registered for sales taxes? Well, that's a question a smart accountant can figure out for you.

Sometimes it's good to be VAT registered when you don't need to be. Sometimes it isn't. An accountant, certainly a smart one, can help you with that. Good accountants aren't just good with numbers, even though that's a real big part of their DNA, but they understand business structures, ways of working, and how to actually be more efficient in your business.

So, what have we got so far? We've got accountants can help you make money. That's got to be a good thing. We've got accountants can help you save money. A third area, third thing that accountants do is to help you grow your business. Now, for me, growth is a no-brainer. If you do not grow your business, you run the risk of your business actually declining.

Customers will leave you. Customers will not always buy from you. Competitors will come in there and if you stand still, it's tantamount to actually going backwards as well. Accountants can help you navigate what might seem a very complex business landscape, a very challenging and a very changing one.

You can focus on the things that you're good at, marketing, delivering the services, selling those goods. There's no point in you spending time, your valuable time on areas that aren't your forte. You need to focus on growing your business, and an accountant can help you for the best decisions to make, so you make objective choices, not driven always by emotion, but ones that are actually good for your business.

Managing your accounting system, the right accounting system that gives you that information when you need it. If you don't have the right internal systems, your business will be hurt both now and in the long term. Part of that growth pattern will be investing in additional resources, will be taking on additional members of staff, additional freelancers, and a good, smart accountant can advise you and support you on that journey.

So, that's three things that we've talked about that accountants do. Making money. That's got to be a good thing, as we've said, saving money, growing your business. So, what about number four? Now, we can't get away from that, debt and tax is the old cliche phrase is inevitable. It's the only things in life we cannot avoid.

We all have to pay tax, but a good accountant can help you minimise your tax bill and all entirely legally. They can navigate the ever-changing tax laws and regulations. One thing we know about tax, it can be a very complex area, full of legislation, full of rules and regs. So, an accountant, a smart one, can help you navigate that path. Knowing the best

way to minimise and reduce your tax burden and tax is a business cost just is the same as any other cost would be. They can help you plan for the next year, look at the most efficient ways to run your business in tax terms, and take advantage of any tax schemes that might exist. Deadlines, forms, typically make up all tax systems. So, accountants

know what those deadlines are, know what those forms are that need to be filled in. And just as a heads up, if you don't listen to what those deadlines and forms and you don't fill them in correctly, then typically what will happen is you suffer a financial penalty. So, we know how to fill out those tax forms, and using an accountant gives you a bit of reassurance.

It knows the correct work is being completed at the right time and in the right way, which has got to be a pretty good thing for your peace of mind and for HMRCs peace of mind as well. So, that's four things that we've covered here. So, what's number five? Well, your accountant can help you achieve a good work-life balance.

Now, if you're not spending time doing work that you either don't like or aren't particularly good at, and all of us have got those things that we're not good at, you can balance your time better As business owners, there's always that balance that we've got to achieve about where our time is best spent.

Is it best spent on tasks that somebody else can come in and do much better, more effective than us? Your time has a value. Make sure you are using that time very effectively on the task that will make an impact in your business. Time saved and taking home more money means that you move towards the life that you want and need and desire, or at least taking a step towards it.

So, let's recap. So, what does your accountant do? What do accountants do? Well, they help you make money. Transforming that hobby business to a successful business. They help you save money. Identify the unnecessary expenses, areas where the right business structure, the right bit of tax-planning can come into effect.

They can help you grow your business. They can help you with that inevitable thing in life in terms of tax, and they can help develop your work life balance. In this episode, I've talked about what accountants do, and I've deliberately not talked about how you choose an accountant. That's going to be the topic of my next

podcast next week. But for now, everybody, hope you like the show. If you love the show, if you like the show, subscribe, share it with your friends, colleagues, even share it with your enemies perhaps. And until then, have a great week and I'll see you guys next week. We hope you enjoyed this episode and appreciate you taking the time to listen to the show.

We hope you got some value. If you did, then we'd love it if you shared the episode. We look forward to you joining us next week for another I Hate Numbers episode.