The Best Way You Never Learned to Help Your Clients

Dec 26, 2023 by Roger Scherping


There are lots of ways you help your clients, like compiling their monthly financial statements, helping them look for ways to increase profitability or cash flow, or serving as a sounding board for their important business decisions.

But did you know that the most powerful way you can help your clients is probably something that you’ve never thought about?


Accountants are trained

Let’s face it. We’re accountants.

We are trained to look backwards.

We are taught how to categorize transactions. We can accumulate, analyze, report, and slice historical data every possible way to offer insights into what happened, why it happened, and how it can be improved. We can create reports that give insights that make decision making easier. We can set goals and measure and report historical progress.

No business can be successful without what we do: compiling and analyzing historical financial information. A famous economist highlighted the importance of understanding the past when he was asked, “How many months out should we be able to predict the economy?” and he responded, “Negative one month.”
                                     
But we accountants can do more than just look backwards.


Some background

When I was turning around troubled small companies, the most important step that I took each month to drive our success was to look into the future. I’m a CPA and good with spreadsheets, so I was able to figure out: When will we start making a profit? How much cash will we need? When will we reach positive cash flow? I was able to create a projected income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement that enabled me to answer those questions and take the appropriate action to improve the projected results.

Later I realized that every small company, not just troubled ones, should look ahead. Even if things are going well right now and cash is good, do your clients know what’s on the horizon? How is cash going to be for the next 12 months? Can they afford that new piece of equipment? What does profit look like for the next 12 months? What would be the impact of adding a new product line? Can the owner take out any cash next summer?

The only way to get your clients those answers is to help them look forward!


Ditch your spreadsheet!

How do you look forward? If you’ve ever created a spreadsheet financial model to do a prediction, you know what is involved in capturing history, creating a budget, and determining what other plans the company has, and then creating a multi-tab spreadsheet that creates a projected income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. You might worry about whether there is a formula error somewhere or a bad assumption that drives an erroneous result.

The good news is that at ProjectionSmart we’ve duplicated the spreadsheet for you and put it in a simple-to-use online tool! Instead of concentrating on cells and formulas, you just concentrate on your inputs and the results.

Once you’ve completed your client’s monthly financial statements in QuickBooks as usual, you just need to spend a few minutes with your client in ProjectionSmart updating their plans for the coming 12 months. These few minutes will help you provide them the following invaluable benefits:
                                          

  • Point out cash and profitability problems long before they become an issue
  • Create a rolling 12-month plan for their business that predicts revenue, profits, and cash
  • Make quantitative business decisions instead of relying on gut instinct
  • Provide them the peace of mind that comes from knowing where their business is going

It takes just a few minutes a month with ProjectionSmart for you and your clients to realize all of the benefits that a monthly prediction brings. Your clients will better understand the numbers of their business, better anticipate problems, and be better prepared for the future. As their trusted financial advisor, you will have happier clients, a better differentiated business, and more revenue.
                                                                     

Do a Prediction

So add a monthly prediction prepared with ProjectionSmart to the services you provide your clients every month. ProjectionSmart helps you turn your client’s backwards-looking financial statements into a forward-looking prediction. The process is quick and simple. We’ve done all of the hard work for you and put it into an online tool.

Maybe you are able to bill for an additional hour each month to create their prediction, or maybe you bill them an additional fee for their prediction. It’s up to you.
                                                
When you do a monthly prediction with your clients, they will be more successful and more comfortable with their numbers. They will be anticipate and avoid problems, leverage resources more effectively, make more quantitative business decisions, and feel much better about their business’s future – all because of you!

On your side, you will increase your monthly revenue, have happier and longer-term clients, help your clients be more successful, and differentiate your practice.
                                         
After all, who doesn’t want happier and more successful clients and more revenue? Let us help.

Here’s a video to show you how easy ProjectionSmart is to use.                                                                               
                                                                                                                       
Try out the new ProjectionSmart here.
 

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