How accountants can help maintain financial stability in mature companies

As your small business evolves into a mature company, you’ll want to have your accountant by your side to ensure your financial ship sails smoothly. As a mature company, your priority will be stability, with slow and steady growth. Your goal will be to optimize your operations. Price competition and knowing your niche may be significant factors that could help you meet your optimization goals. When you know the niche of the clients you are focused on, you better align your costs and efforts towards them, leading to stronger results. 

We can provide financial expertise, analysis and strategic guidance to help your mature company make informed decisions and maintain financial stability. Our role extends beyond traditional bookkeeping to proactive financial management and planning for your business. 

Accountants help you manage your money

When you’re a mature company, metrics become increasingly important. Business owners are becoming increasingly hungry for data, and accountants can be data specialists – taking raw data and documentation, making sense of it, and presenting it. Your accountant can help you watch trends and business margins by setting up the reports you need. They can provide expert guidance on budgeting and cost management as well. 

We can help you prepare accurate and timely financial statements with regular financial reporting. These reports will give you a clear picture of your company’s financial health so you can act accordingly. We analyze your financial data to identify trends, variances and key performance indicators (KPIs) that can help management make informed decisions.

Accountants assist in developing annual budgets and financial forecasts. These budgets provide a roadmap for managing expenses and revenue throughout the year, helping you prevent overspending and maintain stability. This includes cash flow management, which monitors and forecasts your cash flows to ensure your company has sufficient liquidity. 

Lastly, we can provide financial analysis and insights to support strategic decision-making, such as investment in new projects, expansion or diversification. Your accountant can evaluate the financial feasibility of potential initiatives and assess their impact on your company’s financial health. 

Accountants help you mitigate risk 

Accountants with expertise in risk management can help mature companies build resilience. Their insights and recommendations can assist you in making informed decisions that protect your financial stability and reputation.

As your accountant, we’ll ensure your mature company follows legal requirements and industry standards. We’ll also help you identify potential risks and devise mitigation strategies. These could include: 

• Insurance products
• Cybersecurity 
• Best practices 
• Securing financial data
• Long-term tax planning
• Corporate structure planning

If you’re unsure what you need regarding insurance, ask your accountant. They can point you in the right direction and provide general advice about products you might need. These could include: 

• General liability insurance
• Professional liability
• Errors and omissions
• Critical illness
• Own occupation
• Short-term liability 
• Long-term liability
• Life insurance
• Health benefits 

Accountants help navigate risky waters

Another area your accountant might help you in is business recovery or continuity planning. This might entail creating potential scenarios and building contingency plans for each. We’ll help you prepare for unforeseen challenges and adapt your financial strategies without compromising stability. The best you can do as a company is to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. 

We’ll collaborate with you to develop comprehensive business continuity plans to ensure your company continues operations even in crises.

Accountants can help you enhance profitability and stay competitive

As a mature company, your growth may be steady but hard to accelerate. Your accountant can review your pricing and provide a breakeven/contribution margin analysis to support your business’s overall financial health. They can help you achieve sustainable and strategic price strategies with the following: 

• Cost analysis: All costs associated with producing your product or delivering your service, including direct costs like materials and labour and indirect costs such as overhead and administrative expenses.
   
• Breakeven analysis: This analysis determines the point at which total revenue equals total costs, where the minimum level of sales covers all costs and achieves profitability. Breakeven analysis considers fixed costs, variable costs and pricing. 
  
  
• Contribution margin analysis: The contribution margin represents the difference between total revenue and variable costs. This analysis helps companies understand the profitability of products, services or business segments and is particularly useful for evaluating and prioritizing product lines. 
  
  
• Profitability analysis: Accountants can track and report on profitability metrics, including gross profit margin, operating profit margin and net profit margin. These metrics provide ongoing insights into the company’s financial health and the effectiveness of its pricing strategies. 

Accountants help with long-term planning

Your accountant can help your company chart a course for long-term success, including expansion, investment decisions and capital allocation. After all, you’re not just building a business; you’re building a legacy. We can ensure your company’s financial health is strong for the future through the following: 

• Financial projections and forecasting: Looking into the future, your accountant can create forecasting income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements. These projections provide the basis for long-term planning by outlining expected financial performance under various scenarios.

• Capital budgeting and investment analysis: Accountants can assist in evaluating potential capital investments, such as acquiring new assets, expanding operations or entering new markets. They can perform investment analysis to assess the long-term viability and return on investment on projects. 

• Risk assessment and mitigation: By identifying and assessing financial risks, your accountant can recommend risk mitigation strategies, such as insurance coverage, diversification or hedging, to safeguard your company’s financial health. 

• Tax planning and compliance: Your accountant can work with you in long-term tax planning to optimize the company’s tax position over time. They can also ensure your company complies with tax laws and regulations, avoiding potential tax-related risks. 
  
  
• Scenario analysis: Accountants can review how external factors like economic conditions, market trends and regulatory changes could impact the company’s long-term plans. This allows for robust contingency planning. 

• Succession planning: Lastly, accountants can help you develop succession plans for key financial roles within the company to ensure continuity of financial leadership and expertise over the long term. 

As experienced small business accountants and advisors, we've helped small business owners and solopreneurs achieve their goals and navigate the path to running a successful business. We can assist with a specific matter or create a strategic planning program that grows with your business.

Read our related article, From startup to scaling up: Why entrepreneurs need growth advisory from their accounting firm

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