A certified public accountant is an accountant who has passed specific examinations and met all other statutory and licensing requirements of a state to be certified by that state. In addition to preparing and reviewing financial statements, many CPAs do taxes.
I finally met a CPA who works with small business owners as a trusted advisor. Karla Sasser, CPA offers comprehensive consulting and management advisory services.
Over the last two years, I have connected with and referred business owners to Karla Sasser who does not prepare taxes.
From the AICPA website,
Over the last five years, my company has always said on the 321 Biz Development podcast and blog articles that CPAs need to work with small business owners as consultants to improve operations efficiency and increase sales profitability.
Small business owners have told my company, directly and indirectly, that they feel all alone with regard to making big and small business decisions.
What I have learned from Karla Sasser of KSasser CPA is there are many very important ways CPAs can help with business planning decisions.
Here are just five functions Karla Sasser provides to her business clients:
Support business growth, profitability and cash flow management, asset protection, business continuity, and succession planning.
Draft IT security policies and vendor risk assessments procedures to meet business owner needs.
Evaluate project plans for internal control.
Analyze critical data and key performance indicators KPI’s.
Collaborate with IT staff and project management teams to understand accounting and operational requirements.
These five functions give business owners great insight into measuring operational effectiveness and sales performance.
The interesting thing about the CPA services provided by Karla Sasser is she knows where the data is to help small business owners improve profitability. The data has always been there. Every company should know where it is stands and how to plan for the future.
My company has been told that small business owners have no one with whom to share their business concerns. The CPA should be that trusted advisor for small business owners to offer business planning guidance.
Karla spoke about KPIs (key performance indicators) on a recent podcast episode. As an example, Karla explains a KPI as a measurement of observed performance compared to expected performance.
A poor KPI might reflect that the company is paying too much for an operational process.
A KPI could show five more sales at $10,000 per transaction would put the company strongly in a better financial position. A further look into the situation might show the company is investing in a sales program to generate those five additional sales but the program is not working.
There's a lot more I could discuss about small business owners working with CPAs who focus on improving operations and profitability.
If this episode/article provoked some deep thought about improving your sales performance, please do not hesitate to contact me, Rick Nappier, at 726-999-0999.
Interested parties can click here to visit our website. Then, click the Questionnaire tab to complete the 5-minute questionnaire so 321 Biz Dev can learn more about your current sales situation or learn about your current or past experiences with trying to improve sales performance. A 321 Biz Dev specialist will contact you within two business days to review your responses.
We hope your enjoyed today’s post and linked podcast episode. Please check out the podcast episode for a lot more content on this subject matter.
Rick, CEO