Do you love your business? Getting it to a place where you truly love running it might seem impossible, but it's not. Our mission is to help Practice owners, like yourself, achieve that sweet spot.
Our Practice Valuation Reports delve deep into the workings of each unique Accounting business. You’d be amazed at the differences we see between those who plan and those who don’t.
The most difficult and confusing thing we see is a frequent lack of direction, strategy and goal setting.
Practitioners tell us they don’t have the time to set goals nor the time to implement them. But, you can’t get anywhere without knowing where you’re going and how to get there.
Setting goals is crucial to making any meaningful progress or actual direction towards a business you love.
Perhaps their first goal should be to gain more time!
Here we’ve looked at some basic benchmark goals Accountants will be setting for 2021. We encourage you to expand on them, revise them and make them specific to you and your practice.
1. Get WIP down to 25 days.
How do we do this? Start jobs only when you have all the information. Focus on that job until it’s complete & have it reviewed & signed off by the client promptly. This leads us to the 2nd goal…
2. Have a turnaround time for reviews in 2 days or less.
For some firms this is a tough one and quite often it’s all about having confidence in staff and a thorough job sign-off sheet. Who reviews the jobs? That might be a good start as well.
3. Have [20%, 30% or 50%] of all client revenue derived from Advisory services.
We suggest you work out what advisory services you are going to provide, how you intend on converting clients to these services and having the time to provide them.
This is probably the number one focus for someone wanting to make significant work/life changes & we certainly have plenty of ideas that have aided our other Accounting clients – talk to us.
4. Increase profit margins and reduce write-offs.
The most important factor in this situation is actually knowing how much profit or loss you are incurring on each job. Spend the time on some of these detailed reviews because knowledge is power!
5. Grow the practice by double-digit figures every year.
Ok so let’s talk about marketing… Yes it’s more than just having a website. Do marketing in stages if it’s overwhelming, see what works and what doesn’t (or let us do all the hard work for you).
Marketing will require a bit of investment, but remember, it is exactly that: an investment in the future of your business.
6. Plan your exit strategy.
This one can take a bit of time but it’s really important to start putting in the foundations now as you don’t want to rush your exit (that’s from experience!).
Succession plans can take quite a bit of planning, but often achieves the best outcomes so make sure you consider your options and start taking action.
Direction must start at the top. Focus on the type of Practice you want to create, how you differentiate the Practice from others & what values you exhibit, goals and strategies flow down from there.
Once you can articulate actual goals, your team can start to get on board and the numbers will start to follow.
Need Help?
The difficulties faced this year have meant panic for many. We’ve had a number of Practice owners turn to us to assist them ‘sort out’ their business. They have spent way too much time swallowed up by their Practice this year and don’t want a repetition of this situation again.
If this is something you’d like help with for 2021, we’d love to talk with you – give us a call.