How investing in your accountant can deliver big returns

Accountants can do much more than prepare your taxes. Stephen W. Christian, managing director at Kreischer Miller, offers some ways to work with your accountant to increase profits and grow your business.
Q: Can your accountant add value and help you increase your profitability?
A. Do you consider your accounting fees to be overhead or an investment? One stereotype of an accountant — bean counter, scorekeeper, tax preparer — deserves its connection with minimal value overhead. But the right accountant takes the historical numbers and information available and helps you navigate a path to increased profitability and a return on your investment.
Accounting firms add value in many ways, but one that C-suite executives are reaping the most benefit from revolves around determining and accessing the right information with which to make timely, informed decisions. Think of all the information embedded in a company’s systems — production statistics, time and productivity information, supplier and customer data, margin analyses, etc. Your accounting firm can assist you in harnessing it.
First, determine the information that would put you in the best position to make decisions and monitor activities. What are the key performance indicators? Your accountant can assist you in determining the appropriate indicators. You can then develop the type of dashboard report you would like to review.
Your accounting and technology teams can assist in automatically populating the dashboard reports. You will be able to review critical information on a daily, weekly or monthly basis from any smartphone, tablet or computer. Stop wasting time with the incredible amount of useless information available to all of us. Work with your accountant to focus on utilizing only the relevant data, putting you on a path toward timely, better decisions that lead to improved profitability.
Stephen W. Christian is a managing director at Kreischer Miller. Reach him at (215) 441-4600 or [email protected].