Investing in accounting services, by either hiring an accountant or using accounting software, helps you track your finances and make smart financial decisions for your small business. Learn how accountants can increase your sales and profits so you can leverage those services to grow.

Forecasting to Increase Sales and Profits

Growth in business is a good thing, but rapid growth can cause growing pains, especially when it’s unexpected and unplanned. Forecasting to increase your sales helps you predict growth to ensure your infrastructure, customer service, inventory, and account management procedures can handle the increase in business. An accountant or accounting software helps you accurately forecast sales and finances to help your company expand at a controlled, manageable pace. This information can help you make decisions that support that growth.

Accurate Invoicing

Accurate invoices help create positive customer relationships and make sure you receive the correct payment amounts. Whether your accountant handles invoicing or you use accounting software, accurate and timely invoicing processes can help ensure you get paid more quickly. Accounting services also let you know immediately when an invoice goes unpaid. An accountant can provide information on different client accounts to help you identify your quality clients and those who consistently have problems paying on time.

Expense Analysis

Sales aren’t the only predictors of your profits. When your expenses increase, your profit margins narrow. An accountant gives you a clear picture of all your business expenses, so you know where your money goes each month. Accountants can also tell you how those expenses stack up to others in your industry. You can analyze this information to find areas where you can trim your business expenses to increase profits. Expense analysis is an ongoing task since your profits and expenses change each month, so it’s useful to have professional help to stay on top of it.

Service and Product Analysis

Do you offer more than one service or product? Do you know how each individual product or service performs? Accounting services give a clear picture of profits for various aspects of your business. Then you can identify your profitable areas and potentially eliminate or revamp product lines or services that aren’t as profitable. By focusing on areas that make you the most money and improving or eliminating ones that don’t, your company makes more money and potentially increases sales.

Pricing Analysis

Even if you only offer one product or service, an accountant can help you accurately price that item. Accurate pricing potentially increases your sales by putting your product at an appealing price point that makes customers buy. If your prices are on the low end compared to industry standards, a realistic increase can lead to a higher profit margin without too much impact on demand. Stagnant sales may indicate you need a slight decrease in pricing to stimulate sales. Your accountant helps you analyze your pricing and can make recommendations for pricing changes to ensure your profits increase.

Spending Decisions and Risk Analysis

Are you considering adding a new employee? Do you want to launch a new product or an expensive marketing campaign? Before investing in new ventures, work with your accountant to get a clear picture of your financial situation to determine how future spending affects your overall business. Your accountant can help you determine if the decision is a financially sound one based on the current market. Using accounting services helps your small business grow through accurate forecasting and data-driven decision-making.

Methods to increase sales can help your business become more profitable, and an accountant or accounting software can help. Using an accounting system, such as QuickBooks Online, you can generate a Profit and Loss statement automatically. Learn how today.