Put Your House Back In Order Before You Scale
Met a prospect client recently who enquired about our accounting services.
He informed that his accountant cannot help much in advising him on his business.
Then I asked him 5 questions :-
1. How often is your accountant closing your books ?
His Ans : Quarterly
2. When was the last Quarterly Accounts done up to ?
His Ans : Sept 2017 ( we met in early Feb 2018 )
3. Do you have an Admin Assistant to help with your paperwork ?
His Ans : not really, he will pile them up in a tray and get a part time Admin Assistant to come in once a month to sort them out
4. Does your outsourced Accountant talk to you regularly to keep taps on you and your business ?
His Ans : Not really, only when he is chasing for payment
5. Does your Accountant explain to you what happened to your business performance and identify areas of improvement and do up an Action Plan with you every time after your accounts were completed ?
His Ans : No
After listening to his responses to my 5 queries, I told him to go back to :
1) change the frequency of doing his accounts from quarterly to monthly,
2) get his Admin Assistant to come in to the office more regularly to sort out the paperwork and pass over to the outsourced Accountant immediately after the month closes,
3) insist that his Accountant complete the accounts on time and run through the processed numbers with him as soon as the books are closed, document down all Action Items, do Rolling P/L and Cash Flow Forecasts to know exactly how his expected Cash Balance at least 6 months from now.
I said, “you go back to give your Accountant a chance, Put Your House Back In Order [PYHBIO]”.
I told him, “come back to me only if that does not work”.
He walked out of my office, totally amazed, because I didn’t spend any effort to sell my service nor take the chance to pitch a sale.
This prospect just came back again in early March 2018 to inform he managed to put his house back in order. He needs my retained CFO Service ( specifically in Structuring, M&A support and Business Steering using numbers ) to partner him in the impending business growth.
Never expected my sharing will lead to new and higher value business.
If you need help, feel free to contact us at :
(O) +65 63851011
(M) +65 90880669
