Working closely with an accountant not only enables you to free up time to do what you enjoy, but also allows you to know and clearly understand the numbers that surround your business too. You’ll then be able to make better business decisions and put a clear plan in place to achieve your goals.

You might be thinking, but how? Well, let’s start by focusing on what accountancy is and what’s involved.

What is involved in accountancy?

An accountant is a professional who is responsible for supporting and helping you track and interpret financial records. They will often work in tandem with your bookkeeper, although their work is quite different. To understand the difference between Accounting and Bookkeeping, have a read of our blog.

Whether you’re an individual client or a multi-national corporation, there are lots of tasks for an accountant to do. This can range from determining payroll requirements for employees, compiling and analysing financial data to ensuring tax is paid correctly, and on-time. Accountancy truly is the backbone to any business, and it involves much more than just numbers.

Here’s why:

Taking Brightshire as an example, within our Accountancy and Compliance Services we take away that seemingly never-ending list of documents and forms, calculations and submissions enabling clients to do the bits they love and leave the numbers to us. Further to this, we can analyse company performance and make recommendations on how to improve financially, supporting with Strategic Business Planning to ensure our clients can achieve their company objectives.Through Tax Planning we help clients to plan and prepare for all types of tax, succession and will planning requirements. We work with legal advisors on probate to protect client’s assets – Making life that bit easier when the going gets tough. The key to success is having a plan in place, whether that’s for you, or your business.

A good accountant will have clear yet empathetic communication with their clients, be organised, timely and have a highly analytical mindset.

Accountancy Today

Overtime, accountancy has changed – Rather than focusing on past performance, business owners are more forward thinking, focusing on improving efficiencies and ensuring their entire team are striving towards their business objectives. Therefore, having a clear understanding of latest schemes and credits is so vital to ensure monies are not lost and the business is performing as well as possible financially.

Most notably across Agriculture, the reduction of payments for farmers has meant that agricultural businesses have had to draw in on their spend and find alternative ways to improve their revenue, whether that’s cutting costs or finding new revenue streams.

Nowadays, not only are accountants there to run the numbers, but they act as a sounding board for new business ideas, which is why working with an accountant who is forward-thinking, progressive and gets excited about their work is so important!

Is your Accountancy firm right for you?

Ensuring your accountant is right for you is integral to ensure you get the service you need.  Here are some questions to ask yourself if you are unsure about finding the accountant for you:

1. Do they understand and have experience in your sector?
2. In what capacity do you want accountancy support?

The reality is that a good accountant has several skills. If they understand your sector and business needs, then the likelihood is you’ll work well in collaboration together and help your business to achieve your goals.

If you’re a business working in the agricultural and rural sector and would like accountancy support, get in touch today.