Heads Above the Rest - Are You a Good Leader?

This month we celebrate the President’s Day Holiday, a holiday which recognizes the birthdays of two of our country’s great Presidents. However, it is also a reminder about the historical leadership from which this country has benefited. So, what defines a leader and what leadership skills can small business owners practice to help their company achieve success?

1. Establish a Clear Vision and Goals- In today’s rapidly changing business climate, it is easy to become easily distracted by the “next best thing” or new way of thinking. Having an established vision for your company as well as predetermined goals helps small business owners and presidents remain focused on where they are going. For example, an established revenue goal provides the barometer for you to evaluate if performing a certain function is in line with accomplishing that pre-established goal.

2. Take Holistic View of Your Company- Recognize that corporate success is not determined by a single business aspect. Revenue and profitability figures alone do not tell the complete story of whether a company is on the right track. View financial metrics in conjunction with other cross departmental metrics, key product offerings and customer satisfaction.

3. Build Strong Teams- Successful leaders have the support of strong teams. They recognize their own strengths and weaknesses and build complementary teams of individuals who can provide specific areas of expertise to help move their business forward. A small business owner may possess creativity for developing new product ideas but may need to surround themselves with colleagues that have financial expertise to execute those business plans or market those products.

4. Empower Your Employees- Empathize with your employees (and customers!) and put yourself in their shoes. Acknowledge challenges they may face and be open to suggestions on a better way to perform certain functions. You will establish trust within your organization and be able to get the most from your employees, in a positive way. Empowering employees to offer recommendations, suggestions and decisions will create internal buy-in within your organization thereby fostering realization of a single common goal.

5. Recognize and Embrace Change- Today’s business environment is constantly changing. New technologies for enhancing productivity are consistently introduced. Recognize these technological improvements and use them to your advantage to promote productivity in your workplace. Technological improvements do not replace human capital and ideas; rather, they often streamline operations and allow you to better leverage employee resources and intelligence.

As a small business, our team is striving towards implementing these same practices. We are currently offering a free analysis of your business processes and accounting system. If you would like to learn more on how Analytix Solutions can enhance your business processes in 2012, please call me directly at 781.503.9004 or email me at snpatel@aixsol.com

Satish Patel, CPA
President, Analytix Solutions
Satish Patel, Founder-CEO of Analytix Solutions, has more than two decades of experience as a CPA. He has also advised small and mid-sized businesses on diverse matters such as valuation, accounting, and finance. His experience extends to raising capital and arranging for finance from angel investors.

Automating Accounts for Profitability

As we acclimate into a world where speed is essential and computerized work has become the industry standard, automating accounts is now a necessity, not an option.

While automating your accounts results in immense time savings and cost reductions, did you realize its direct, positive impact on profitability?

Accounting and bookkeeping functions are often considered to be heavily dependent on manpower and paperwork. This subjects those tasks to human error, and they are often time consuming, especially when details may require validation or rechecking.

Compare this with the business movement towards e-transactions, where payments become faster and gaps between payments due and payments made are reduced.

Simplify, Streamline, and Cut Costs

When you automate, you receive the benefit of integrating data and information across your accounts. This integration optimizes resources, which means that automating your accounts can simplify your workload.

Unlike traditional accounting where different books are used for different entries, accounting software allows users to create entries in a single field. After this, depending upon its configuration, the software will connect the entry to other similar transactions and add it to the consolidated report. Accounting software can also be linked to credit card or bank accounts. This allows payments from the card or bank account to be dispatched or received, while also getting recorded against the respective accounts. These features not only simplify the process, they free up the cash flow, making money available for operational expenses.

Automating helps reduce the time required to balance your accounts and thus closes a single cycle from payment due to payment paid faster. This translates into increased cash in a shorter period of time. The process of automation helps close the gap between the time incurred to identify human errors and take corrective action, thus accelerating closure.

Do-it-Yourself or Enlist a Vendor?

There are other factors that can help make automating accounts a profitable endeavor; for example, selecting the right vendor. When you choose a vendor, carefully evaluate the deliverables that they promise. Check that the vendor thoroughly understands your business, client deliverables, and any of your requirements. Any recommended solutions for implementation should be directly relevant to your business.

Ideally, the vendor who is entrusted with automating your accounts department should have experience handling and managing the requirements of a small business or a startup. The vendor should also be able to manage the process end-to-end, including providing support and maintenance help after installation.

The idea of automating your accounts is basically to enable you to focus on your core deliverables without losing track of your cash flow and revenue management. In case you plan to undertake the automation yourself, keep in mind that certain areas such as troubleshooting and timely review of the system are necessary.

This means you need experts on standby to conduct regular repairs and troubleshooting when needed. If you plan to implement the automation yourself, you might also need to source IT infrastructure and recruit and retain a team of IT professionals to manage your automated accounts system.

For automating small business accounts, ideally, you need solutions that allow you the convenience and cost benefits of scalability. Scalability refers to paying for only those services that you utilize and not the entire solution. Seamless integration and error-free accounting are key to your time and costs savings.

If a vendor can promise you all this, combined with IT support and scalability, it makes sense to enlist their assistance while you focus on your clients. The more time you free up, the more you can increase your profits by managing more projects or adding value to your client deliverables.

Thus, automating accounts can only add to your profitability.

Satish Patel, CPA
President, Analytix Solutions
Satish Patel, Founder-CEO of Analytix Solutions, has more than two decades of experience as a CPA. He has also advised small and mid-sized businesses on diverse matters such as valuation, accounting, and finance. His experience extends to raising capital and arranging for finance from angel investors.