How Strategic Financial Consultants Can Help Your Small Business Grow

Running a small business can be more challenging than running a big corporation. While a big corporate office has various departments and clearly divided responsibilities with their individual bosses, a small business owner often plays the role of CEO, CTO, Sales Executive, publicist, accountant, delivery partner, and even mechanic at the same time. While all this work feels exhausting but rewarding to the entrepreneur in you, it can sometimes lead to stagnation or slowing down of business. Let’s face it, there’s only so much you can do in a growing business. More importantly, trying to do it all by yourself leaves you with hardly any time for what needs your attention – mapping out the long-term plan for your business, and focusing on innovation and expansion strategies. And this is where a strategic financial consultant can make your life easier.

What Difference Can a Financial Consultant Make to Your Business?

It is a common misconception that a financial consultant can only help in filing taxes or investment advice. A strategic financial advisor works on three levels:

1. Assessing and understanding the current financial situation or the health of your small business to identify areas for improvement.
2. Innovating and developing customized solutions to streamline operations and ensure optimal use of financial resources.
3. Effectively implementing those solutions to create more opportunities for growth and expansion.

This three-pronged approach can give your small business the boost it needs to go from small and local to big and global.

7 Ways Financial Consultants Can Help Your Business Grow

If we were to focus on the 7 main areas where a financial consultant can make a difference to your small business, it would be these core areas:

Resolving Cash Flow Issues:

A consistent cash flow is the lifeline of a small business. A financial consultant can analyze your financial statements to seek any disturbances in the cash flow and suggest techniques to deal with them. These could include negotiating better deals with vendors or suppliers, handling inventory more efficiently and even suggesting more revenue streams to keep the cash flow smooth. They can also help chalk out a cash flow contingency plan when demand or supply wavers or the overall industry is going through a lean phase.

Creating an Actionable Business Plan:

Your main focus as a small business owner needs to be building a better future for your company. A strategic financial consultant is your best friend when it comes to developing an achievable growth plan based on the current financial health of your small business. For this, the consultant will thoroughly study your business’s balance sheets, bank statements, and other financial reports and get a clear idea of the market trends and expectations. Using this data, the consultant will then create a realistic financial forecast for your business as well as draw up an actionable business plan that will help your business grow sustainably.

Reducing Costs and Increasing Value:

Cost-cutting can do wonders for your business finances — if done the right way. The trick lies not in simply cutting down on overall budgets, but in identifying the problem areas and then cutting down on costs tactfully without affecting the quality and efficiency of your business operations. Moreover, you also need to complement this cost-cutting exercise with ways to bring in additional funds for your business. This could include better tax-saving strategies, investment opportunities, and debt restructuring. An expert financial consultant can help unlock the true value of your investments and resources, and thus, create growth opportunities for your business. 

Effective Tax Planning:

The CRA offers many deductions, credits, and benefits to encourage small businesses in Canada. However, the complicated tax rules and eligibility criteria make it difficult to understand which benefits your small business is eligible for. Roping in a financial consultant can make taxation easier for you and help save on any unnecessary taxes you might have been paying all this while. Channeling all that saved money into your business’s growth plans can make a significant difference in the long term.

Tapping Potential Business Opportunities:

A consultant has a trained eye for spotting both business challenges and growth opportunities – something that you might miss while single-handedly dealing with the daily grind of your business. With their detailed knowledge of the market and industry, they can also spot opportunities for mergers and acquisitions with businesses that can help catapult your business to the next level. Of course, they will do a detailed study of the two entities, their synergies and compatibility, and the mutual advantage any such move will bring to the table before going through with it.

Succession Planning:

As a business owner, you wish your business to outlive you. Whom would you like to entrust your business to? What are the options available to make sure your business and your family are both well taken care of after you? Do you have any specific goal or vision for your business that you would like your successors to follow? All this has to be chalked out to ensure your business continues to thrive for generations. A financial consultant is your best guide for drawing up a detailed and definitive succession plan to safeguard your business and help implement it.

Growing Beyond Borders:

As a small business owner, your ultimate ambition may be to expand your business beyond your city and go global. However, industry and taxation rules change from province to province and country to country. Navigating these complexities requires experience and in-depth knowledge of the rules and regulations of places beyond your local jurisdiction. This is where a financial consultant can perhaps make the biggest difference to your business. Not only do they have the necessary skill set and technological know-how to make this happen for your business, but they also have the contacts and knowledge of the processes that will make the journey from local to global smoother and faster.

You’ve managed to bring your small business this far all by yourself. It’s time to take that helping hand and go to the next level.

Contact KSSP Partners LLP in Markham for Financial Consulting Services  

Hiring a financial consultant might seem like an added expense but the value they bring to your business and the growth potential they can unlock will more than make up for the fees. At KSSP Partners LLP, our financial consultants can provide specific services to address a single aspect like financial forecasting or succession planning, or complete support. To learn more about how KSSP Partners LLP can provide you with financial consulting expertise, contact us online or by telephone at 289-554-5997.