Do you ever feel you’re spending more time ‘in’ your business on administrative and compliance tasks, rather than working ‘on’ your business doing what you’re passionate about? If so, you are not alone.
The concept of working ‘in’ rather than ‘on’ your business was first articulated over 25 years ago in Michael Gerber’s book The E-Myth, which became an instant best seller. Long before email and e-commerce, Gerber put forward the ‘Entrepreneurial Myth’ – his belief that business owners are typically brimming with good but distracting ideas, sometimes even their own technical expertise, and make poor entrepreneurs.
While the relevance of the E-Myth today has been questioned, our experience indicates that the idea of ‘on versus in’ is still fundamental for many of our small business clients, especially with the abundance of information and technologies available today.
Still small but too big to manage it all yourself?
Do you ever feel that your business is too big to be small, but too small to be big? Maybe you don’t have enough time to spend doing what you used to when you started the business, whether that be selling, building, designing or networking? Or you just can’t get around to that five-year plan or exit strategy?
While larger businesses can afford to appoint a manager or CFO, this can be too costly for smaller businesses. It is not just costly in terms of the additional wage, but also in the recruitment time and resources required to find the right person, and the potential for the role not to work out.
If you’d prefer not to be stuck working on your financial and business administration, there is an alternative.
Outsourcing your finance function may be a solution
Engaging an accounting firm to provide an external CFO suits many SME businesses. This can provide the business with many advantages, including:
- Better value than recruiting and employing a full time employee of equivalent skills and knowledge
- A wide range of services, which can be tailored to your needs and budget
- Independent advice and coaching from external specialists
- Expertise in budgeting, strategy and goal setting
- Regular review and discussion around big picture results and monitoring against your goals and budgets
- Review of your accounting systems to ensure they are efficient and accurate
- Access to sophisticated reporting systems and financial analysis that many small businesses don’t have
- Access to expertise in other areas, such as taxation and superannuation
If you’re feeling stuck ‘in’ the business and feel like you need to come up for air, then it’s probably time to look outside and see who can help you get back to focusing ‘on’ what you enjoy.
Take a look at the CFO and outsourced accounting solutions that Accru offers, and please call your local Accru business advisor to discuss how we can assist.
