Financial Forecasting – Will This Service Revolutionise Your Firm?

In the previous edition of Accountants Minute, Andrew Geddes, Australian Accounting Industry Guru said:

“It’s a new business model – I think it’s going to revolutionise the sector globally!”

Andrew Geddes was referring to the webinar presentation that had been made by Adam Hale, a partner from Summit CPA in the USA, about the Financial Forecasting product that his firm has pioneered.  You can listen to the webinar recording by clicking here.

Financial Forecasting is a further evolution of the “Business Advisory Services” concept and presents SME clients with the opportunity of being able to hire a virtual Chief Financial Officer services to assist them in their day-to-day business operations and to analyse problems and make decisions that will contribute to adding value to the business.

The key concept is that accounting services covering a wide range of business related matters will be delivered over 52 weeks rather than being confined to occasional discussions during the year and heavy activity at the end of the financial year relating to the preparation of compliance driven financial accounts and the preparation of income tax returns.

Andrew Geddes forecast that offering accounting services in this manner would revolutionise the accounting industry – do you agree?

Do you envisage that your accounting firm will be involved in this enhanced range of services that will provide interesting and challenging work for your accounting team and provide assistance for clients on a wide range of commercial matters and should contribute to the overall valuation of the client’s business?

Let us recap a little on what Adam Hale said in the webinar presentation:

• Summit CPAs basic service offering is that a client will be signing on for the FINANCIAL FORECASTING package which commences with a 5-year financial projection comprising budgets, cash flow forecasts, projected balance sheets together with supporting schedules for every aspect of the business utilising PlanGuru software.
• A 3-Level Service Package for the client to choose from covering:
  • weekly
  • twice monthly
  • monthly
  • accounting services relative to day to day business operations whereby the accounting firm is performing the role of v Chief Financial Officer
• Preparation of Monthly Management Accounts (not compliance accounts) with Key Performance Indicators for every aspect of the business
• Comparison of the monthly management accounts to the budget and to the budgeted KPIs
• Facilitation of the monthly business review meeting with the client and members of the client’s leadership team
• The client could elect whether to contract Summit CPA to attend to back office services
• The client could elect to have another accounting firm attend to the preparation of their income tax returns if they wished. Adam Hale indicated that if the client elected to have their tax affairs handled by another firm that did not worry them because the key activity is the financial forecast role as summarised above.

Adam Hale indicated that they have clients utilising this service with turnovers ranging from US$1m – US$25m, with an average turnover of US$5m.  He also indicated that they have some clients with turnovers up to $50m, however those companies normally have an in-house Chief Financial Officer.  Some of them elect to utilise Summit CPA’s services for the additional analytical work and, when they undertake this task, they are referred to as a “Controller” rather than a virtual Chief Financial Officer.

The Managing Director of PlanGuru USA, Christian Wielage indicated that PlanGuru was experiencing significant additional sales of its budget and cash flow forecasting package to accountants in the USA who are keen to offer this service.

Wielage indicated that he expected this trend to be very evident in Australia from now on.

Are you interested in finding out more information on this “new business model which Andrew Geddes forecast is going to revolutionise the sector globally” and in particular to understand the effect that it could have on your accounting firm?

You are invited to a free webinar “Financial Forecasting – a service package that could revolutionise your accounting firm and add significant value to your clients!”  To be presented on Wednesday 31^st August 2022 at 11.30am AEST.  Click here to register.

“IT’S A NEW BUSINESS MODEL!”

This is the title of the ESS BIZTOOLS podcast presented by Peter Towers, Managing Director ESS BIZTOOLS.

This is a 17-minute overview of the “Financial Forecasting” service package that was presented in the Academy of CPAs (Certified Predictive Accountants) recent webinar.  Click here to access the podcast.

FINANCIAL FORECASTING – WILL THIS ASSIST ACCOUNTANTS IN THE WAR FOR TALENT?

The new FINANCIAL FORECASTING service concept that Andrew Geddes has forecast “will revolutionise the sector globally” could be a game changer for small/medium sized accounting firms in the war for talent!

Yesterday the Financial Review published an article “There Is a War on for Talent” which followed on the CommBank’s Accounting Market Pulse Report.  The article indicated that the biggest single problem confronting accountants in 2022/23 was the attraction and retention of talent.

ESS BIZTOOLS has presented a series of articles over the last week relating to the “Financial Forecasting” opportunity and challenge confronting Australian Accountants (click on the title of your choice to access):

• “Financial Forecasting is the most important task that accountants can perform”
• “Focus on the future not the past”
• “Financial Forecasting assists with attraction of talented people”
• “Financial Forecasting has to be pitched”
• “Financial Forecasting will help accountants retain a job”
• “Have you asked clients what services they need?”
• “Questions to understand client’s needs”
• “Delivering value-added services”
• “There is a war on for talent”

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

ESS BIZTOOLS website (www.essbiztools.com.au) is available for you to visit and browse and you can also visit our separate website to assist in the identification of government grants suitable for your clients – ESS BIZGRANTS (www.essbizgrants.com.au)

If you would like to have a conversation with Peter Towers, Managing Director of ESS BIZTOOLS on how your Professional Advisory Firm could offer a diversified range of services to your SME clients please telephone Peter on 1800 232 088 (or send an email – ) and we will then organise a 45 minute complimentary Zoom meeting to discuss your firm’s vision and to outline the services that ESS BIZTOOLS could supply to assist your firm.