The Financial Edge

Accounting is at a defining moment. With businesses looking for more than just end-of-month statements, IT has stepped up their AI efforts, while accountants are improving their deliverables and communications.
Who will succeed?

Not everyone thinks financial statements, spreadsheets, and numbers are exciting. I know, weird,...

Accounting Principles Accounting Principles, commonly known as GAAP, are an essential aspect of...

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event. In this corner, weighing in at 225 pounds and...

As Director of Technology, I implement and create best practices for tech delivery to our clients. I was instrumental in getting the structure and templates set up within Reach Reporting to support our team with financial dashboards and reports they provide their clients.

Fathom HQ has been part of the QuickBooks Online Advanced reporting package since October 2018. With Fathoms’ Smart Reporting free offer ending soon, the question most users are having is why?

More than Financial Numbers Today’s business leaders are no longer satisfied with pure numbers....

Helping Clients Achieve Financial Goals Duncan Lloyd, the Executive Director of...

What makes a person genuinely good at what they do? What are those essential traits they possess to help them raise the bar in their profession? We all possess different characteristics and talents that make us unique.

Effective communication between an accountant and their client is the key to a successful partnership. Without it, all the numbers and data are useless. 

There have been far too many times in my own life when I would go into work at 4:00 am to go home at 10:00 pm and go into my home office to work some more, only to do it all again in 3 more hours. I was not checking to make sure my business and life books were balanced, and I began resenting every day and becoming a person people avoided.

The faux pas of discussing money and salaries is out the door for this article.  Whether we like it or not, money, and in turn salaries, are a BIG deciding factor in what career we study for, where we live, what jobs we accept, and how we live each day. 

Financial reporting is SO much more than raw data in a spreadsheet. It is the story of your client’s business. A well-constructed financial report gives your client all the relevant information they need to make prudent financial decisions in a digestible, easy-to-understand form. 

Before you get into accounting, or even if you are already years into your career, you may want to consider adding any of these six degrees to your accounting degree to give you the edge.

There can be a lot of soul-sucking repetition in accounting. However, there can also be intrigue and passion, and you don’t have to be a mafia accountant to experience it.

Every company, big or small, in any industry can benefit from financial accounting. However, the...

As a financial advisor, part of your job is teaching your clients. You are more than a report generator, number-puncher-inner, and tax preparer. Educating clients not only helps them but helps you as well. They become more versed in how the finances of a business run, which in turn can make their chances of success skyrocket. And you get a grateful client for life. 

You can help your clients ask the right questions about the data you provide by presenting it as information. Data turns into information with context. By doing this, you will increase your value while improving your client’s decision-making for their business. When your clients don’t understand their data, they may miss opportunities to propel their business forward. 

Now more than ever, clients are expecting clear communication from financial professionals. When a firm is lacking in its communication skills, that firm is missing out on revenue. The better a firm understands the value of good communication, the more likely it will implement and improve communication practices and policies.

Are you familiar with the DIKW pyramid? No, it is not one of the Great Pyramids of Giza. No, you did not learn it in elementary school, akin to the food pyramid. It’s ok. Most people are unfamiliar with this pyramid.

One of the most confusing aspects of a financial report is when accountants provide data without context. A 5% increase in revenue from last month sounds impressive but is it? Is the growth taking in the 10% increase in the cost of goods or the additional employees? Though there was a 5% increase in revenue, is your client realizing they dropped 8% in net profit?

Today we’re going to talk about dashboards and financial statements. So this is a chance that some of our CPAs made over the last year. I would venture to guess this is probably one of the most impactful changes we’ve made.

Most accountants feel a solid GAAP financial statement is what their clients need but they need more to take advantage of the fair or foul winds of their financials.

If you don’t kiss your clients every time you meet you should. Here are a few tips on how to kiss your clients to help them understand how you feel.

Think of your chart of accounts like a filing cabinet. Each drawer represents an account. Each file is an accounting transaction. The better organized and structured your filing cabinet is, the more granular your reports can be.