For many business owners, the connection between their everyday actions and their annual financial statements is as clear as mud. They spend their days managing their bank account, filling out paperwork, and training new employees. They order supplies, send out invoices and make bank deposits. Their world consists of millions of individual activities and thousands of daily transactions. At the end of the year, we accountants show up with our calculators and make a bunch of adjustments. Then we hand them a financial statement or a tax return and wait for them to appreciate our handiwork. We keep waiting.
As accountants, we owe it to our clients to help them connect their activities to the financial outcomes we measure. With proper training and the right tools, we can take static financial statements and turn them into a platform for discussion. We can help business owners see how their activities drive each of the financial results we measure. We can relate financial and operational measures to the people and customers they serve. And we can tie everything back to their long term goals.
At Mentor Plus, we have helped create a piece of software called $COPE It! to facilitate the discussion. When combined when Mentor Plus training and methodologies, the software creates a structured environment for accountants while providing their clients an interactive view of their own financial statements. The software helps accountants turn the numbers into meaningful insights through conversation, what-if scenarios, and powerful graphics. Rather than tellingclients that profit and cash are not the same thing, passionate Mentor Plus accountants use $COPE IT! to show them. The software can be used in team meetings to help set goals for the coming year and can store individual measures tied to long term outcomes. When the software is used in quarterly meetings, the financial statements (and the accountant who shares them) become a vital part of managing the business.
Accountants like Woody Levitan at Levitan, Yegidis, and Associates, Martin Fox at Grimbleby Coleman, and Rich Rackers at Rackers and Fernandez have stopped waiting for client appreciation. They are feeling the love everyday from clients who are improving their results, setting clear employee goals, and achieving their business goals.