Use KPIs to Become a Data-Driven Business
What does it mean to be a data driven business? When it comes to bookkeeping and accounting, it means everything. Whether you’re a sole proprietor, LLC, or S corp, you must use data as a tool to understand and scale your business. As an outsourced bookkeeping and accounting firm, we help clients monitor and track their data. Moreover, we help them make sense of their data-we give it context and explain how it plays into the larger picture of their business. We call these data points KPIs- key performance indicators -and we’re going to share how they can change the trajectory of a business.
More Than Bookkeeping
When working with an outsourced bookkeeping and accounting firm, business owners can expect an engagement that goes beyond standard bookkeeping services. This means that on top of reconciling transactions, processing payroll, coding expense, and sending invoices, the client is offered an additional level of expertise. While it can vary firm to firm, Accountfully works closely with clients to regularly evaluate KPIs. The Accountfully team spends time and energy reviewing data points and parsing out the information that will be most helpful and beneficial for the client to know. Regardless of industry, here are a handful of KPIs that every business owner and entrepreneur should be familiar with:
But having access to KPIs like these is not enough. Business owners need to understand how to use the data to make better decisions about their business. Accountfully team members teach clients how their business is operating as a whole, against other businesses in their industry, and in relation to how long they’ve been in operation. This becomes especially meaningful when assessing new business opportunities.
Who Cares?
The answer is everyone. Before hiring additional staff members, launching a new product, or asking a potential investor for capital, business owners should work with a team that can help them assess their business’ financial strength and weaknesses. A proper KPI evaluation can actually help business owners develop ways to address problematic areas of the business. When engaged with a strategic bookkeeping and accounting team, business owners can leverage the data (aka KPIs) to strengthen their business in meaningful way.
Too Little Too Late?
Never. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in business for a decade or are about to launch something new, every business owner can benefit from looking closely at data-even if it’s older data (ask us about that time we found $130k for a client). At the end of the day, our goal is to proactively manage our clients’ bookkeeping and accounting needs. To do this, we begin by diving into the past and looking at historical data. This helps us spot trends and arms us with information to assess future opportunities. So if you’re a business owner whose skin is crawling because you haven’t ever paid close attention to your KPIs, fear not. It’s never too late to start looking ahead and planning for what’s next. So why not do that with a team that can help you make the most of your data?
Accountfully is an outsourced bookkeeping and accounting firm headquartered in Charleston, SC. With an additional office in Nashville, TN, we serve modern brands and businesses across the country. From pre funded startups to multi-million dollar companies, our clients are visionaries across all industries.
Originally published at http://blog.accountfully.com.