How To Start A Successful Accounting Company From The Ground Up

As a CPA, you have a unique set of skills that make you an ideal candidate to start your own business. Accountants are represented as business owners in every possible industry. As a result, a number of them decide to become entrepreneurs by opening accounting firms. If you’ve been working as an accountant or are just finishing your education, then this could be a promising option for you.

Over 600,000 new businesses open in the United States every year. Unfortunately, some of them fail early on, but there is no reason you can’t start one of the successful ones. Of course, there is always going to be a need for accounting help since managing finances is so crucial to business success. However, to make sure that you have set yourself up for years of growth, here’s how to start a successful accounting company from the ground up.

IMAGE: UNSPLASH

Start With A Plan

Every business needs to start with a plan. You might be the best accountant in the world and have the knack for hiring the best people. However, your business is still at risk if you aren’t following a plan. You need to lay out ahead of time how you will make your business a reality. How will you run your everyday operation? How will you market yourself? Will you have employees?

You need to answer all of these questions and lay out goals that you want to meet in certain timeframes. A business plan will give you a clear idea of what you need to do to move forward and keep you on the road to success as you move forward.

Secure Your Funding

No matter what size of business you start, you will need some funding to get it started. You may have some savings built up to do so, which is great, but you also don’t want to risk it on your venture.

Instead, you can find third parties to help with your financing needs. This can include individual investors, business loans, or government programs. For all of these sources of financing, you will need to have a business plan. They will want to know that your business is realistic and that you have the vision to make it happen.

Get The Right Software

Managing a business is about more than doing the job you are good at. You need to be on top of everything, and you need to be as efficient with your time as possible. You also need to provide the client with the best ways to check on their data as well as communicate with you. For all of that and more, you need accounting practice management software.

This type of software solution can also help you keep in touch with your employees, delegate staff, and monitor the progress for client projects. Essentially it will help you keep on top of your everyday work and make sure that everyone is on the same page at all times. It’s hard to run an accounting business without one.

Get A Working Location

Before you launch, you will also need to know your working situation. For example, will you have an office, or will you work from home? Will you meet in person with clients or do everything remotely? There are advantages to any of these scenarios, so you will need to decide what works for you.

Having a storefront will allow you to have professional meetings and potentially expand your space for employees. If you work from home, you can save money on rent or mortgage, although you may have to invest in creating a space in your home where you can hold meetings. The choice is up to you, but do not make it lightly.

Networking

Accounting is often a local business. You will work with people in your community, so you must build connections there. Networking can start at any time. Talk to your friends, family, and other business leaders about your initiative when you are building up to launch. Attend chamber of commerce events and make yourself visible at charity events as well.

The more you get your brand and face out there, the more trustworthy you will seem. Most people want to work with an accountant they can trust, and it’s hard to build that rapport when you are just starting out. However, making those personal connections can help develop trust and bring in new business.

Market Your Business

Other than connecting with those you know, you will also need to get your business in front of others who you don’t. Local search engine optimization (SEO) can help with this. It means developing your website so that it shows up on search engine rankings when someone searches for accounting services in your area. As a result, you will get organic traffic to your website from people already looking for your services.

Plus, you can take advantage of social media to target your marketing to people and businesses who live in your area. Marketing In this way and being strategic with who you target can give you a bigger bang for your marketing buck.

You might have thought that all you need to do is set out on your own, and your skills as an accountant would do the rest. However, there is much more to running a successful business than that. First, you need to make sure that you have all of your ducks in a row and that you are methodical in setting up your company. That way, you will be prepared for success not just after your launch but also in the months and years to come.