No matter how much you love the products/services that your company sells, no matter how much experience you have in the industry and no matter how much passion and desire you have to be a success, in the end, business is a numbers game.

At its most base level, being a successful enterprise is about making more money than you spend – it’s more nuanced than that, of course, but the basic premise is true.

As such, you and the key members of your team must be comfortable in matters of financial management – be it accounting, reporting, analyzing data, and pursuing areas of opportunity for your business, all of which can often be determined by some number crunching.

Bringing in new employees with these skills and experiences can be expensive, and so one avenue that many SME owners have chosen to take is to ‘upskill’ themselves or their existing staff team by registering them on a relevant online MBA course in business administration, financial management and so on.

Ultimately, that investment could be an incredibly cost-effective outlay when you consider the benefits that your company could reap.

Forecasting and analysis

Those skilled in the arts of financial management and accounting are better placed to provide analysis and forecasting for your company.

They can take the raw numbers and analyze areas of strength and weakness in your business, determining where you are under/overspending and where potential opportunities lie. 

Forecasting is an essential part of any company’s success. Having a big picture look at your possible revenue and expenditure for a specific timeframe – rather than merely plucking numbers out of the air – is crucial to effective planning and decision making.

Deployment of people & resources

In small businesses without a dedicated accounting team, often the job of managing accounts and filing taxes falls to the company owner.

But is that the best use of your time? As a figurehead for the business, shouldn’t you be out there networking, securing new leads, and ensuring that every aspect of the company is working well? 

The last thing you need is to be chained to your desk and the spreadsheets, and that’s another good reason why upskilling your staff is vital.

Risk management

Financial reporting identifies areas of risk for a company – crucial in future-proofing yourself from any micro or macro threats on the horizon.

Being proactive and spotting risks early – rather than being reactive and having to deal with a situation when the proverbial has hit the fan – gives you time to resolve matters urgently but efficiently, rather than having to deploy emergency measures that could harm your company for years to come.

It’s sad to say but for small companies, and particularly those that are relatively ‘young,’ there are risks all around which threaten their profitable future.

Being compliant

As well as being able to achieve sexy things like spotting market opportunities, financial management also takes care of the boring stuff.

You simply have to be compliant – this is the most basic but important rule as to why your business needs people trained in financial management. You need to keep accurate accounts and you need to file your tax returns on time and with no errors – miscalculations could cost you thousands of dollars each year.

Conforming to regulations is pivotal, and those trained in accounting and finance can ensure your business has the processes in place to thrive.