Your clients are highly skilled in their business, but they don’t necessarily understand their finances. As an accountant, it’s your job to bridge this gap and help your clients understand their financials. However, this can be a challenging task, as nine times out of ten, your clients would rather be growing their business than pouring over their books.
In this article, we will explore the challenge and opportunity of bringing your clients’ numbers to life and discuss three things to consider when helping them understand their finances.
4 Strategies to Improve Understanding
Recognize the Problem
Believe it or not, people are often intimidated by financial data. Some clients fear numbers and may have had bad experiences with math in the past. Recognizing this problem is the first step toward rehabilitation. Stop assuming that you are talking to people who appreciate numbers, data sheets, and structuring a chart of accounts like you do.
Build Financial Knowledge Across the Company
Most companies do not promote financial knowledge, and most managers don’t want to get close to financials. Therefore, it’s important to help your clients and their Executive Directors understand and appreciate their financials so they can share them engagingly with their company. This will help build financial knowledge across the company and create a culture of financial responsibility.
Make it Simple and Engaging
Not all clients will understand financials, and that’s okay. It’s your job to help them see so they can make decisions to support the growth of their business. To do this effectively, you must make your reports simple, exciting, and reliable. Use images instead of numbers where possible, then provide a short written commentary. Turn data into a visual story that clients can quickly understand at a glance.
Understand the Business
To help your clients understand their finances, you must take the time to understand their business. What numbers will help them and their Executive Directors make better choices? Engage your clients by asking questions, turning the data into a visual story, and encouraging investment in the process.
Help Your Clients Be a Hero
Helping your clients understand their finances is crucial to their success and, therefore, yours as well. By following the steps outlined above, you can bridge the gap between your clients’ financial knowledge and your own and become a hero to all your clients.
Simplify Reporting Process
At Reach Reporting, we understand the importance of effective financial reporting and analysis for businesses of all sizes. Our customizable reporting software allows you to build reports that are engaging, informative, and easy to understand for even the most financially phobic clients. With features like visual metrics and a user-friendly interface, you can help your clients stay invested and engaged in their business’s financial health.
To learn more about how Reach Reporting can help you improve your clients’ financial literacy and make your firm stand out from the competition, visit our website today.