Does your small business have natural annual ebbs and flows? Perhaps you get lots of sales during the holiday season but much fewer the rest of the year. Or maybe your services are desired in the warm summer but take a hit in the cold and wet months. No matter the reason, one of your big concerns is likely how to make cash flow smoother all year long.

The good news is that a CPA (certified public accountant) can help. How? Here are a few areas they can work with you to improve.

1. Developing More Offerings. Diversifying income sources is one of the best ways to ensure more income all year long. But developing other products or services is a big project. Your accountant will help you with things like finding funding, budgeting for development, understanding its profit, and tracking new income and expenses.

2. Reducing Off-Season Expenses. If you can't increase income, decreasing expenses will keep you afloat. But this is hard for most business owners, for various reasons. An outside, independent professional can help you look at your current expenses from a new perspective, make sure you're accounting for all of them, and find the best places to reduce costs. 

3. Managing Cash Flow. Cash flow is the way your money moves into and out of your accounts. It's a separate accounting element from just earning income and managing bills. If you can improve how you control cash flow, you spend less of it during good times and keep more available during slow times. But this is a long-term project you may need help with. 

4. Securing Funding. Sometimes, borrowed money is necessary to make it through slow cash flow periods. Your accountant will help you secure this funding in several ways. They can help you assess all your options and even find new ones, prepare your financial statements, create a business plan, and even meet with lenders. 

5. Prepaying Expenses. Periods where money is flowing well are great times to prepay costs that will come up when the cash isn't flowing. This may include anything from insurance and subscriptions to inventory and rent. But which should you prepay, how can you negotiate better deals, and what should you hold off on? Your CPA will help you parse out these choices. 

Where to Start

Could you use help managing your seasonal finances in any of these areas? If so, start by meeting with a professional CPA in your state today. 

To learn more, contact a company like Colasanti & Iurato.

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