Everyone was affected in one way or another by the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether it was by contracting the disease, dealing with illness in your family, or just the extended effects of the shutdowns and restrictions, this global event didn’t leave anyone untouched. 

For business owners, the challenge of keeping the doors open and the lights on has been significant. Depending on your industry, you may have had to operate in a significantly modified capacity – or you may not have been able to operate at all. Sadly, many businesses did not make it through the pandemic and were forced to close. As restrictions start to lift in many areas, business owners need to carefully construct a plan for getting back on track. 

In this post, we’d like to focus on business recovery. Specifically, we’d like to talk about how your business can lean on an accountant to aid with the various elements of the recovery process. Let’s take a closer look. 

An online accounting service is always important

Before we dive into the specifics of business recovery after the pandemic, we should state the obvious – a good accountant is always important. Whether times are good or bad, the work a reliable accountant does for a business is indispensable. Keeping accurate books, producing financial reports, and paying taxes are all important no matter what is going on in the world. 

With that said, the road to recovery after such a long and difficult stretch is sure to be challenging. Countless businesses are vying for the attention of consumers and clients, and even more are going to close in the years ahead. You can’t afford to let any advantage slip away, and having a trusted accountant by your side is a big opportunity that can help grow your business.

What roles does an accountant play in your business recovery?

The list below highlights some of the specific ways an accountant can help guide your business through the months and years ahead. 

• Covering the basics. In difficult times, it’s even more important to make sure the basics of doing business are covered. And there is nothing more basic in the business world than keeping accurate books. With an accountant available, you can make sure bank statements are reconciled, financial statements are prepared in a timely manner, and more. Whether you need to do some catch up bookkeeping or you just want to open up time in your schedule, an accountant is the answer. 
• Collecting every dollar. Okay – so you’ll probably never be able to collect every single dollar that is owed to your business, but a good accountant will work hard to collect on as much of your accounts receivable as possible. In this kind of business environment, every single invoice is important, so you don’t want to let any just slide through the cracks. 
• Chart a recovery timeline. It’s quite likely that your business isn’t in great financial shape at the moment. That’s certainly understandable, and you aren’t alone. With the help of an accountant, you can plan out a path to recovery that is reasonable and attainable based on your financial reports and projects. It will be difficult to plan a recovery effort without an accountant to bring some accuracy to the financial side of things. 
• Seek funding. Finally, your accountant may be aware of some loan options or other funding sources your business could consider. Fewer and fewer resources are going to be available to businesses as the pandemic wanes, so knowing where to look for financial support is important. 

Why you should outsource your accounting

There is a flip side to all this talk about the importance of accountants – they aren’t free. It costs money to hire an accountant, and during such difficult times, you might be tempted to do as much of the accounting work yourself as possible.

Fortunately, outsourced accounting and bookkeeping is an affordable alternative and sort of a middle ground between hiring a full-time accountant and taking the DIY approach. When you outsource accounting and bookkeeping, you can bring down overhead costs in the back office while simultaneously getting the expert help and input you require to save time and make decisions. Your business needs you to lead the charge toward recovery, and that’s going to be hard to do if you are sitting in the back with your nose buried in spreadsheets. 

Conclusion

Windroot loves to take the stress out of accounting. We have been serving businesses since long before the pandemic began, and we are proud to be here to help all kinds of business owners make it through this challenging time. With reliable, affordable, and versatile services, you can lean on Windroot to keep your financial house in order.