It’s Tough at the Top

Sep 19, 2019

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It’s great being a business owner – you are your own boss, you don’t need to answer to anyone, and you get to make your own decisions on how things are done. But sometimes, it can be tough and can feel like a lonely place at the top!

You’re constantly juggling things, the responsibility all lies with you and you’re doing a job that requires many different skill sets; some of which might not be your strength. And you might not have anyone to talk to about it all.

Common Themes

We find that there are common themes arising when we talk to our prospective and existing clients, around areas of the business where they could do with support or a helping hand. Do any of these resonate with you?

  • You just aren’t running the business in the way that you want to
  • There isn’t a clear view of where the business is heading
  • The strengths of you and your team aren’t being utilised properly and responsibility lines are being blurred
  • Things are being done many times to achieve one thing or complete one task
  • You don’t have the financial information you need at your fingertips

The thing is, we can all feel like that at times and it can feel hard to find the way out. But in the same way that at Troy Accounting we call on our own trusted support network for help with things like marketing, legal and HR advice or just an ear to bounce ideas off, we can offer the same support to you as finance and business experts.

We often play the role of “devil’s advocate” – asking difficult questions that might feel uncomfortable but are ones that you know you need to think about. It’s much easier for us to ask them because we’re not in the day to day running of the business, so can step back and view things differently.

Recent Case Study

Recently, Troy was asked to conduct a review of processes and systems within a business because the owners felt there was lack of visibility over some of the finances. They knew with no controls in place they weren’t operating efficiently but didn’t feel confident in addressing them or solving them. Their concerns over the level of potential financial risk currently within the business was only increasing and they knew they had to act now.

We identified all the areas which required improvement in the business, which included

  • key man dependency
  • lack of consistent process
  • duplication / hand-off of many tasks
  • lots of manual tasks
  • no integration between any of the systems they used for operational or finance processes

In agreement with the business owners we then went on to support them with:

  • changing their operational finance processes for revenue
  • adding automation where possible, to introduce efficiency and cut out duplication
  • using apps that link with their finance software so expenses can be easily added
  • introducing financial controls with segregation of duties and validation checks
  • training their staff

The owners now have confidence in their business processes again and have the financial information they need. As they know the finances are now accurate and robust, they are able to make the business decisions they need to make. They’ve also got the freedom to now work on their business, instead of in their business!!

We can be there as your “virtual” Finance Director, as your finance and business expert, to talk to you about your business. We can run through how it’s going, identify areas that need focus or where improvements could be made, or just be there as a sounding board if you need someone else to talk to.

It doesn’t have to be…….

…..“tough at the top”!!!


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