Give Business Clients Something to Talk About

Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flows? It’s time for a fourth statement.


Edi Osborne

By Edi Osborne
CEO, Mentor Plus

In the words of Bonnie Raitt, “Let’s give ’em something to talk about;  a little something to figure out.”

Fact or fiction, rumors or true business intelligence, those that can make the distinction have a HUGE opportunity to add value to their business relationships.

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with several business owners to interview them about how they make business decisions. Decisions, as it turns out, are one of the most important reasons business owners walk away from nine-to-five jobs. Business owners like to have control over their destiny. They actually thrive on the decision-making process and are willing to live with the consequences of those choices. And although, business owners don’t want anyone to take away their options, they do want someone to help them examine them.  They want to know that the information they are basing a decision on is accurate and relevant. That it is not conjecture, rumor, or worse yet, self-serving misinformation provided by others at the company.  Sounds like a job for a true, trusted adviser, would-be super hero.

Unfortunately, when asked about the quality and quantity of data, business owners utilize daily to inform their decisions, including the real-time, management value of financial statements, their answers paint a very unsatisfactory picture of the decision support provided by their accountant.  As the role of CPAs who serve as CFOs in a corporate environment has morphed into that of a CIO — Chief Information Officer — CPAs in public practice continue to lag behind in this transition.  When pressed on this issue, many CPAs admit they want to do more, but they are not comfortable outside the realm of compliance matters.

More from Edi Osborne for CPA Trendlines PRO Members (Go PRO here):

So how can public CPAs become Chief Information Officers? How can they utilize their accounting skills to capitalize on the fast growing business intelligence market?

It’s simple . . .