How Can Accountants Help During COVID19 Crisis

The global coronavirus pandemic rages on with no end in sight. The effects of the disease have been devastating.  The pandemic has transformed health, economic balances, and social norms around the globe. A number of small and medium scale businesses are wondering how to stay afloat given the conditions. Accountants are like the backbones of the finance & accounts departments of a business, so they can help out a lot to alleviate some of the pressure. For students pursuing any kind of accounts training, it’s good to know how they, as future accountants, might be able to help out when the going gets tough.

Experienced accountants are serving as crucial partners to businesses at this time. Let’s see some of them in detail.

Finding out all in-place aid options

Accountants can provide reliable info of Govt. aids the business is liable to receive at this time. This includes what relief programs the business is eligible for, and which ones to aim for. These may include govt. loan guarantees, waivers, municipal grants, etc. Accounts training programs are designed to guide the accountants of tomorrow to identify the opportunities and act on them.

Cutting through the noise

Firstly, accountants can help define how much financial support the business needs by forecasting the cash flow and modeling the revenue.

After that, they can accurately determine what relief programs or grants the business is eligible for, or which options might make the most sense given the Covid19 situation.

For example, some loans have higher interest rates than others. Certain loans are waived off if used to maintain payroll. Aid is mostly available for specific businesses (like healthcare, food manufacturing, or logistics). With a smart accountant, the entrepreneur can make a strategic relief plan tailored to the business goals and the government resources available.

Getting the paperwork in order

Once the decision-makers have a plan, the accountant can help them make it see the light of day. Applying for concessions or aids typically means presenting financial information and filing paperwork. Then, there are follow up requests and information to be shared with the government. These include the profit-and-loss statements and monthly sales figures. The accountant extraordinaire can oversee all this. With accurate, he can also manage the administrative details, so the management can focus on business problems that need their personalized attention.

Helping to manage resources judiciously

After the emergency cash hits the business current account, accountants are invaluable advisors in helping the business stay afloat, especially if it happens to be a small-ish business. Accountants directly influence the following :

• Assists to lower costs and spot growth opportunities by keeping the books up to date. 
• Optimize the cash flow by identifying profitable and unprofitable customers.
• Identify contracts (like leases and loans) that the management might want to renegotiate.
• Highlight ways to reduce the inventory costs.

Helping to make personnel decisions

Accountants can also help managers make decisions on the team. While employees are major cost drivers for many small businesses, they’re also key drivers of value. Hardworking, resourceful employees never give up no matter the situation. Temporary pay adjustment for other benefits in kind may help reduce some cost while granting benefits to the capable workforce ‘in kind’.

In a crisis of this magnitude, businesses need to be pro-active. Experienced advisors like accountants and bookkeepers can help the management navigate the quickly-changing landscape of government aids and concessions. They help secure the resources needed thus ensuring the business can survive the onslaught and start re-building when it’s time. A good accounts training program such as this goes a long way to build capable accountants of the future who can lead from the front, especially during times like these.

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