Archives#LivePlan Archives — C. Lynn Northrup, CPA, CPIM

The Virtual Business Coach

September 29th, 2015

Having a coach gives small business owners a strategic advantage. They have a someone to help guide them in the right direction and make better decisions. Today’s virtual tools provide greater opportunities for collaboration for businesses to receive coaching and guidance support. Plus, they can get help on a real-time basis. Having an experienced business expert available with just a phone call or an e-mail produces better decisions, faster business growth, and greater profitability.

Northrupcpa goes well beyond accounting and CFO support. I was fortunate to be mentored and gain extensive general business experience gathered over the years. In addition, training enhanced and built on my experience enabling me to provide a wide range of services. Here’s a summary of some of the virtual business advisory services that are available:

  • Cash Management and Planning
  • Performance Measurement Analysis and Dashboard Support
  • Strategic Planning
  • Budgeting
  • Forecasting and Modeling
  • Change Management
  • Operations Management and Lean Workflow
  • Risk Management
  • Training (Financial Management and MBA Basics)
  • Business Valuation
  • Estate and Succession Planning
  • Cost Accounting including Activity Based Analysis
  • Lean Accounting

I developed a unique approach to help guide business owners using cloud technology that includes surveys, questionnaires, and virtual diagnostic interviews. This capability allows an assessment of businesses to accurately identify the issues and problems. This approach places a focus and attention on the high priority areas.

A career in industry combined with consulting and public accounting gave has given me exposure to the non-accounting areas of business adding to my understanding of the broader challenges facing small business. It pushed me to study non-accounting areas such as operations, marketing, strategy, and change management. In reality, it provided the perfect platform to teach other CPAs the essentials of business advisory service and CFO concepts.

Adapting business advisory coaching to the cloud allows any business to receive guidance. This represents a unique opportunity for CPAs to provide added value service and small businesses to grow and benefit from a new paradigm shift. Collaboration is the key to making business advisory support functional since it will be difficult for most CPAs to build the knowledge base required to adequately fulfill client needs. Sharing client services with skilled business advisors is a way for CPAs to broaden the services they make available to their clients and creates win-win situations. As small businesses become comfortable with cloud technology, they will start demanding a broader range of advisory services in addition to CFO support. CPAs are in a great position to take advantage of these opportunities by collaboration and using the cloud and the many tools it offers.

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