I sometimes feel funny when I post these blogs. By their nature, they involve me talking myself up a bit and I try to keep that to a minimum.

This one, however, is not going to look like it is anywhere near that minimum level. I swear it’s not my fault, though, for most of the words are coming from others.

I mean, first there is this recent article from al.com that speaks to how every business, no matter their size, needs to know they will need legal and accounting help. These are areas where if you go at them yourself, you may succeed and have everything go along fine, but if you make a mistake it could prove a very costly one.

Then I came across a piece from Accounting Today that goes through five of its reasons why a small business needs an accountant. These are both short pieces, but both do a good job of showing some of the potential benefits of working with an accountant.

They both are also written with an eye toward a business that could use an accountant’s services. At the risk of letting you see behind the curtain, I want to mention one more piece that is aimed more toward the accountants themselves.

That article comes from theprogressiveaccountant.com, and speaks more of how accountants can serve clients with whom they are already working. It discusses how accountants need to not just be crunching numbers, but letting clients know what those numbers mean.

This is a viewpoint I agree with, for I believe my clients are not getting enough value out of my fee if they do not understand what I am doing. I should not only be giving numbers, I want to help clients see what actions they should be taking because of those numbers.

Now let me try to synthesize these ideas a bit ….

Although that last article I spoke about was urging accountants to be a trusted advisor, I think some of the reason this relationship does not always blossom comes from the client end as well. This is not to say that clients would not like this type of service, but they often do not even know it exists.

Take a look at the other two articles, too. They speak of situations where a business owner could benefit from working together with an accountant. But would one’s first response in those situations be “Let me discuss this matter with my accountant?”

So this then is my plea for you to realize that, yes, you can AND SHOULD bring such matters to your accountant. We do want to help. I trust that if you are already one of our clients, you feel we are providing you with solid service. Do not ever think we cannot do more, though. We never have to be only bookkeeping, payroll, taxes or advisors, we can be all those things depending upon what is called for by your finances.

Think of these articles then, and then think about how your business runs and how it could run better. Then know that we would love to help you get there.

Moreover, if you know other business owners or individuals who could benefit from services, do not be afraid to point them toward professional help. One thing these articles show is that there is a need to not be afraid to accept the service and guidance of those that can provide it. So we would love to help those people get to their goals, as well.

No matter how self-serving that is.