Does Your Business Need a Financial Advisor?

According to statistics, some 39% of UK adults don’t feel particularly confident managing their money and capital. Considering that some of these will be business owners, this raises huge concerns about cash flow management and successfully balancing commercial books.

Given that the failure to effectively manage and optimise cash flow in real-time is one of the main reasons why businesses fail in the UK, this may mean that your venture needs a financial advisor.

We’ll explore this in the post below, while asking how this type of service provider can help your venture!

What Does an SME Business Advisor Do?

There’s certainly a high demand for financial advisors among small and medium-sized ventures, which currently account for 99.2% of the total business population in the UK.

But what exactly does an SME business advisor do? In simple terms, they provide a professional service that can help you to maximise the capital that’s invested into your business, while also enabling you to better manage cash flow as you complete work and receive payment from clients.

This is a crucial but often understated part of business management, as without a firm grip of your real-time and long-term finances its hard to fund daily operations and succeed over time.

A financial advisor will provide help and guidance across a broad range of disciplines and applications, including spending and saving strategies, tax requirements and even complex restructuring and insolvency needs.

What to Consider Before Deciding

Another factor is how do you determine whether you actually need the help of a financial advisor?

After all, this will incur an upfront and potentially ongoing financial commitment, as you’ll either have to pay such a service provider by the hour or according to the terms of a fixed fee.

It’s important to balance this against the potential gains and financial benefits of working with an advisor, particularly in terms of long-term savings, tax reductions and potential restructuring costs.

Much will depend on your own financial circumstances, of course, but the key is to leverage free consultations where possible and use this time to ask dedicated questions that can inform your costings. Then you can make an informed decision, while partnering with the best possible service provider if you do decide to proceed.

What are the Benefits of Working with a Financial Advisor?

If you’re like most business owners and entrepreneurs, you’ll most likely have one or two narrow competencies that are focused in your areas of expertise.

These may include merchandising, product design or sales, but they rarely involve you having a comprehensive understanding of tax legislation and money management (unless you operate in the financial services sector).

This is where financial advisors add value, however, as they’re knowledge and informed across a broad range of financial practices and laws.

As a result, they can advise your fiscal strategies and drive actionable savings while ensuring that your business remains compliant, especially in relation to tax payments and corporate restructuring.