Data analytics in accounting helps founders monitor business performance and identify areas that need improvement. 

The techniques and tools used in data analytics have become increasingly popular in accounting because they allow accountants to understand their clients’ finances and businesses better. 

As a result, the accountants provide better client services, making them more competitive in the marketplace.

How can your business realize the benefits of data analytics in accounting?.

Benefits of Using Data Analytics in Accounting

Data has become a powerful tool for nearly every industry. 

Accounting and finance are already very data-dependent, and it only makes sense that data analytics can help you create a better financial picture. It allows you to look at your business in new ways, leading to more successful decisions. 

Evaluating Business Performance

When coupled with accounting, data analytics can be a powerful lever for evaluating and managing your business performance. It helps keep things running smoothly and makes it easy to see if your business is performing well or is off track.

In evaluating how well your business is doing, the tools can provide information about customer satisfaction, employee productivity, and more. 

This information can help you better understand the problems within your company and fix them before they become significant issues.

Data analytics also provide information on production efficiency and inventory levels to keep things running smoothly within your business. It can help better manage inventory to ensure you’re fulfilling orders on time while preventing excess inventory from piling up. 

You don’t want your customers to wait too long for their needed products.

Spottings and Avoiding Risks

Founders can use the insights provided by data analytics to make better decisions and improve efficiency by giving leaders better insights into business risks and opportunities. 

With the help of data analysis, you can spot potential risks early on and create avoidance plans. 

For example, if you discover that your sales are declining because of competition from other businesses, you can develop offensive strategies to secure your customer base. Maybe you can increase sales again by developing new products or offering discounts on existing ones.

You can also use data analytics for forecasting and modeling purposes. Forecasting is easier with these tools as they allow you to predict future outcomes based on past trends and patterns in the market or industry. 

Therefore, you will know what changes are necessary for your business to succeed and the level of resources you’ll need for those changes.

Analyzing Cash Flow

Businesses require cash to operate, and cash flow is one of the most critical areas for companies to maintain. 

Analyzing cash flows helps identify areas in need of improvement. Analytics can also help you pinpoint where you’re bleeding cash and need to make changes. 

For example, changes could include hiring additional staff members to support customer requests or passing credit card processing fees on to customers, significantly impacting cash flow. 

Data analytics can tell you where your cash flow is going so that you can make better decisions regarding spending and investment. 

Use this information to see if there are any areas where you’re spending a disproportionate amount of money for the level of benefit you’re receiving. Or places where you’re not spending enough and losing out on opportunities.

Increasing Profitability

One crucial benefit of using data analytics is its ability to detect patterns that help businesses improve their efficiency and profitability. 

For example, data analytics tools like Google Analytics or Heap Analytics can help you better track customer behavior. These services track customer behavior on your website and give detailed reports about their browsing habits. 

You can use this information for targeted marketing campaigns and improving conversion rates. Maybe you can improve buying patterns by using analytics to provide better search results or offer customers discounts on specific products during sale seasons.

Improved Reporting

Reporting is often an essential aspect of the decision-making process. 

Data analytics can enhance reporting by providing more accurate and timely results and creating visuals to ease communication. Visual reports can be easier to understand and more accessible, especially to non-financial types, allowing for better decision-making.

You can improve reporting by using data analytics to fine-tune your internal and external processes to be more efficient and effective. 

Data analytics provides insight into how well your products or services meet customer requirements. This helps you improve over time by better understanding those needs.

Rely on a Trusted Accountant to Leverage Data Analytics in Accounting

Data analytics is becoming increasingly essential for businesses and an integral part of the accounting process. It helps you make better business decisions and improve your overall financial picture. 

However, you have to understand how data analytics relate to your accounting and how you can leverage them.

Contact the pros at Founder’s today if you’re wondering how to leverage data analytics to improve your business! 

 

Curt Mastio
Post by Curt Mastio
Jun 4, 2024 1:29:41 PM
Curt Mastio started Founder’s CPA in 2017 and currently serves as the Managing Partner of the firm. After obtaining both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign Curt started his career in Big Four public accounting. Shortly thereafter Curt served as the Chief Financial Officer of Storage Squad began his stint as an Adjunct Instructor at Northwestern University’s Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and has been teaching Accounting & Finance to undergraduate students for 6+ years. In his current role Curt oversees strategy, operations, and business development at Founder’s CPA. Further, Curt has experience working directly with 200+ startups and small businesses providing accounting, tax, and outsourced CFO services. His industry expertise lies in the SaaS, Blockchain, Marketplace, and Fintech industries. He has served as a key advisor working directly with startups that range from pre-revenue to companies generating over $30 million dollars a year in revenue. Lastly, he serves a key role working directly with the firm’s clients that have collectively raised over $200 million in venture capital funding to date. Curt is also an active advisor, mentor, and investor in the startup ecosystem. He has facilitated numerous workshops, webinars, and presentations to incubators and other startup-centric organizations. He is also an active mentor for Techstars in both Chicago and Iowa. Outside of his daily professional duties Curt is actively involved with Beat the Streets Chicago and was a founding member of its Young Professionals Board. His efforts in both leadership and community involvement were recognized when he was awarded the Illinois CPA Society’s Outstanding Young Professional Leadership Award in 2020. He was also a panelist at their annual conference in 2022 where he spoke about his experiences starting and operating a public accounting firm. He maintains an active Certified Public Accountant designation that he obtained in 2014. Outside of work, Curt can be found spending time with his friends & family including his dog Rufus. His hobbies include golf, boating, cooking, reading, and attending sporting events & concerts.