People like to tease accountants that our business is boring. Well, my goodness, we think that jobs such as movie star or governor of California might be boring to us. We love numbers! We love forms! And we love audited financial statements!
Now, if you have happened to land upon this blog post, it stands to reason that for some purpose you are interested in audited financials. You may be a business person who wants to do business with the city of San Francisco or some other government entity here in the Bay Area, or you may be applying for a loan and need to present your audited financials to a bank to secure a business loan. Another common issue is if you own a startup here in San Francisco, and you are successful enough to be attractive as a takeover target.
Why do you need audited financials? We could give you many accounting type of reasons for why you might want or need audited financials, but that might bore you if you are a mere mortal who does not think that accounting is truly interesting. So let’s give you some nonaccounting reasons why you might want audited financial statements.
Audited Financials and How They Can Supercharge Your Business Attractiveness
The long and short of it is that audited financials can supercharge the attractiveness of your business. How so? Well, let’s assume that you’d like to do business with the city of San Francisco. The city is a very big entity and as a public entity it needs to be very secure that those private institutions with which it is doing business have some financial grounding. So, in applying to do business with the city of San Francisco, by providing audited financials, or at least not looking like a deer in a headlight when someone asks you if you have them, you are communicating that your business is stable and secure. It gives you a very serious leg up in the competition to do work for government entities.
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Secondly, let’s assume you are applying for a loan from a bank. Now, after the financial crisis of 2008, the banks are very jittery. They want to lend money to stable and secure businesses. As the saying goes, banks only want to lend money to those people who do not need it. By being able to present audited financials from an independent third party such as our CPA firm you are able to substantiate that while you may not have the cash flow, for example, you have the financial assets needed to secure a loan. Again, in this way audited financials are supercharging the attractiveness of your business. Third, let’s assume that you are doing business with another private entity that is concerned about liabilities and insurance problems. By being able to present audited financial statements, again, you are substantiating that your business is not a fly-by-night entity.
Finally, let’s talk for a moment about the startup scene in San Francisco, California. It seems that not a day goes by when there is not a new amazing tax startup with the latest amazing app Apple store or Google play. The goal of all of these startups is to grow big quickly, get some buys, and be acquired. The larger companies, such as Google or Facebook, that might be interested in acquiring your startup, are concerned that it isn’t really a good idea. Yes, you can show 5 million free downloads on the Apple Store. But wouldn’t it be better if you could also show audited financial statements, again by an independent third-party such as a CPA firm, that validate that not only do you have 5 million free download users but you also have some serious profits.
Interested in Audited Financial Statements? Call us
If you have read this far, and not fallen asleep, you are either an accountant yourself, or someone who has finally had the epiphany and realized that securing audited financials for your business is a fabulous idea. Call us, or drop by our convenient San Francisco office, to discuss how we can help supercharge the attractiveness of your business.
