Does Your Advisory Firm Need Financial Advice?

What separates great businesses from failures?

At the most basic level, it comes down to one thing: making good decisions. And at the heart of every good business decision is a thorough understanding of your business from top to bottom.

Which is why it’s so alarming that so many advisors operate without a firm grasp on their own business’ financial picture.

One of the most common pieces of advice given by advisors is “trust the data, not your gut,” and yet a large number of advisors operate more on gut than hard numbers when it comes to business decisions.

Not only is that a bit of a paradox, it’s also an incredibly risky way to run a business. Thankfully, it’s easily and entirely avoidable if time is set aside to get to know the data and numbers you already have.

4 Financial Numbers to Know

When we talk about getting a firm grip of your data, we’re really talking about understanding four primary numbers listed on every firms profit and loss statement:

1. Income: The amount of revenue you bring into your business during a period.
2. Cost of Labor: The amount of money you are spending on staff salaries and bonuses.
3. Overhead expenses: All other expenses that does not include labor.
4. Profit: What is left over after cost of labor and overhead expenses are taken out of income.

A Common Mistake

Many advisory firms make the mistake of spending most time analyzing income. In other words, how do we make more money?

However, one of the most important questions often goes unasked (and unanswered): How much can we spend?

How you make money is only one facet of a successful business. It’s success will be determined by how you spend the income to produce more income.