Once Upon A Time

Our story begins simply enough, we were accountants offering our services for an hourly fee. We prepared financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, we prepared tax returns and offered advice on how to reduce taxes.

Until one day we questioned why we were in business.

On that day, we asked a question, "What are we really passionate about?" and with this question we opened up a whole new world.

At our core, our accountant's were always passionate about business. Given a chance, we would spend hours talking about our client's marketing, sales and production.  We love discussing real opportunities with people and helping them make difficult, but rewarding decisions.  To be honest, we probably annoy many people since we can't seem to stop talking about their business opportunities. Client's would come to talk about tax savings and we would send them back to their shop with plans to increase profits (and their taxes but they didn't really pay attention to that.)

We were frustrated though. You see, accounting, especially for the small business segment, is all about taxes; Tax compliance, tax planning and tax projection.  While we are really pretty good at all that tax stuff, we believe that there are just so many more important things in business than trying to reduce taxes. What do we do? Well, we decided to take our own advice we gave to so many or our clients: When the competition ZIGS, you have to ZAG.

Yes, we are passionate about business. Not accounting for costs or creating complicated tax avoidance plans, but the Magic of business. Yes, that's right, the Magic of Business.

The Magic of Business

What is the Magic of Business? And how do you account for it?

The Magic of Business is nothing more than, what makes your business unique from every other business out there.  I don't know if you realize it, but your competitors have the same equipment, the same raw materials, the same "focus on quality" that you do.  In theory, we all work in a homogenized and undifferentiated world, right?

Wrong.  Very very wrong.

What we have felt, and soon began teaching, is that every business creates Magic.  The difficulty is in getting owners and managers to understand that Magic and embrace it.  You see, business owners have been "mesmerized" by the witch doctors of accounting.  Reducing cost, the witch doctor preaches, will grow your business.  Since you are like every other business, you must cut costs and cut value so you can compete. 

Every decision was about how prices could be cut to win the next customer.  Cost accounting, tax accounting, and Generally Accepted Accounting were driving business, showing leaders how to make decisions based upon accounting information. 

But one day, we woke up.  We realized our mantra of Fixed Costs, and Variable Expenses and Overhead Allocations were hurting, not helping business decisions.  Clients couldn't understand their finances without a massive set of financial statements that first said what accounting thought was happening and then what accounting felt should happen, if you ignored the first set of reports!  On that day, we asked ourselves, "What really sets one business apart from another?"  Magic.

The Magic of Business is simple.  It is what makes a customer's eyes shine when they walk in your shop.  It is what makes them giddy to see a package from your Company.  It is what gets you up in the morning to face the challenges and opportunities that await your business.  The interesting challenge is helping you determine if your cost structure is supporting the Magic you create.  Thus, our accounting practice was born.

Accounting for the Magic

Our process is simple:

We first ensure you understand your Business Magic.  We then help you create your strategy around that Magic.

Second, we help you determine the operating expenses necessary to create your Magic.  We challenge each expense by asking the most important question of all "Does this expenditure help bring your Magic to life?"

Third, we create the measurement system to help you stay in touch with your operating expenses and business processes, and to make sure you are delivering the Magic you promised.

Fourth, we review and discuss the measurements to make sure you are living up to your commitments and to help you decide when and how to change your processes.  At this stage we make sure the business is in Continuous Profit Mode and work to keep every dollar working for you, the business owner and manager.