5 Ways Financial Reports Can Strengthen Your Relationship With Clients

In business, finances drive strategic decisions, full stop. You know this. Your clients know this. And yet many businesses still fail to prioritize financial reporting.  

Implementing automated reporting software is well worth the time and effort because financial reporting can play such a pivotal role in a business’s success story. Here are just a few ways that quality financial reports can add value to your client’s business.

1. Improves Outcomes 

Using automated financial reports leads to better business outcomes. When business leaders and their accountants have access to reliable and up-to-date information, they can make well-informed decisions, and their businesses reap the benefits. 

This works best when those financial reports are dynamic. If your client’s reports sync with their accounting and payroll software, they will have access to real-time metrics at the click of a mouse or a swipe of the finger. 

Reach Reporting does just that. Our reporting software syncs with most accounting software on the market today (including QuickBooks, Xero, Gusto, and Google Sheets) so that your client’s financial reports reflect real-time data. These dynamic reports ensure your clients are using current information to make business decisions. 

2. Saves Time 

Your client’s time is a precious commodity, so when they find time in their schedule to look at the financials, the reports should be easy to understand. If they have to ask you to interpret what they are seeing, the reports are not good enough. They need to tell a story.  

Fortunately, displaying financial data in a visually pleasing, straightforward format is simple if you use the right tools. CPAs and accountants that use Reach Reporting can build financial dashboards that display the metrics their clients care about most. These reports are highly visual, giving leaders a bird’s eye view of their finances using graphs, pie charts, or numbers, all from one easily accessible dashboard.  

Software like this saves time in a few ways. 

First, it eliminates the need to wait for reports to be generated. The reports exist the moment your client refreshes their dashboard. And because Reach reports are dynamically linked with your client’s accounting software, the metrics always reflect the most up-to-date information. 

Second, your clients won’t need to wait until your next scheduled meeting to see how prior numbers changed. As long as their books, inventory counts, asset listings, etc. are updated regularly, they can rely on customized dashboards through secure client portals to make many of their business decisions, reducing wait time to implement new strategies.

3. Enhances Communication

High-quality reports enhance communication between you and your client, but also internally between your client contact and others at the company. 

Accountants are comfortable viewing and interpreting raw numbers, but not all business leaders feel the same. Even those well-versed in accounting and finance may prefer to see data represented visually, in a chart or graph, or along a trend line. If your client truly understands the data, they will be able to communicate with others more effectively.  

Visual reports also enhance the conversations your client is having internally. If they can show their colleagues a visual representation of what’s happening behind the scenes, their team meetings will be more efficient and — with any luck — more fruitful. 

4. Provides More Flexibility 

All businesses are unique. They have different concerns, different pain points, and different goals. Being able to provide a customized collection of financial reports and metrics shows that you understand your clients’ unique needs. 

Reach Reporting software has dozens of report templates to choose from. They are organized by business size, industry, and other factors, but don’t worry; they’re just a jumping off point. You can easily customize every aspect of the report, and even create custom metrics if your client would like to see a KPI using a data set not already in our library. 

5. Furthers Your Role with the Company

Comprehensive, visually stimulating reports can enhance your offering. In fact, by having access to such valuable data, you may be able to offer services to your clients that you had not been able to offer in the past. For example, if you have real-time access to your client’s financial information, you can transition your role from compliance into consulting or even sell yourself as a strategic partner. Over a Zoom or phone call, you and your clients can view their dashboards together and discuss tactical shifts they hope to make in their business.