Advisory Isn't Something You Learn Once and Then Tick Off as Complete

You can learn how to read a set of accounts.

You can learn a financial strategy.

You can learn a framework for having an advisory conversation.

But that doesn't mean you've finished learning advisory.

Because no two clients are the same.

One client might need a conversation about cash flow.

Another might be growing quickly but making very little profit.

Another might be paying everyone in the business except themselves.

And another might have perfectly healthy numbers but a business that is completely dependent on the owner.

The numbers can tell you where to look.

Advisory is about knowing what to do with what you see.

And that requires much more than learning a process once and ticking it off as complete.

The numbers are only the beginning

Financial information gives us clues.

Perhaps gross profit has fallen.

Cash is getting tighter.

Revenue is growing but profitability isn't.

The owner's drawings are increasing.

Debtor days are creeping upwards.

Those numbers tell us that something is happening.

But they don't necessarily tell us why.

That's where advisory begins.

You need to understand what's happening behind the numbers.

What has changed in the business?

What is the client trying to achieve?

What decisions have they recently made?

What assumptions are they working with?

What haven't they considered?

And what else do you need to understand before deciding what to do next?

The numbers might point you towards the conversation.

**The conversation helps you