A client came to Mason Miller after a somewhat common experience. A trusted and highly-valued long term employee faced life circumstances which required her to leave suddenly. The client was not fully aware of the extent of the work she was doing, and the new hire was not experienced enough to understand the systems in place or update them to more current methods. Reports that had once made sense to the client, became inaccurate and unreliable. Uncertain where the problems were and with a lack of time or accounting expertise to resolve them, he contacted Mason Miller. We were able  to go in, review and locate the accounting inconsistencies, make adjustments where necessary, set up new systems and then train staff properly. We worked closely with the client to learn about the business and the problems he was experiencing. After several months, things were back on track, with systems in place and a staff member fully able to maintain them  and provide accurate and reliable reports. The owner was confident and thrilled to be back focussing on growing his business

Occasionally, we uncover some pretty big surprises for new clients. Many businesses issue their own invoices and receive payments, as did this particular client. He was certain there were no outstanding receivables. After we reconciled the bank account we showed over $75,000 in accounts receivables. Through our discussions and analysis we determined that several invoices were entered twice which caused both the revenue and the HST owing to be overstated. We also discovered an invoice for $17,000 that had never been paid and never would have been paid had we not identified it as outstanding to the client.

Here’s a situation that comes up often with clients. Personal and business cash flow and profitability are so closely intertwined that the lines get blurred and the business owner has no idea where the money is going and how to increase profitability. We take a very methodical, step by step approach. First we look at the full history and determine what the actual numbers have been on the business side. Then we create specific, measurable goals for the coming period for business revenue and expenses. We then work with our client to do the same thing on the personal side. We set up a structure where the money they are “earning” from their business is transferred efficiently and supports their personal needs and goals.