Businesses See More Revenue & Profit if Using a Public Accountant, Says Survey

Small busineseses are much more confident heading into 2015, based largely on significantly increased revenues and profits so far in 2014, according to a new survey of small business owners. Small businesses who use a professional public accountant, like a CPA, reported even greater gains than businesses that did not.

Overall, the study, commissioned by online accounting software maker Xero, showed that 81 percent of small businesses experiencing revenue growth this year, 22 percent are seeing gains of more than 100 percent.

For 2015, nearly 90 percent forecast a revenue increase, with 21 percent expecting to grow more than 100 percent. This data shows that SMBs are having a fiscally healthy 2014 with no signs of stopping in the new year.

As a result of such significant growth, SMBs are confident, happy and taking risks:

A Certainty of Satisfaction: 87 percent are content to extremely satisfied with how their business is performing.
Risky Business: 68 percent of small businesses never or only occasionally take a risk while 32 percent will almost always take a risk.
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained: These risk takers have experienced a 49 percent growth in revenue over the last 12 months vs. 43 percent for non or occasional risk takers.
Glass Half Full: Risk taking SMBs are also more optimistic, forecasting 63 percent growth over the next 12 months vs. 51 percent for those who are risk averse.

In order to achieve 2015 goals and grow their businesses, SMBs are looking to expand their teams and invest in top talent such as accounting professionals:

Hiring Now and in the Future: 51 percent of small businesses plan to hire now and through 2015.
Employing an Accountant Pays Off: SMBs who use an accounting professional with online accounting software experienced a 16 percent increase in revenue over businesses that do not work with an accountant but use online accounting software.
Using More Accountants Equals More Revenue: When SMBs pair an outside accounting professional with an internal one and use online accounting software they increase the prior mentioned revenue gains by 50 percent – seeing a 24 percent increase in revenue vs. 16 percent when working with only one accountant.

“We’re thrilled to see that small businesses are growing, thriving and hiring,” said Jamie Sutherland, Xero’s U.S. President. “As a company that makes online accounting software, we hear every day from business owners how having an accurate, up-to-date view of their financials is key to their growth. It’s great to see the actual data support this with significant revenue gains when business owners work with an accountant and use accounting software.”