How Accountants Became Business Strategists During COVID-19

When most people think of an account, they usually think data entry. It’s a stereotype that has long followed people of this profession.

The pandemic, however, has created a new normal, and accountants worldwide are emerging as superheroes. Businesses are relying on them to identify cash flows, manage loan agreements, and to keep things on track at such a crucial time. Despite the stressful last few months, accountants have emerged strongly to leverage all things possible to manage the financial health of their companies – and in turn, businesses have come to depend on them.

Those who were earlier considered only as data entry professionals are now looked upon as strategic advisors of the company. Accountants worldwide have come to embrace this new role that has its own set of challenges.

Here are a few ways accountants have reinvented themselves during COVID-19:

Resolving

Accountants have shown the ability to navigate these turbulent times through their skills of anticipation, agility and adaptation. As governments shut down economies due to the spread of the coronavirus, business leaders spoke up to calm their stakeholders and they leaned on their accounting and financial professionals. Accountants became “essential” to keep businesses from being destroyed in the COVID storm.

Providing Relief

The lockdown began as a few weeks of waiting period to “flatten the curve”, then soon turned into months of uncertainty. Businesses shut down. People lost jobs. This was just the beginning of the harsh reality we were about to witness. Then came the government reliefs. In the US, the government’s relief packages ran through the accounting, tax and payroll systems. The criticality of accountants was noticed again. Accountants continued to explain to their clients the new legislations.

While the doctors and nurses fought the medical crisis, accountants too were at the frontlines fighting a crisis financial in nature. While the doctors protected our lives, the accountants protected our livelihoods.

Facilitating Reopen

Yes, some businesses couldn’t bear the shock of the pandemic. But so many more are in the reopen phase. Many accountants have additionally started to offer compliance related services such as taxation, audit, and assurance services – to provide a ground for the company to survive while it takes care of the health of its employees and customers.

Helping in Recover

As business owners navigate the crisis, they need to get a health check of their business and analyse cash flows. Their accountant will help them adapt to new information and put their business in the best possible position to recover. Recovering will be different for different businesses, and their professional accounting advisors will be able to give them the best options whether it is restructure, merger or acquisition.

This is also the time they must sit with their accounting professional and make their business resilient for such times in the future.

The pandemic and the subsequent lockdown were hard on everyone. Especially small businesses who had to shut their shops, not knowing when they could reopen. Add to it the confusion around the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), this was all too much for a small business to handle. Accountants helped small business clients navigate through the PPP loan forgiveness, payroll credits, and much more.

When everything was confusing and complex, accountants stepped up to simplify things for most of the small businesses.

Post COVID-Economy

Traditionally, in a company, a department’s value comes from how close they are to the end customer. Accountants being at the desk were not given much value till now. But these accountants have turned into keyboard warriors who have taken into account the stakeholder’s concerns and have formulated flexible payment terms, new pricing, etc.

As the world is slowly breaking off the shackles of a long lockdown and reopening, its financial health is going to be front and centre for a long time. This is a crucial time for accountants who can use this opportunity to get themselves the tools and technology they need to optimize their work and help the businesses recover.

We hope 2021 will bring better times for everyone, and we also hope that in the New Year, accountants will get their due.

They have gone far and beyond during this ongoing crisis to serve the companies they work for. They have proven that they are much needed, in fact indispensable to the lifeline of a company.