As the economy slowly recovers, companies are seeking guidance from their accounting executives on how to best capitalize on possible opportunities, while keeping risks and threats at bay. Since VACO partners with the top CPAs in the area, we reached out to them to find out how their clients are managing and responding to the current market. Quite candidly, here's what they said.

What are the main areas where your CEOs look to you for advice?

• A small-firm CPA stated that, "CPAs should have a knowledge of what's going on in the business world, the state of the economy, and the current legislation that impacts businesses. If they have clients in a certain industry, they should be able to bring to those companies what they've learned about the industry from other clients."
• A CPA from one of our mid-size firms said, "In general, CEOs ask us to look for ways to be more efficient. We keep an eye on their costs of doing business, and make suggestions for improvement. Many owners have reduced their own income to maintain their employees and keep the business functioning."
• One of our multinational CPAs shared that, "The main areas that CEOs appear to be concerned about relate to adequate growth funding and ways to control costs. Recently, we've seen a return of an active M&A market, creating a new round of funded growth. At the same time, companies have learned to do more with less and have gotten used to progressing with a leaner organization."

From an accounting point of view, what are the biggest challenges you see?

• "For smaller companies, it's the ability to keep up with the changes in the rules," says a CPA from a smaller firm. "New rules are difficult to keep up with, and that's where we help. We can bring some clarity - clarity to cash flow, why it's changing and what's impacting it. CFOS in larger companies need to make accounting changes in advance, rather than having the CPA catch it when coming in to do the year-end work."
• A CPA from one of our mid-size firms stated that, "The biggest challenge is how to keep a company operating lean enough to make a profit but still meet the demands of the customers or clients. In the accounting area, new technology allows the number crunching to be done more efficiently, but also requires capital investments in hardware and software.
• According to one CPA from a multinational firm, "From an accounting point of view, some challenges have to do with the accounting for debt restructurings and modifications. As companies go back to the lenders to renegotiate terms, they will likely have significant reductions in interest rates and extension of terms, and these transactions can be quite technical, requiring the use of outside experts to assist in determining the appropriate accounting."

What do you see as the biggest opportunities?

• One of our CPAs from a smaller firm stated that, "With smaller companies, it's helping them fit into the framework because if they have more information, they can run their business more efficiently. The opportunity is in planning. Trying to fix things after the fact is really difficult. Advanced planning is key to taking advantage of market opportunities."
• One of our mid-size-firm CPAs shared that, "By being adaptable and flexible, companies can be in a great position to gain market share. They must be ready to re-invent how they do business, and the business itself. What was hot yesterday may not be in demand tomorrow. How you keep records for your business changes constantly. Those with old technology will have to embrace new technologies that bring greater efficiencies than ever before."
• A multinational CPA said that, "Opportunities relate more to operational and growth focus created by a more friendly funding and M&A market. Financing sources have more "dry powder" now than they have had in many years. This creates some wonderful opportunities for companies to obtain the appropriate growth capital for expansion - but only if they're prepared. The best prepared companies will have invested time and money into developing the appropriate controls systems and will have affiliated with well known accounting and auditing firms that can assist them in working through these opportunities."

As you can see from these answers, it makes sense why companies look to their accounting executives and CPAs as we continue this journey together towards greater prosperity.