A LivePlan Customer Story: Boca Bookkeeping

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George Williams of Boca Bookkeeping

George Williams, CEO and founder of Boca Bookkeeping

From time to time we hear from LivePlan customers who have had such a great experience using our software that they want to get on the phone and tell us all about how well their business is doing. It’s great! Talking to entrepreneurs and hearing about the innovations they’re making and the success they’re having is one of my favorite things about my job.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with George Williams, an MBA, Certified ProAdvisor (QuickBooks, Enterprise, and QuickBooks Online), Xero Advisor, and the CEO/Founder of Boca Bookkeeping, an accounting services firm for small businesses. George has been using LivePlan with his clients, to take accounting to a “completely new level” and give the small business owners he works with a one-stop option for reviewing their business performance and strategy.

Read on for George’s take on the accounting services industry, its future, and how LivePlan fits in.

When and why did you start Boca Bookkeeping?

I have been offering outsourced CFO and business advisory services for many years.  Being well versed with accounting and ERP software and processes, I started Boca Bookkeeping formally over two years ago based on the needs that clients had. It was difficult to provide intelligent, value-added advice to clients if/when their books and data were a mess.

I seized the opportunity to provide services setting up and managing the bookkeeping so a CFO role or business owner could better understand where the business truly was, where they wanted to go, and how to most efficiently help them get there.

Why the name Boca Bookkeeping if you’re providing far more than bookkeeping services to your clients?

I use the name Boca Boookkeeping because it is at the core of what we do, but Boca Bookkeeping does provide a menu of services to support business owners.

The foundation of all business intelligence is accurate, complete, and timely information. Most business owners may not fully comprehend the need for outside financial advice,  but do recognize the need for accurate, complete, and timely information in the form of bookkeeping, and they struggle to find it. They often search for “bookkeeping” or “QuickBooks Advisor” to seek assistance.

What are some of the other services you provide to your clients?

We focus on a total business solution to meet the clients’ needs. That often includes third party applications or tools such as LivePlan to deliver many of the clients’ desired features.

We also provide financial reviews and advice, business planning, budgeting and forecasting, KPI (Key Performance Indicators) identification and tracking, benchmarking, profitability analysis, cash flow management, and e-commerce and CRM integration.

What makes your firm innovative?

We focus on client solutions. We have extensive professional experience and education and provide that to our clients. Clients rely on us to not only do their books, but also to advise them on how to grow their businesses in a sustainable manner. We offer financial and operational expertise that most accountants do not have. We can offer business services, cloud accounting services, outsourced bookkeeping, and strategic business advice. We offer this and more to all our clients.

The goal: affordable, high-quality business solutions and financial advice.

How is LivePlan helping you help your clients?

I’ll share one specific example to give you a better idea.

Let’s call the client “Tom.” Tom has a $20M+ business, and he provides training services to his clients in multiple locations. His business is doing well, but he wants to take his business to the next level, and set his business up for a potential acquirer in the future.

LivePlan is helping me set up Tom’s business so that we can optimize the valuation of his business. We’re doing this by creating a strategic business plan with a comprehensive budget, forecast, and exit strategy.

Our next step is to connect his QuickBooks account to the Dashboard in LivePlan. This is going to help Tom track his financial KPIs on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. LivePlan will become that single place for Tom to log in and see how his business is doing.

The other great thing about LivePlan is that when it comes time for Tom to consider selling his business, he can hand over his LivePlan account to the buyer, and show the history and trends in his business in a clear and concise manner. It’s a nice turn-key solution. I like to say that LivePlan is helping me improve the way his business looks. It adds significant valuation in a business transaction to show meaningful historical financial data, business controls, and processes when considering a transition.

What advice do you have for other bookkeepers and accountants thinking about integrating LivePlan into their practice?

I’d tell them that LivePlan brings together what your clients’ businesses are all about in one succinct tool. It brings together who they are, what they do, why they do it, how they do it, and what they stand for. Most importantly, your clients will be able to implement strategically by knowing what’s behind their numbers. It becomes their roadmap. And it’s live! I love that the Dashboard feeds in the real numbers from QuickBooks or Xero. Since it’s in the cloud, I don’t have to log into the clients’ books to have a meaningful financial review with them. We can have a virtual conference if needed, and still identify KPIs and what actions they need to take to improve their business.

LivePlan takes QuickBooks (or Xero) reporting to a completely new level. It adds value to your client that you won’t get without it. Try it! You will be glad you did.

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Caroline Cummings
Caroline Cummings
An entrepreneur. A disruptor. An advocate. Caroline has been the CEO and co-founder of two tech startups—one failed and one she sold. She is passionate about helping other entrepreneurs realize their full potential and learn how to step outside of their comfort zones to catalyze their growth. Caroline is currently executive director of Oregon RAIN. She provides strategic leadership for the organization’s personnel, development, stakeholder relations, and community partnerships. In her dual role as the venture catalyst manager, Cummings oversees the execution of RAIN’s Rural Venture Catalyst programs. She provides outreach and support to small and rural communities; she coaches and mentors regional entrepreneurs, builds strategic local partnerships, and leads educational workshops.
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