Doctors and dentists recommend routine check-ups even for patients who are in good health and take outstanding care of themselves. Regular office visits aren’t just for doctors, though; your financial health also benefits from maintenance visits with a financial professional.

When your finances undergo a significant change – when you buy a new business or sell property, for example – your CPA is instrumental in overseeing your portfolio. However, routine meetings with your financial advisor can mean as much to your long-term financial health as having expert advice throughout major changes. Your accountant will catch minor discrepancies before they become major concerns and spot ways to save in the future.

Building Sound Financial Habits

When you go to your doctor, you learn healthier habits. Regular meetings with your CPA work the same way to build effective financial habits that make future financial events considerably easier on you.

You may not have made saving receipts, maintaining a budget or using rolling forecasts to plot your company’s financial course routines in the past, but regular oversight from a financial professional will instill the habit of regular financial maintenance. Instead of scrambling to prepare for a merger, find important papers during an emergency or cope with rising tuition costs, your good financial hygiene lets you absorb the impact of unforeseen events and minimize the stress of regular ones.

Preparing for Tax Season

The sooner you handle tax preparation, the better off you will be when taxes are due. By preparing all year for April 15, your financial advisor can build reliable tax shelters and credits into your financial strategy. No one wants to discover that an important filing deadline has passed for tax credit eligibility forms, least of all your financial advisor. When you make tax planning part of your monthly or quarterly meetings with your CPA, you turn filing into a routine maintenance task rather than an upheaval.

Focusing on Your Business

If financial planning gets in the way of managing your business, it isn’t necessarily because your company’s finances are too complex for easy management. Often, it’s because routine tasks slip by and fail to get the brief, regular attention they need. If you had to file a year’s worth of paperwork at once, it would feel like an insurmountable task, but a day or a week of filing is simple. The same principle holds true for financial upkeep duties.

By empowering your CPA firm to handle routine tasks such as payroll and taxes, you get to focus on building your business instead of micro-managing it. Staying connected with your accountant through regular meetings is vital to that process because it keeps you and your financial advisor working in the same direction.