Author: Accountability Team

As the economy shows new signs of slowing down, many businesses are wondering how they can prepare for a recession. While no one can fully recession-proof their agency, there are steps that businesses can take to weather the storm. Here are 5 ways that agencies can prepare for a recession.

1. Diversify Your Client Base (and nurture new revenue streams)

One of the best ways to prepare for a recession is to diversify your client base. Having a mix of different industries will help insulate your business from fluctuations in any one sector. For example, if you have clients in the financial industry, you may see a drop-off in work during a recession. However, if you also have clients in healthcare or education, you may not be as affected. diversifying your client base can help insulate your business during tough economic times. 

2. Build up Your Cash Reserves 

Another way to prepare for a recession is to build up your cash reserves. This will give you the financial flexibility to better weather any storm. Many businesses don’t make it through a recession because they run out of cash and are forced to close their doors. By building up your cash reserves now, you can ensure that your business will be able to survive even the toughest economic conditions. 

3. Cut Expenses 

When a recession hits, one of the first things businesses need to do is cut expenses. This includes less-essential costs like travel, entertainment, and marketing. By cutting these expenses now, you’ll be in a better position to weather the economic downturn when it comes. 

4. Improve Your Collections Process 

In order to prepare for a recession, it’s also important to improve your collections process. Get paid faster by implementing things like shorter payment terms and automated invoicing and payments. By doing this, you’ll ensure that you have the cash flow you need to keep your business afloat during tough economic times. 

5. Double-down on Operational Maturity

Finally, now is the time to make sure that your Agency examines its processes, operations, and technology. How much is your legacy system and processes really costing you? It’s imperative that you maximize your productivity so you can deliver more with less. None of this can happen if you’re still dependent on legacy software and manual processes. Preparing for a recession means having a plan in place for how you will deal with things like layoffs and reduced demand for your services. Your ability to make data-driven decisions and compete, especially in a down market, will be super charged if you’ve invested in better systems, software and processes today.

By planning ahead, you can ensure that your business is well prepared during an economic downturn. 

A recession can be a difficult time for any business – but by taking these steps now, you can ensure that your agency is prepared for whatever comes its way. From diversifying your client base to improving your collections process, these tips will help insulate your agency in an economic downturn – so you can come out on top when things turn around again.

Agency CFOs are under more pressure than ever to drive agency growth while maintaining a strong financial position. In today’s climate of constant change this can be daunting. However, by utilizing a modern financial management platform, CFOs can gain the visibility they need to make informed business decisions, maintain greater control over their operation, and increase profitability.

The Importance of Visibility

Access to real time data enables a CFO unbiased visibility into the financial health of his or her agency. An agency-specific financial management platform offers visibility by giving CFOs real-time insights into key metrics such as burn rate, margins, and project profitability. With this information at their fingertips, CFOs can identify areas of opportunity and take action to improve the bottom line.

Improving Agency Profitability

While visibility is important, it’s only part of the equation. To truly drive growth, CFOs need to be able to take actions that will improve agency profitability. For example, a modern financial management platform can help CFOs automate time-consuming tasks such as invoicing and billing. This frees CFOs, and their department, to focus on higher value, strategic initiatives to grow the business. Additionally, a financial management platform can help CFOs manage costs and optimize pricing models to improve margins.

Agency CFOs are under immense pressure to drive growth while maintaining a strong financial position. However, by utilizing a modern financial management platform, like Accountability, CFOs are empowered to make informed business decisions and increase profitability. With real-time insights into key metrics and the ability to automate time-consuming tasks, a financial management platform is essential for any agency looking to improve its bottom line.

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The Lunar New Year is a time for celebration and reflection. This is a time for families to get together, celebrate the past year, and make plans for the coming year. It’s time to start planning your celebrations! Here are some tips on how to make your Lunar New Year festivities extra special.

Set Goals for the Year Ahead
Before you can celebrate the new year, take some time to reflect on what you accomplished in the previous year and set goals for yourself for the new year. It could be something small like taking a walk each morning or something bigger like traveling around the world. Whatever it is, try to make it achievable so that you feel motivated throughout the year to accomplish your goals.

Create a “New Year” Playlist
Music has a way of setting the mood for any occasion, so why not create a playlist specifically for celebrating the Lunar New Year? Fill your playlist with upbeat music from different cultures that represent all of your friends and family members who are celebrating with you. This will help keep everyone in good spirits throughout the day!

Gather Your Friends & Family
The Lunar New Year is all about coming together with family and friends, so plan something special that everyone can enjoy together. You could throw a dinner party or plan an outing to somewhere fun like an amusement park or beach. Just remember that whatever activity you choose should involve quality time with those closest to you!

No matter how you choose to celebrate the Lunar New Year in 2023, just remember that it’s all about being with those who mean most to you and looking ahead towards what’s possible over the next 12 months. By setting meaningful goals for yourself, creating a festive playlist, and gathering your friends & family together – there’s no better way to ring in this special holiday! Happy Lunar New Year!

As a creative agency, budgeting and forecasting can be tricky. It requires careful planning and analysis to ensure firm financials and growth projections that align with your goals. However, if done correctly, budgeting and forecasting can give you the data you need to make informed decisions about your business’s future. Let’s look at some of the key considerations for creative agency budgeting and forecasting processes.

Start With Your Big Picture Goals
Before beginning your budgeting process, it’s important to start by looking at the big picture. What are your long-term goals? What kind of growth are you expecting this year? Having a clear vision of what success looks like will help you set realistic goals and keep yourself on track while making important decisions. Additionally, it can also help you identify potential areas of opportunity or risk that may not have been previously considered.

Analyze Past Performance
Once you’ve outlined your overarching objectives, it’s time to dig into past performance. Analyzing past performance is essential for understanding how your business operates and can give insight into what areas may require additional focus or attention. This information can provide valuable context for both short-term decisions as well as longer-term strategic investments in order to position the company for continued success.

Forecast Future Performance

Now it’s time to turn those goals into reality! Using the data from past performance as well as industry trends, develop projections for revenue growth over a specified period of time (e.g., one quarter, one year). Aim for an actionable plan rooted in data rather than assumptions or guesses (which can often lead to missed opportunities or unanticipated costs). Be sure to factor in any seasonal fluctuations or one-time expenses that may occur throughout the course of a given year so that you are prepared for anything that comes up.

Budgeting and forecasting is an essential part of running any successful business—especially creative agencies! By taking the time to understand your goals and analyze past performance before developing forecasts based on data (rather than assumptions), you will be able to make more informed decisions about where best to focus your efforts. Investing resources with the best information gives you the best opportunity to maximie growth. Taking these steps now will pay dividends in the long run!

The simple answer is that overworked employees puts your agency at risk. But the real, underlying answer is much scarier. The truth is that overworked employees can lead to disgruntled colleagues (which jeopardizes your client relations), Scope Creep, and a host of other problems. So, let’s look at each of these in turn.

Disgruntled Employees: When an employee is overworked, it’s only a matter of time before it impacts their work. And when a change in performance is reflected on a client’s project, it reflects poorly on the agency. Your best performers, when overworked, now become your agency’s biggest liability.

Scope Creep: Another big problem with overworked employees is that they’re more likely to engage in Scope Creep. Scope Creep is when an employee starts doing tasks outside their scope of work to try and meet an unrealistic deadline. This inevitably leads to even more work and lower-quality output overall. In the end, everyone loses. 

Turnover: Finally, one of the scariest truths about overworked employees is that they’re far more likely to leave an agency. This turnover can be incredibly costly, not just in terms of the money spent on recruiting and training new staff but also in terms of morale. When good employees leave, it can ripple effect throughout the agency, leading to even more turnover and decreased productivity overall. 

Accountability’s Integrated agency management lets you control your financial position and client profitability with comprehensive project financials, time tracking, production billing, and accounting capabilities designed exclusively for agencies. And by automating manual tasks, this frees up time for your colleagues to focus on higher-value tasks (the ones your clients really care about)!

The truth is that overworked employees are a massive liability for advertising agencies. To avoid these problems, manage your team’s workloads carefully and ensure that everyone has enough time to rest and recharge. Your employees (and clients) will thank you for it in the long run! 

See our platform in action and learn more about how Accountability can deliver strategic financial insights to drive profitable business outcomes. Schedule a demo today.