How James Moore’s Manufacturing Team Supports Clients

When you think of a CPA, you might assume their role is limited to preparing tax returns, compiling financial statements and ensuring that your business complies with regulatory requirements. While these are essential services for any manufacturing business, they don’t address the day-to-day struggles that keep manufacturing business owners up at night — operational inefficiencies, cash flow problems and growth challenges.

At James Moore, we take a different approach. We believe that a manufacturer’s success is directly tied to operational efficiency. That’s why our manufacturing team doesn’t just focus on financial statements and tax filings. We work hand in hand with manufacturers to help them optimize their operations, improve profitability and build a stronger financial future. By prioritizing a deep understanding of each client’s business, we position ourselves as true strategic partners, not just accountants.

But what exactly does that look like? In this guide, we’re sharing our philosophy in supporting manufacturing businesses. It might be a little different from how other CPAs approach their relationships, but we firmly believe it’s an approach that helps our clients achieve sustained financial success.

Understanding the Manufacturing Industry’s Unique Challenges

Manufacturing is a complex industry. To be successful, leaders must simultaneously juggle countless balls: supply chains, production schedules, workforce management, financial oversight and much, much more. It’s a complicated business with many moving parts. All too often, when business owners run into challenges, they’re not sure where to turn.

In our view, the biggest challenges manufacturing companies face can be traced back to their operations. While these issues might show up on the financial statements through missed profitability targets, slowing profitability is a symptom, not the underlying issue. Treating that symptom requires digging deeper to identify and resolve the root cause, whether that’s bottlenecks on the production floor, unexpected inventory shortages, inefficient workflows or rising material costs.

Despite this, many manufacturing companies only reach out to accountants when they need tax help, a set of audited financial statements or assistance with compliance challenges. Often, they don’t realize their biggest financial struggles are tied to their operations. A business struggling with cash flow issues, for instance, may not immediately recognize that inefficient production scheduling or excessive waste is the root cause of their financial strain. Without this insight, they may attempt to resolve cash flow problems with short-term fixes — taking on debt, delaying supplier payments or cutting costs in the wrong places — rather than addressing the underlying operational inefficiencies.

At James Moore, we help our manufacturing clients bridge this gap. By taking the time to truly understand our clients’ business models, workflows and day-to-day operations, we aim to provide tailored financial guidance that delivers lasting value.

A Holistic Approach: Why Operations Come First

Often, new clients come to us with a certain pain point. Something in their business hurts, but they’re not quite sure why. Perhaps cash flow has tightened or their margins have slipped, and they need help understanding the problem and implementing a solution.

Our first focus isn’t on the company’s financial statements and spreadsheets. Instead, our primary focus is on the business’s operations. We ask about production workflows, inventory management, supplier relationships, workforce efficiency and profit margins across different product lines.

This focus on operations isn’t just a philosophical choice; it’s a practical one. The better run a manufacturing business is, the stronger its financial results tend to be. If a company can optimize its production processes, reduce waste and improve efficiency, profitability will follow. In contrast, a business that struggles operationally will inevitably experience financial challenges, no matter how well it manages its books.

Let’s say you notice that a particular job or product line isn’t generating the profit margin you expect. Rather than simply adjusting pricing or cutting costs, we’ll partner with you to take a deeper dive into your operations, asking questions like:

• Are raw material costs higher than expected on the bill of materials?
• Is production taking longer than necessary?
• Is excessive scrap or rework driving up expenses?
• Should the overhead rate be updated?

These questions can’t be answered from the comfort of our offices. That’s why we’ll come and spend time walking your production floor and getting to know you and your business. We believe that the best financial advice comes from a true understanding of the business, not just the numbers on a spreadsheet.

Beyond the Numbers: Connecting Operations, Finance and Strategy

Improving your operations is a central focus of ours. But as accountants, we understand the importance of connecting these improvements to the financial results of your business. If we don’t believe something will deliver a clear ROI, we won’t recommend it. However, the only way to understand that is to unify your operations, finances and strategy.

Helping manufacturers connect their operations to their financial data in a meaningful way is a vital part of the work we do. Too often, we see a disconnect between the people working on the factory floor, company leadership and financial decision-makers. Employees and supervisors on the front line of production may not fully understand how their work affects the company’s bottom line. Equally, senior management may not have a clear view of the realities of what’s happening on the shop floor every day.

We help bridge this gap by ensuring that departments are aligned in their goals and decision-making. When operators understand how their actions impact profitability, they can work more efficiently and identify opportunities for improvement. Similarly, when management has a clear view of operations, they can make more informed strategic decisions.

For instance, a manufacturer struggling with cash flow may assume their issue is financial mismanagement. However, after reviewing their operations, we may find that inefficiencies in production scheduling or inventory management are causing delays in order fulfillment, leading to inconsistent revenue streams. By addressing these operational pain points, the company can improve cash flow without resorting to drastic financial measures.

A Forward-Thinking Approach to Financial Guidance

One of the biggest frustrations we hear from new clients is that their previous accountants were too reactive. They focused solely on tax compliance and historical financials rather than helping them plan for the future. And while there’s no question it’s important to look backward and understand what’s happened in the past, we find there’s just as much value in looking forward and focusing on how we can turn those numbers around.

At James Moore, we take a forward-looking approach, helping manufacturers anticipate challenges and position themselves for long-term success. Our services in this area include:

• Cash flow forecasting: Many manufacturers experience seasonal fluctuations in cash flow. We help our clients create detailed financial forecasts so they can plan liquidity needs for these cycles in advance, rather than scrambling for solutions when cash flow becomes tight.
• Financial modeling for growth: Whether a business wants to expand its facility, invest in new equipment or enter a new market, we provide financial modeling to help them assess the feasibility and risks associated with these decisions.
• Transition and succession planning: For business owners starting to plan an exit, we help position their company in a way that maximizes its value and ensures a smooth transition.

This approach to accounting completely shifts the way that our clients operate, helping companies evolve from a reactive stance to a proactive one that enables them to capitalize on opportunities and make strategic decisions with a greater degree of confidence.

More Than Accounting: Comprehensive Advisory Solutions for Manufacturing Businesses

Our professionals can do everything you expect of an accounting firm. Tax strategy? No problem. Preparing your financial statements? Our outsourced accounting team is well equipped. An audit that allows you to secure the financing you need for new machinery? No problem.

What we believe sets us apart is our deep knowledge and expertise within the manufacturing industry. We see ourselves as strategic growth partners to the manufacturing businesses that we work with, bringing expertise in operational excellence, frameworks like Lean Six Sigma and much more.

Plus, our expertise extends beyond traditional accounting. We offer a range of advisory services that help manufacturers optimize their entire business, including HR consulting, technology solutions, digital transformation projects and more.

If you’re looking for a partner who understands the challenges of running a manufacturing business and is committed to helping you succeed, James Moore is here to help. Contact us today to learn how we can support your growth and financial success.

All content provided in this article is for informational purposes only. Matters discussed in this article are subject to change. For up-to-date information on this subject please contact a James Moore professional. James Moore will not be held responsible for any claim, loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of any information within these pages or any information accessed through this site.