'Next Level Accounting, Beyond Bookkeeping': The Juna Advantage

Visitors to Juna’s website will notice four words prominently displayed on our homepage: “Next Level Accounting.” But what do we mean when we say Next Level? Far from being a catchy tagline hovering in the atmosphere, we quite literally mean that our services go well beyond simply recording transactions to add value for our clients so they can achieve their missions.

Your Outsourced Accounting Department

Outsourcing your accounting department will eliminate payroll commitments and the challenges of managing staff and turnover, and more importantly, give you a wider array of services. One client came to us recently because their internal bookkeeper retired and they were having trouble filling the role. When they engaged Juna, they discovered that not only did they get the bookkeeping service they needed, they got a finance team dedicated to providing them with a more robust finance solution as if they hired an entire accounting department.

We designed a customized workflow with cloud-based technologies that makes clients’ business processes run more smoothly and provides more robust controls. We have extensive experience in accounting systems designed to maximize efficiencies. AI capabilities have automated a portion of bookkeeping procedures. However, AI hasn’t replaced the need for a qualified professional to maintain your books. At Juna, we have a talent/tech balance where we leverage the latest technologies but also think about what we’re doing.

Comprehensive Financial Reporting

We prepare timely comprehensive financial reports with variance analysis and KPIs and review them with the client to help them develop an accurate real-time economic picture of their business. A column in The CPA Journal offers this point “It’s not just about helping clients get their accounting done right; it’s about leveraging accounting data to provide meaningful insight that allows client businesses to run more efficiently and effectively.”

Planning for Growth

One of the tenets of entrepreneurship is “growth sucks cash.” Getting into the cadence of forecasting cash flows on a regular basis helps our client plan for growth and keeps them from running out of cash.

Getting Your Financial House in Order

Clients often come to us when they’re at an inflection point – they’re raising capital, applying for a loan or getting prepared for an exit. They need to get their financial house in order because their current accounting solution is longer meeting their needs. They need “next level accounting.”

Raising capital: Before taking a risk on providing capital to your company, investors and lenders will do their due diligence. A clean set of books is critical to giving you credibility that you’re a good risk. In most cases, they will require financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. This gives you the credibility you need.

Preparing for Exit – A Success Story

Preparing for exit: Our client in the biotech industry was recently purchased by a public company for 15x revenue. (Yes, revenue, not EBITDA!) Prior to engaging Juna, they had a bookkeeping firm that didn’t have the experience to get them through the transaction so they hired Juna to get the financial expertise they needed. We converted their financial statements to monthly accrual basis to provide more meaningful trend analysis, implemented controls & procedures, and orchestrated the due diligence process. Their Juna CFO and controller were an integral part of the executive team to provide the financial expertise they needed in meetings with the attorneys, investment bankers, and buyers. Having this financial expertise on their team was critical to their successful exit.

Even if you aren’t planning to sell in the near term, having solid, reliable financial data makes you able to hit the ground running when you’re ready. Knowing your financial data cold is key to negotiating with buyers and understanding your position in the industry.

Audits: For those companies that need audits, the Juna team has a deep understanding of GAAP and can speak the language that makes an audit go more smoothly. For example, we have helped several clients comply with ASC606, the new revenue recognition standards. Audits are expensive so the more smoothly they go, the less expensive they are.

Conversion from cash to accrual: Many companies keep their books on a cash basis for its simplicity. Some keep their books on a basis we call “accrual-ish.” Full accrual based financial reporting is required to comply with GAAP accounting standards which not only gives our clients a true financial picture, but is required for audits and raising capital.

Keeping your books on a cash basis is certainly easier than the complexities of accrual-based financials, but it’s important to understand the difference. (See our blog post highlighting the difference between cash and accrual basis here.)

Controls, Procedures & Security: We focus on building appropriate internal controls and procedures at every step. This is critical so your financial operations can scale with your business, and you can be confident that your data is secure. This is also critical for credibility when raising capital, preparing for exit or getting through an audit.

Your Ultimate Resources Provider

More than just serving as a provider of accounting and finance solutions, our clients rely on us to provide resources through our trusted partners for various business functions, including tax, audit, human resources, employee benefits, legal, banking and lending, marketing, and valuation.

We have embraced this philosophy for years, knowing that clients find value in this practice. A recent survey published in the Journal of Accountancy backs this up. The Client Advisory Services (CAS) Benchmark survey from CPA.com discusses a number of areas of focus.

Phil Quimby, product marketing manager for CAS at CPA.com, told the journal that CAS’s growth over the two-year survey period can be attributed to broader adoption of cloud technology. Juna takes this to heart as we leverage innovative cloud technology solutions and experienced U.S.-based experts to create an efficient, cost-effective solution for evolving businesses.

“Next Level Accounting.” These are more than words – it’s a credo we live by every day at Juna, knowing that we’re adding value to our clients.