Accounting for Beauty Therapists

As you know, running a beauty therapy salon can be challenging, yet very rewarding. While most retailers have to contend with extended trading hours and seasonal fluctuations, beauty therapists also need to deal with a high level of regulation and unique staffing issues.

Having an accountant who understands your industry can mean the difference between surviving and potentially thriving. Over the years, Linda McGowan and her team of accountants have mentored dozens of beauty therapists through the various stages of their business life cycle from start up right through to sale. We offer you experience, technical knowledge and most importantly, an intimate understanding of the beauty therapy industry. We understand the difference between stock and consumables and the need for clients to be serviced in a clean and hygienic environment to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases.

Thinking of Opening a Beauty Therapy Salon?

There are numerous hurdles to jump when opening a beauty therapy salon but as a business start-up specialist we can assist you with your site selection, your retail lease and your marketing. One of the first things we provide you with is a comprehensive checklist of start up expenses that lets you break down your anticipated costs into categories including leasehold improvements, IT costs, marketing and equipment. These figures then automatically feed through to an integrated cash flow budget to help you identify any finance requirements. This spreadsheet can form part of your business plan.

We’ll advise you on the most appropriate business structure taking into account tax considerations, asset protection and future discount capital gains tax concessions. Next, we will help you select the right software for your business and factor in your business needs (inventory, payroll, bookkeeping etc.) and level of accounting skill. Too many beauty therapists and nail technicians start their business and make the mistake of buying sophisticated ‘double entry’ accounting programs like MYOB and QuickBooks. In most cases, these programs are beyond their business needs and level of accounting skill so we end up with a ‘computerised shoebox’ that simply creates unnecessary accounting costs.

Our brief includes helping you minimise the cost of compliance and the most popular software program with our beauty therapy, massage and nail technician clients is Cashflow Manager. It is a simple single entry program that requires no knowledge of accounting and we train you to use the software. We want you to focus on pampering your clients and grow your business rather than get tangled in accounting and bookkeeping.

For business start ups we can even help you locate suitable funding to finance your new salon equipment, shop fit out or motor vehicle. From there we can assist you to negotiate your retail lease because occupancy costs are often the second highest expense after wages in your industry. Failing to understand the terms of your lease can be catastrophic and we can even liaise with your solicitor if required.

Marketing Your Salon

For a beauty therapist or nail technician, the difference between boom and bust could be your marketing. The marketing process begins with your branding and we can help you build a brand that resonates with your ideal type of client. We have worked through the branding process with dozens of beauty therapists helping them with their their trading name, logo and slogan. Given a website is your 21^st century business card we can offer you advice regarding your website’s colour scheme, functionality and content. Using our affiliate graphic artists and website development group we can help you build an inexpensive but quality website. Not only that, we can help you harness the power of social media to win more referrals.

If you need help with the development of your corporate brochure, signage, client newsletter or even the launch of your salon you can draw on our knowledge and extensive marketing experience with beauty therapy salons. One of your most valuable business assets is your customer database and we can show you how to create an information rich database so you can automatically send out birthday greetings and appointment reminders to clients to minimize missed appointments.

Grow Your Profits

That’s just the beginning because as accountants we can prepare some ‘what if’ scenarios so you know your business’ best and worst case financial scenarios. We can help you prepare a cash flow budget and project your first year’s profit and loss statement. On an operational level we’ll help you price your services and identify your break even point so you know how many facials, massages, waxes or nail treatments you need to do each week to cover your fixed costs.

As a beauty therapy salon owner we recognise you want to grow your business, your profits and your wealth. For that reason we strive to help you ‘know your numbers’ and that includes understanding the 4 Ways to Grow Your Business. Once you understand the key profit drivers in your business we can talk you through profit improvement strategies. Not only that, we can quantify the profit improvement potential in your business. Using industry benchmarks we can analyse the performance of your beauty therapy business and compare it against your competitors so you understand what is working in the salon and what needs working on.

Our unique Business Accelerator Process is designed to fast track your business success and the team of salon specialists at Linda McGowan Pty Ltd offer beauty therapists, masseurs and nail technicians a range of accounting, taxation and business coaching services including:

Start-Up Business Advice
Advice and Establishment of Your Business Structure
Advice & Assistance with the Purchase or Sale of your Beauty Therapy Salon
Spreadsheets and Tools including a Start Up Expense Checklist and Pricing Calculator
Tax Registrations for your ABN, TFN, GST, WorkCover etc.
Preparation of a Business Plan, Cash Flow Forecast and Profit Projection
Accounting Software Selection and Training – Bookkeeping, Payroll etc.
Preparation of Finance Applications for Banking Institutions
Site Location and Advice Regarding your Retail Tenancy Lease
Preparation and Analysis of Financial Statements
Bookkeeping and Payroll Services
Tax Planning Strategies
Industry Benchmarking and KPI Management
Marketing Advice including branding, brochures, website and social media strategies
Advice and Assistance with the Development, Content and Website SEO
Wealth Creation Strategies and Financial Planning Services
Vehicle & Equipment Finance (Treatment Tables, Equipment and Shop Fit Out)
Monitoring and Controlling Labour Costs
Advice & Assistance with Pricing of your Menu of Services
Advice regarding Claiming Motor Vehicle Costs
Recession Survival Strategies
Advice regarding Commission Therapists & Leasing Out an area in the Salon
Advice regarding Employee Relations and Workplace Laws
Business & Risk Insurances
Business Succession Planning

We are so much more than just tax accountants. We are ‘business and profit builders’ who provide strategies and solutions for business owners. We truly care about your business success and beauty therapists are a niche area within our accounting practice. To get your salon off to a flying start or to boost the results in your current salon, contact us today.