When I started my accounting career, I had no idea what the word “deliverables” meant. To me, deliverables were physical things that people brought and delivered to your house, like mail or pizza or Amazon packages. Not accounting services.

But after a few years in the trenches, I started to really like the word. Why? Because it forces accountants to think in concrete terms about the results they’re trying to achieve for their clients. All of a sudden, deliverables became one of my favorite terms.

There are a million tiny details that go into the accounting job but overall, I’d say these are the five big things that accountants should focus on delivering:

#1: A reliable, cost-effective accounting system

This is your accountant’s first and foremost responsibility. It involves choosing the right tools (software, apps, third-party services), setting everything up correctly, maintaining your QBO file and chart of accounts, and creating workarounds when things don’t go the way they’re supposed to (which happens all the time in the accounting world). In short, your accountant’s job is to build the accounting machine and keep it running.

#2: A set of daily/weekly/monthly processes that will keep your operations running smoothly

This is the meat-and-potatoes of every accountant’s job. It’s called “operational accounting” and it includes things like: managing your bank feeds and bank rules, overseeing your bank and merchant accounts, handling invoicing and customer payments, entering and paying vendor bills, and making sure your employees and contractors get paid on time. When you have a strong set of internal processes in place, the business runs smoothly. When you don’t, it’s groundhog day and the same problems keep happening over and over again.

#3: Accurate, on-time financial reporting

As I mentioned in my e-book, the whole point of accounting is to get accurate, timely financials that tell you how your business is performing. Doing this consistently isn’t as easy as it sounds. The financials need to be prepared and organized correctly (in accordance with standard accounting practices), key accounts need to be reconciled, and any problems or irregularities need to be reviewed and fixed before the reports hit the owner’s inbox. If you’re not getting this type of reporting on a regular basis, it might be time to look for a new accountant.

#4: A stress-free year-end accounting and tax process

As I mentioned in my article about classic mistakes, the year-end accounting mess is a major problem for small businesses. It’s stressful and frustrating for business owners, and it prevents you from doing any type of strategic tax planning. To avoid this, your accountant should be doing specific things all year long to keep you on track for a smooth year-end close and tax process. There will still be extra accounting work in December and January (there always is), but it will all be do-able and you won’t need to file an unnecessary tax extension.

#5: Useful feedback, analysis, and advice

For many accountants, this is the most challenging part of the job: taking all the boring stuff they do day in and day out and translating it into useful advice that helps business owners make better decisions. Basically, your accountant should know the numbers inside and out, watch monthly expenses like a hawk, and highlight key issues and trends you need to be aware of. Above all, they should look at your business and numbers with an objective mindset and point out things you need to know (because that’s what good accountants are supposed to do).