If the U.S. economy isn’t already in a recession, it might as well be. The subprime meltdown has frozen credit markets. Home prices are in crisis. Consumers are buttoning up their wallets and most CPAs have turned pessimistic on the business outlook.

In times like these, businesses turn first and foremost to accountants for advice and support. And it appears that accountants and business advisors are well positioned to help.

I threw out a question to my LinkedIn network (the business version of Facebook and MySpace) to get a sampling of recession-fighting strategies from around the profession. The response has been stunning, with ideas flowing in from around the world. So many responses, actually, that this is the first part of a two-part article. Look for more recession suggestions in the May 1st edition of the Corporate Finance Insider (available after
May 1st).

Here’s today’s sampling of ideas:

Brian Brown, who owns and operates a CPA firm in Atlanta:  CASHFLOW, CASHFLOW, CASHFLOW! Track it, analyze it and project it. Without it, your business will come to a screeching halt very fast. The best laid business plans and products are worthless if you can’t pay employees and vendors in order to carryout the basic operations of the company.

Al Croke, a CPA and executive at Rapid Solutions Group in Chicago: “Right-size” your cost structure ahead of any potential downturn. In my 20 years of business, including auditing many companies and working for U.S. manufacturing firms, it is a consistent theme of optimism that revenue will save the day. Revenue must always be a key focal point, but from a pure profitability standpoint, managing cost structures must let lag revenue grow and precede revenue downturns. Only in rare cases in which the likelihood of growth is high, should cost structures be built for future revenue expansion.

Yes, there are stories of those companies that did not build the infrastructure properly to handle an explosive growth opportunity and thus failed, but I assure you there are far more stories of companies building cost structures for future growth that never materializes and companies that did not downsize because they consistently underestimated the potential size of the downturn.

Deborah Adkins, partner at Cross Fernandez & Riley CPAs in Orlando: There are some great answers here already. I have just two simple thoughts for small businesses facing an economic slowdown:

First and foremost, don't stop marketing. You may need to become a little more careful with your precious dollars, but keep your business name out there … even if all you can afford to do is volunteering your time.

Secondly, many times in small business, we don't take advantage of travel offers (that is, points that one can earn). If you haven't previously done this and your work includes travel, look into this. It's a great way to extend your travel dollars a little more.

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