Industry News

5 Reasons to Hire a Qualified Bookkeeper

Reason 1 - You only have a general idea of where your business is at

Many small business owners don’t have a clear picture of whether or not their business is profitable.  They have a general idea that they are making money (or not), but don’t really know if the business is profitable simply because they don’t know exactly where they are spending their money and how it affects the bottom line.  The bank balance is not necessarily indicative of whether or not the business is profitable.

That is what financial reports are designed to do – tell you how your company is doing on a daily, monthly or yearly basis.  Accurate financial reports provide answers to the questions: Am I making money? Are sales going up or down? Is my debt load too high?    A qualified bookkeeper will be able to see trends in your business, prepare accurate financial reports and show you how to use them to grow your business. 

Reason 2- You are spending nights and weekends working on your books. 

How much is your time worth?  Does the thought of spending hours on working on your books make you cringe?  You started your business to do what you love and do best, and unless you are a bookkeeper, chances are it’s not paying bills, running payroll, or pulling together financial statements.   Bookkeepers are skilled in just that – keeping books.  Hiring a bookkeeper gives you more time in your day to grow your business or  or spend with your family, saving you the stress of doing a job you really don’t want to do, but know must be done.  Having a bookkeeper work on your books gives you time to work on your business. 

Reason 3 - You dread getting your financials ready to file your taxes .

Is your idea of bookkeeping throwing all your receipts and bank statements in a box to be sorted through later?  Tax season comes around at the same time every year without fail, and yet, many small business owners scramble every year to get their books organized so they can file their tax return.  If your books aren't in order, you risk having your CPA (with rates 3 or 4 times that of a bookkeeper) organize them prior to doing your taxes, or you have do it yourself. Having a bookkeeper work on your books on a regular basis will help ensure that your books are accurate and ready to go whenever you need them, saving you time and money.  Imagine how wonderful it would be if all you had to do to get ready for your tax return was send your CPA your QuickBooks file!

Reason 4 -You are paying late fees and penalties

A relatively common characteristic among small business owners who pay their own bills is paying late fees to vendors or penalties to tax agencies for late filing. Why is this so common?  Because most business owners are focused on running their business, and for them, paying bills is ‘extra work’ and easy to procrastinate or forget.  For a bookkeeper, paying the bills, and filing tax reports IS their business, -having one take care of this will keep you from paying those $39 fees AND increasing your interest rates.

Reason 5 – You want to do it yourself, but want to make sure it is done right. 

Is that credit card payment an expense or a debit to a liability account?  What is the difference?  How do your record a major purchase for your business?  How do you track and pay sales tax and payroll taxes?  What is an accrual and why would you want to use one?  These are all questions a good bookkeeper should be able to answer and produce in a set of books.  But sometimes a business owner just wants to do it himself, or has grown enough that the business can afford to hire staff to do it. 

Hiring an outside bookkeeper review the financial part of your business on a monthly basis is a smart business decision – they are often able to spot trends not readily apparent  because their view is not clouded by what is going on in the day to day working of the business – they are looking at the numbers.   They will be able to immediately spot if transactions are being recorded properly, make corrections and train staff accordingly.  Having an outside bookkeeper reconcile all of your accounts monthly is also a great way to spot embezzlement.  A good bookkeeper is someone who has your best interests at heart, will ask the tough questions, make suggestions to support the growth and success of your business .