FOR YOUR INFORMATION

I often hear from small business owners “I don’t need a bookkeeper. I know how much money is in the bank.”

If only that were enough to get by. Just because you have money in the bank does not mean your business is successful. A business owner has to understand where their money is going, literally the ins and outs of the work day. Every minute of every day, whether you are open for business or not costs money. It doesn’t matter if you are a start up or have been in business for years, you are usually too busy running the show to have the proper time to donate to correct and accurate bookkeeping. Below are some reasons why a bookkeeper will save you time and money:

A professional bookkeeper will relieve your stress

They can properly set up your books and keep them up to date. Maintaining proper books is essential to your business.

First and foremost you have to be accountable to the government, they have the right to demand an audit at any time. When everything is organized the government will get the remittances they need in a timely manner, significantly lessening the chances of an audit. A professional bookkeeper knows their way around the bureaucracy and has the time to deal with it. This will ultimately save you a lot of money in penalties and interest, and time in audits. Government auditors are not the evil entities that most believe they are, but they do have a job to do, and when that job involves your business, organized books will give you confidence that everything is in order and the auditors can get the information they need in a timely manner.

Well managed books keep you informed

I have never met a business person who is in it just for fun. With a few exceptions all businesses are in business to make money. Some questions all business owners should be asking are:

• Am I charging enough for my product or service?
• Is there enough cash flow to cover my bills each week?
• Is there enough in the bank for unforeseen expenses?
• Can I afford to purchase new equipment?

If your books are not organized these questions cannot be answered, and eventually that could lead to some very unpleasant surprises. Bookkeepers can not only provide the reports you need to answer these questions, they can also help you analyze and translate the data to make the hard decisions. Without these answers you have no idea what direction your business is headed.

I am sure you got into business because you are passionate about what you do, not because you wanted to spend all day working on your passion and all night working trying to balance the books, keep the government happy and make sure you can afford to keep the lights on. Once the average small business is well organized it takes only a few hours a week to keep things up to date. The cost of a professional bookkeeper will save money in the long run when you can focus on what it is you do best and not have to worry about keeping the financials up to date. When the books are done you will know the government is happy, your employees are paid, you customers are satisfied and in the end, you are profitable.