Tax late? 5 signs you might need a bookkeeper

tax time concept with sign post under blue sky There are a lot of frequently asked questions that we receive as a bookkeeping firm, but one of the most common by far is, “Why do I need a bookkeeper?”
(There’s also the runner-up, “What’s the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant?”, but we’ll save that for another blog post).
Being your own boss is a big benefit, yes, but it also means you’re in charge of a lot of additional duties you may not have considered: things like budgeting, invoicing, and piles of paperwork that take up a lot more time than most people who are trying to focus on starting their own business. It means that on top of the day-to-day management, maintenance, promotion and general upkeep of running a company – a very full-time job in itself, as I quickly discovered a decade ago – you’re also going to be looking at a lot of spreadsheets with numbers, figures and data that are all crucial to the future of your business.
Unless, of course, you hire a professional to do it for you.
An article over at Business IT entitled Tax late? 5 signs you might need a bookkeeper delves deeper into this subject and offers five reasons you’ll want to consider hiring a bookkeeper for your business. Perhaps I’m biased because of my lifelong career in the industry, but I think they laid out some very simple, very logical reasons for why it would be a sensible business decision. Here’s a look at one:

When customers aren’t being chased for money

Another key sign is when your customers aren’t paying and you don’t have time or you don’t want to chase them because you don’t want to risk the relationship. Where possible it is a good idea to separate the face of the business with the debt collection – the old good cop/bad cop. It helps keep the client relationship warm and fuzzy yet keeps the cash coming in the door.
Non-paying clients can be pretty common in any industry, but it can be hard to address. It’s a fickle situation that has the potential to turn hostile pretty quickly, so the idea of “separating the face of the business with the debt collection” is a helpful suggestion because it means there’s still someone ensuring you get paid for your services while maintaining a good business relationship with the client and focusing on your other ones.
I realize that the question of, “Why do I need a bookkeeper?” will always be asked of me, from owners of both brand new and growing businesses. I also realize my answer will depend on several factors, like the size of the company, their client base and the industry in which they work. But articles like the one at Business IT can help bring a general perspective as to why it’s a good idea to either outsource one or have one on your staff.
What do you think? Is it time for you to hire a bookkeeper? Are you planning on doing so? Have you recently done so, and did you find it helped you manage your business more easily? Your thoughts are always welcome, so let us know!
Copyright: ximagination / 123RF Stock Photo

Share this:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.

Juliet Aurora

Juliet Aurora is the CEO of AIS Solutions and Co-Founder of Kninja Knetwork. Through both of these businesses she fulfills her mission to Educate and Empower those around her. In 2017, her firm was named Intuit's Global Firm of the Future, the first time the title has ever been awarded to any firm outside of the US. She has also has been named as one of the Top 50 Women in Accounting, one of the Top 50 Cloud Accountants and one of the Top 10 Canadian Influencers in the Bookkeeping Industry. Her passion for education is channeled through the Intuit Trainer Writer Network, hosting Kninja Knowledge Webinars and most recently, developing a Cloud Accounting Course for the next generation of accounting professionals.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *