Every business is unique, but what’s not unique is that all businesses need to know their numbers and operate in a way that keeps the business profitable. The best way to do that is to have a bookkeeper, but there are other reasons why a bookkeeper might be a necessity. If you are in one or more of these situations, it’s probably time to hire a bookkeeper.
- Getting too busy to do the books
- Being audited
- Tax filing deadline approaching (or past) without being ready
- Trying to increase earnings or reduce expenses
- Court requires financials
- Loan approvals or VC applications
- Embezzlement concerns
- Sale or transfer of business or business assets
- Lost previous bookkeeper
- Lost confidence in current bookkeeper
- Need someone to fill in during a crisis or absence
Falling behind in the books because your business is too busy is a good thing. It often means you’re growing. However, hearing that someone is doing their own books and doing it perfectly often means that they are not focused on selling and making the company run better. As a business owner, you can’t do it all and be successful in every aspect of running your business.
While small business owners do their best to manage the books, rarely are they helping by doing so. Even though I’ve always done my own books, if I hadn’t spent five years helping business owners with their finances, and another 10 years originating thousands of mortgages, I don’t know how successful I would have been doing the bookkeeping of my own company. Even with the experience I had, I wasn’t keeping the books as accurately for my own mortgage company as I do for my clients today.
Many entrepreneurs feel guilty their books are not being kept current. Sometimes when a prospective client calls me they tell me “Let me get my stuff together and then I’ll call you back”. They don’t call back. We just start where you are. Nearly everything I need to get started we can take care of within 2 hours. It’s better to start working with a bookkeeper early, as the longer you run your business with unorganized books, the harder it is to get everything in order. But no matter what your books look like, hiring a qualified bookkeeper who you trust and who has your business’s best interest in mind will help your business run smoothly and give you more peace of mind.
