As we have stated in various other articles, the main goals of the entrepreneur are growth (sales) and daily operations (order fulfillment and customer support). According to a Wells Fargo/Gallup small business index survey 57% of small business owners say they work six or more days per week. 62% say they work more than 50 hours per week (Jacobe, 2005). Time is a limited resource and entrepreneurs must use it wisely. The following questions will help decide if it is time to hire an accounting professional.
1. Are you finding the time to do your bookkeeping by extending your already long work day or work week?
2. Are you having to put off bookkeeping to tend to other, seemingly more important aspects of the business?
3. Are your books almost never up to date?
4. Do you have a good understanding of your business’s income and expenses?
5. Has business increased but it seems profits have not increased in expected proportion?
6. Is cash flow unpredictable?
7. Is tracking expenses in relation to products or services sold becoming too difficult?
8. During tax time do you and your CPA spend a lot of time piecing together uncategorized data?
If you answered yes to even one of the above questions, it is time to hire a bookkeeper. Hiring a professional for a little as 1 hour per month can drastically reduce accounting expense in the form of less billing at CPA rates.
Your transaction information presented in organized reports supports informed, powerful decision making as well as efficient use of time and resources. Never again fumble through tax time. If you are focused on growing your business and currently are unable to identify those opportunities, a bookkeeper is available to help you understand your financial statements and answer any questions. Time and profits are the most valuable resources in business, allow a bookkeeper to help manage it wisely.
Works Cited
Jacobe, Dennis (2005, August 23). Work is a Labor of Love for Small Business Owners [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://news.gallup.com/poll/18088/work-labor-love-smallbusiness-owners.aspx