Articles

• 5 Reasons to Hire A GREAT Bookkeeper

  Bookkeeping…the “dreaded” word is something we all have to worry about. Business owners rarely go into business to deal with the financial aspects of running a business. It’s easy to understand why! Who wants to do all those boring record keeping functions? Not many. Therefore, one of the first things most entrepreneurs do is hire a bookkeeper. Though hiring a friend, relative or anyone who isn’t experienced with the basics of bookkeeping may be a recipe for DISASTER! You may have the best of intentions and they probably do to; however, you need … More

• Clean-Up Those Messy Books!

  Extremely poor accounting records are a major problem for many businesses. Inaccurate and delinquent financial statements and other information can create havoc withi n a business. Making good business decisions is difficult when you have little confidence in the financial data you receive. Left uncorrected, the effects of messy books will take an increasingly negative toll on any company. You should act now if your company is suffering from this situation Here are several suggestions: Hire an experienced accountant to fix the problem, (not someone who is simply a quickbooks jockey, but a person … More

• Where Did All the Cash Go?

  We hear this all the time from small business owners. They look at their Profit & Loss statement (a.k.a. Income Statement) which shows all this activity in their business, and yet their Balance Sheet (and checkbook) shows little to no cash! So where did it all go? A big challenge for a lot of business owners is understanding the difference between profit and cash flow. While the P&L may be showing growing sales and profit, the owner may notice that their cash balance is shrinking or that they are struggling to meet payroll. Depending … More

• 4 Signs that It May Be Time to Hire a Bookkeeper

  Do you love the thought of handling the bookkeeping for your business? For most of us, unless you do accounting  for a living, the answer to that question is probably no. How much time does it take you on either a daily or weekly basis to handle this task? If you are finding it is taking too much time away from what your focus should be, it may be time to consider hiring someone to help. Most people in business for themselves, especially those starting out, believe they can keep their own books. After … More

• Cut your CPA Bill and Save Money

  Finding the right bookkeeper and setting up some simple steps can help you save bundles of money on your CPA'$ bill$. When the tax season approaches, or especially if your company needs proper financial statements for your banker, investors or partners, or if you are preparing for an audit, it doesn't pay to have a CPA perform the routine tasks of balancing accounts and putting your books in order. First, and most important, a good bookkeeper will help you make sure that you don't wind up paying your CPA firm to untangle and … More

• I Have QuickBooks and Don't Need A Bookkeeper

  "Who needs a bookkeeper when you have that easy-to-use; do-everything, no-brainer business bookkeeping software programs?" I must tip my hat to the software marketers! They have done a phenomenal job of selling the idea that you don't need to know anything about accounting to do accounting. Well, to a degree, they are correct. But, because the life blood of a business, its management information, flows through the accounting system don't be so sure that saving money by not having a properly qualified bookkeeper is actually saving you money. There are some inherent limitations in … More

• Why It's So Easy To Screw Up Your Books

  Years back when I was told a story from a friend who was going through flight training, there was a general saying for rookie pilots, "if you don’t know what a button does, don't push it!". Needless to say pushing a button without any knowledge of what it does can result in dire consequences, especially in an aircraft miles above the earth. So, how does this relate to accounting? In the world of accounting, everything is interconnected. So an adjustment here or a deletion there can affect a lot of things without you … More