Your business advisor has told you to ditch your bookkeeper and save money haven’t they?
Is this really the advice you are after when hiring a business advisor? Many people don’t see the value in hiring a bookkeeper.
They think it’s cheaper if they do it themselves and that’s one less bill they have to pay each month.
But getting your business financials right is something that requires time, and can be even more costly when you get it wrong.
What are the benefits of hiring a bookkeeper?
- TIME: Do you really have the time to learn the program?
- EXPERIENCE: Do you have enough accounting experience to understand what the program is actually doing behind the processing of bank transactions? Or are you just trying to get the figures in as best you can and hope it’s enough for the accountant to figure it out for you?
- INVOICING: are your invoices accurate and being chased in a timely manner. Do you know what invoices are still outstanding, have you looked lately?
- PAYROLL: Are your employees being paid as per the correct award rates? Do you know how to process payroll to ensure you are in accordance with regulations and keeping your payments for superannuation up to date.
- TRAINING: You save time doing work you don’t actually understand or enjoy. Upskill yourself in areas that will help the core of the business and leave the bookkeeping to the professionals.
- PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE: Spending more time on the core of the business will help your business grow. Spend time expanding your products and services to reach a wider audience.
- INFORMATION: Processing the books doesn’t add growth to your business it just tracks it, but if the tracking is done incorrectly, the information is useless.
- ACCURATE & TIMELY DATA: You know it’s getting done correctly so you can track your income and expenses as you go. This one is important when growing a business to assess how your profitability is tracking. It helps to know if you have gst, super, payg or tax liabilities ahead to pay.
I see errors time and time again
The truth is, for every business that has previously had a bookkeeper and descided to take it over themselves, they soon start looking for help again when they run out of time or the books end up a wreck.
They then need to pay a larger fee to get caught up, or to fix any errors.
DIY’ing can lead to obligations falling behind and even putting your business at risk of receiving fines for non compliance or late lodgements. this can cost thousands and be detrimental to a small business.
There are many ways to increase profits in business and the most experienced people who can help with this advice is your accountant. If you go to your accountant and they can’t help with this, then it’s time to find a new accountant.
Questions to ask a potential business advisor
The first question I would ask is how experienced is your business advisor with the financial aspect of business?
Then, how long have they been in business? Experience in a successful business as well as an accounting background is the best asset to giving good advice.
Do your research and speak to a trusted accountant before taking on a business advisor.
