Every small business needs a bookkeeper regardless of the number of employees or the amount of revenue they bring in. The old way of doing business was if you had a business you had a bookkeeper; period. I think that business owners just felt they needed a bookkeeper at all times. With the advances of technology and outsourced bookkeeping services most any business can afford a good bookkeeper. Many small businesses would attempt do it yourself bookkeeping or have their CPA handle the books come tax time. The general small business probably doesn't feel like they need a bookkeeper, but they do.
Startup That Has Not Made A Sale
Businesses in the startup phase typically ignore bookkeeping in the beginning because they have not made any money yet. Guess what? You are a startup and that is usually the way things go. Although bookkeeping may seem like a boring and useless thing for a startup to spend money on it can be beneficial. First, you should be able to find a bookkeeper to help for relatively cheap. If money is not an option maybe you want to offer them a very small equity stake in the company. Setting up a dialed bookkeeping system while transactions are minimal will be much easier early on in the process, rather than waiting until several months down the road. Additionally if you want to be ready for investors you need a bookkeeping system that is built for scaling.
The Small Business That Wants To Get Investors
It seems obvious that a business trying to raise money would have the bookkeeping aspect organized. The fact is many do not. We have received phone calls from businesses that are all excited about how well they are doing and that they have interested investors. However, when investors ask for a balance sheet, profit and loss, cash flow projection and a financial forecast they can't provide them with the information. It is crazy to me that a business doing well would seek money without solid financial reporting in place, but believe me it happens. If you are a business that is seeking investor money you better have a solid bookkeeping system in place that is approved by your CPA.
The Small Business That May Need An Accounting Department Some Day
Small businesses approach us with an aggressive plan to expand. The problem is that right now they are a small business that can't afford a full time accountant. The question we get all the time is: what happens when we outgrow your part-time bookkeeping services and need to hire someone full time or an entire accounting department. Our answer is simply - no problem. Why? We offer part-time bookkeeping services to small businesses. If we build a bookkeeping system that allows you to scale to the point of needing full time accounting help then good for you. The situation works well for us for a few reasons. First, we most likely learned a ton from helping you grow your business that we can use to help other businesses grow. Second, we have an amazing success story that we can share with our clients and future prospects.
The Small Business That Does Not Need A Full Time Bookkeeper But Wants To Use Bookkeeping To Grow
We have an internal phrase for this situation; our wheelhouse. If you are a business owner that wants to use your bookkeeping system as a tool to grow then we should work together. There are businesses that look at bookkeeping as a hassle and a waste of time. They only see bookkeeping as a means to prepare taxes and give some money to the government. Then there are those businesses that see the value of a solid bookkeeping system. Your bookkeeping system can be a tool that you can use to aid you in making business decisions. Many business owners know what they want from their bookkeeping system; they just don't know how to get it. Nothing is more rewarding for us than customizing a bookkeeping system to the specific needs of a small business and having it add value to the business. If our bookkeeping system helps you make more money we consider that a huge win for both sides.
Your small business needs a bookkeeper no matter what your circumstances are. A solid bookkeeping system does much more than just make filing taxes simple; it can mean the difference between the success and failure of your business. Find a bookkeeping solution that meets your needs now and set yourself up for success down the road.
