Is Your Small Business Bookkeeping A Freaking Disaster?

| 2 min read

Is Your Small Business Bookkeeping A Freaking Disaster?

Bookkeeping Is A DisasterDo you describe your business bookkeeping as a disaster? Does the word bookkeeping make you cringe? Do you struggle to send your QuickBooks file to your CPA year after year? If you answered yes to any or all of these you are not alone. Too be honest most small business bookkeeping systems start out as a disaster. We rarely get a new client that has a bookkeeping system that is dialed in. However, when a business has felt the pain of having a bad bookkeeping system in place they never let it get there again. If your current bookkeeping system is a disaster here is what you can do about it.

How Did It Get Here?

Do you open up your QuickBooks file and wonder how you got here? How did the books get to this state? Quite often neglected bookkeeping results in an inaccurate and incomplete set of books. Bookkeeping gets neglected due to lack of time, money, or knowledge. When businesses don't have the necessary resources to complete their books it often results in a half-assed bookkeeping system. Transactions are entered, but not all of them. Some transactions that are entered are classified completely wrong. The end result is a bookkeeping system that is a disaster. When your books get to this state it is often more efficient to start the books over rather than fix the mess you have created. 

How Can You Fix It?

When your bookkeeping system is a mess and you don't know how to fix it your situation can seem hopeless. However, you have options; fix your current system or start your QuickBooks bookkeeping over the right way. One thing that you probably learned by creating a bookkeeping disaster is that you don't have the time or the skillset to do this on your own. Consider hiring an outsourced bookkeeping firm or QuickBooks consultant to help you out. This doesn't have to be a costly endeavor for your business. A good bookkeeping firm will work with you and your budget to get the books fixed. If you share your budget with your bookkeeping service they should be able to develop a plan that will work for both sides. It may involve some work and effort on your end but at least you will have a professional to help you along the way. 

Bookkeeping Moving Forward

Once you have fixed your bookkeeping system you now need to decide how to handle the bookkeeping going forward. Will you take on the bookkeeping yourself again and let the books slip back to a state of disaster? Will you get some QuickBooks small business support to help you? Maybe you should consider fully outsourcing your bookkeeping needs to a reliable service provider. Once a business owner has felt the pain of a dysfunctional bookkeeping system most will avoid allowing their books to reach that state again. Once you have fixed your bookkeeping system decide on a course of action for moving forward that allows you to maintain the books while staying on budget. 

Finding Value In Bookkeeping

Small businesses tend to neglect their bookkeeping when they don't get any valuable information from it. You need to find value in your bookkeeping system, but you may need some help doing so. Define what information is important to you when it comes to your business finances. Don't get too overwhelmed with this task, just try and think of one or two things to focus on. As you develop you bookkeeping system you will begin to understand what it can do for you. Your needs will change and you will discover new ways to get value from your bookkeeping system. The first step in finding value in your bookkeeping system it to make sure your system is regularly updated and that it is accurate. Secondly, you need to develop a financial reporting system that should contain reports that are important to you. Your bookkeeping system should eventually develop into a tool that you can use to make businesses decisions that ultimately grow your business.

If your bookkeeping system is a disaster there is no need to panic. You need to find a way to fix it and turn it into a valuable tool for your business.

Reasons to use outsourced bookkeeping

Photo Credit © Dollar Photo Club / Minerva Studio

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An Affordable Bookkeeping Alternative to a CFO

Outsourcing your bookkeeping is more affordable than you would think. We save you money the moment you hire us by cutting out the expensive cost of hiring an in-house CFO.

Working with a remote bookkeeping service will still provide you with all the value you could get from an in-office bookkeeper but at a fraction of the cost.

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