Salt Lake City Bookkeeping Blog

It's that time of year again. Can you sense it? Year-end is just around the corner. The rivers are getting cold, the smell of fall is in the air, snow is starting to show in the mountains and everyone is getting excited for winter (at least our office is).

For many business owners Thanksgiving through Christmas is a time to take a laid back approach to their business. Taking that approach leaves you behind in your business and that is no way to start a new business year. Here is a year-end checklist for the small business owner.

As a small business owner, you hear this question all the time: "How's business?"

A very typical response is: "Great, but I'm just so busy."

Most business owners are just busy being busy, but I wonder:

How many of them know how their business is actually doing?

Being busy and being profitable don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. Do you know if your business is growing? Do you have a financial plan in place to accommodate for that growth? Do you spend too much time on payroll and balancing your finances each month? Does year end tax planning give you heartburn? I will explain how an outsourced bookkeeping service can actually help you understand how your business is doing, reduce stress, and plan for growth.

Bookkeeping for a restaurant group that has different locations and different restaurants under it can be tricky. There are tight margins to maintain.

In addition, spoilage, theft, and inventory must be controlled to maintain profitability. In order to do this, the books must work like a well-oiled machine.

There can't be any flukes or the whole machine is compromised and margins decrease. Follow this guide to monitor profits and grow your restaurant locations.

There was a time when all that your restaurant really needed was good food and a great location to guarantee its success. But with the advent of social media and online mobility, menu and locale alone aren’t always enough to grow and maintain a healthy client base These three investments are .

An important aspect of small business growth planning is understanding and managing your cost of goods sold. Whether your business sells products or services, it’s important to know “what is the cost of goods sold?” for each item or service you sell. This number provides the basic information you need to promote small business growth.

Long hours, high overhead, wasted ingredients, and difficulty making profits are some of the barriers to success for restaurant owners.

Yet, for those who love the business or who dream of having a place where everyone knows your name, there’s no other opportunity that comes close.

An often neglected aspect of restaurant management is bookkeeping. Unfortunately, once you are behind on your restaurant accounting, it is difficult to get caught up.

The profit margins in the restaurant industry are too tight to let your bookkeeping slip. If you aren't watching your financials closely it may be too late to fix problems by the time you catch them.

This guide will help you understand the basics of what a trained accountant will help with as you develop a reporting and growth plan.

Effective restaurant bookkeeping starts with you. Whether you’re running the accounting services yourself or outsourcing your restaurant accounting, staying on top of the day-to-day bookkeeping is essential to stay ahead of your competition and turn a profit.

According to organizations like Gallup, employee engagement is a key driver of business growth. There’s a well-established connection, in fact, between employee motivation and better performance outcomes in productivity, customer ratings, and profitability.

Accepting credit card payments allows your business to benefit in a number of ways. To begin with, getting paid by credit card means getting paid faster than is possible with just an accounts receivable or check payment system. Charge cards also give your business the ability to set up automatic client payments, and they provide a more convenient customer experience overall.

You know your business offers a quality service. You know you work hard to keep clients happy. But despite your best efforts, you’re bound to cross paths with the occasional customer who feels they’ve been wronged by your company. The best way to deal with difficult clients is to remain professional, take steps to defuse any conflict, and strive for a resolution that satisfies both you and your customer.