Salt Lake City Bookkeeping Blog

Most professionals have traits that they simply can't leave at work.  This is very true for most bookkeepers.   A highly effective bookkeeper usually has habits that make them successful while out in the field as well as at home.  I've always assumed a professional gardener is really good at keeping their yard looking beautiful and I've also assumed that auto mechanics never have car issues since they know what preventative steps need to be taken in order to keep their vehicle in tip top shape.  As a bookkeeper, I've noticed a handful of things that I feel I excel at in my personal life and I feel it is directly tied to my professional bookkeeping career.

A recent report put a dollar amount on the costs for American households that use cash instead of electronic forms of cash.  Turns out it's expensive to rely on cash and not plan ahead instead of using debit or credit cards.  Sure, this report on American payments habits paints some broad strokes, but the bottom line is that it costs almost $1,800 a year per household to use cash, which translates to $200 billion for the entire country.  After reading about this, I immediately thought about how personal bookkeeping could help a percentage of these households and hopefully save them some of that $1,800 that is being wasted.

I graduated from a small business college nearly 12 years ago.  A lot has changed since then but one thing that has certainly changed is my way of thinking.  While your parents offer lots of advice throughout your life, they particularly seem to offer it around your college years.  However, the typical college student at that point in their life doesn't necessarily love to listen to their parents' advice.  Looking back now not only do I wish I had listened to the advice given to me, I wish I had asked more questions.  Here is my advice for upcoming college grads.  

Typically in life obsessing about anything is bad.  However, I do believe that there are some financial obsessions that are healthy both for you personally and your small business.  Many individuals, families and small businesses are just plain bad at managing their finances.  Some people just don't understand accounting or bookkeeping so their finances tend to get the back burner.  Avoiding managing your finances is a huge mistake and will always come back to haunt you.  Here are five financial obsessions that you really should keep in mind and try to follow.

Are you worried of running out of time because you cannot find bookkeeping help that meets
your needs? Worry no more! Salt Lake City Bookkeeping will help you put your financial records in order. Our firm offers bookkeeping services to persons and small businesses in maintaining and organizing their accounts and books.

Organizing and tracking the family finances does not require advanced accounting knowledge or a large amount of extra time. Setting up a family bookkeeping routine is a simple process of recording the funds coming in and the funds getting spent on a regular basis. Once you have this system in place, it becomes much easier to identify extra spending on non-essential items and also to make reasonable debt repayment goals. The first logical steps include selecting a user-friendly bookkeeping software program, getting it installed, adding the information and setting up a regular schedule for making entries.

Unless you live on an isolated Pacific island where you’ve established a system of bartering for basic necessities with local natives, chances are you need personal bookkeeping services. Regardless of how large or small your income may be, the size of your household or the number of bills you must pay each month, there is a certain amount of numerical savvy required to calculate and categorize your expenditures – and that’s just bookkeeping on the most basic level. Some people assume they have their personal finances under control, but there are many benefits to bookkeeping services that you may not have previously considered.

One of the most important aspects of any company is undoubtedly business bookkeeping, however, it can also be one of the most notorious time consumers and attention stealers. Therefore, if not handled in an efficient fashion, it can potentially have a negative impact on the overall productivity in both the office and in the field, which of course usually leads to a loss in revenue. This is the reason that careful attention should be paid to this critical department of a company.

Luckily, there is such a thing as outsourced business bookkeeping, which is certainly a service to be excited about, especially if you're the owner or manager of an outfit. Whether your ship is sailing smoothly or not, the assistance of an external team of experts in this area, for a fair fee, can be the key to new found or continued success with your company. 

If personal bookkeeping was simply a matter of just paying the bills — a common belief shared by many people — everyone that hired a bookkeeper would either be broke or very regretful. At the end of the day (and at the end of the fiscal year) these professionals are responsible for managing the livelihood of your business or personal finances; essentially your cash flow.