Merry Christmas 2013! This year I am giving away a free gift to selected small business owners.  January is going to be crazier than ever for me this year and I'm still going to give something to entrepreneurs that I love so much.  In January I will obviously be busy with year-end bookkeeping for our current clients.  Additionally I start a graduate class that I consider better than an MBA.  Lastly, we already have five new clients that will be coming on board as of January 1st.  Luckily I'm still going to make some time to give something back to entrepreneurship.

I'm always a bit concerned with the business owner taking the do it yourself bookkeeping approach.  It is not that I think handling your own business bookkeeping is a bad idea, but not seeking help is.  If a business owner wants to handle their own bookkeeping I always highly recommend that they at least consider our QuickBooks and bookkeeping training services.  With general guidance we can teach you how to handle your bookkeeping on your own.  It is much easier to set up and train someone on handling their business bookkeeping than it is to fix the mistakes they most likely will make on their own.  I do recommend that owners learn some bookkeeping basics as it helps them understand financial statements as they grow.  However, I very rarely advise someone to attempt their bookkeeping without some professional assistance.  Here are a few things to consider before you attempt your bookkeeping on your own.  

Opportunity Cost

Unless you are a bookkeeper by trade then you are not a bookkeeper.  If you went to school for business you most likely took a few general accounting classes, but are you really ready to handle your own bookkeeping? As a small business owner your focus should be on growing your small business.  You need to consider the opportunity cost of attempting to handle your own bookkeeping.  Are you actually going to save money by handling your own bookkeeping? Is your time better spent handling other growth oriented tasks? Are you really willing to make mistakes from decisions off of inaccurate financial reports?  

I see small businesses struggle every day with getting their bookkeeping done.  Common reasons include lack of time, lack of motivation, lack or experience and lack of desire.  For one reason or another small business bookkeeping gets the back burner.  I have found that the real reasons business owners let their bookkeeping slide is because they are intimidated by it, they don't have the knowledge to do it themselves or they don't want to spend money.  Somehow the bookkeeping always gets done or at least the taxes do.  When a small business owner is shown how a good bookkeeping system can help grow their business, their attitude totally changes.  Here are three options to finally get your bookkeeping done correctly and keep it updated regularly.