28 May What value will your bookkeeper add to your business?

Looking for a bookkeeper is something most small businesses leave as something they can do later. Inevitably, this catches up to a growing successful business. If you are working to increase your revenue or sell your business, you will need to get your books in order.

As with any other staff in your business, you need to consider the value that you expect to get out of each hour of paid services. Choosing a bookkeeper based on their billable rate is not the best way to ensure that you are getting value for your dollars. What you want is to pay for quality done quickly to save money. Someone may charge less per hour and take twice or even four times as long to perform the same task for you.

Think about how much you pay your CPA per hour and evaluate how you can reduce the more expensive hours spent at the end of the year with less expensive bookkeeping hours during the year. This also allows you to see your financial picture throughout the year and use your CPA to do what they do best, tax planning and preparation. Planning before the end of the year gives your CPA options to maneuver and provide you with tax advice in real time rather than having to say “next year we should do _____”; this could be a very expensive lesson to learn.

Don’t pay for more than you expect to receive from your bookkeeper. The price of services can range greatly and so can expectations. You will want to be very clear about what tasks and information you want your bookkeeper to provide for your business. Understanding the difference between Bookkeeping, Accounting and Tax Advice is critical to having a clear conversation with your bookkeeper.