There are few things more important when running a business than making sure that you are keeping your finances organised and recorded.
Tracking the everyday ins and outs of your books can be tough for a business owner to keep up with alongside all of their other duties, however. To that end, there are plenty who are glad to outsource those responsibilities to a bookkeeper. But how, exactly, can a bookkeeper help your business?
Here, we’re going to look at some of the steps bookkeepers will take to help your business, including the following:
- Keeping up-to-date accounts
- Keeping an eye on your cash flow
- Handling invoices and other payments
- Helping you reduce your tax liabilities
- Keeping you ready for tax season
- Letting you focus on the work that makes your business money
Keeping up-to-date accounts
It’s crucial to make sure that your accounts are up-to-date and accurate. You want to be able to make accurate predictions on your cash situation based on past records, for instance. There may be times that you’re required to pull up specific information as well, and bookkeepers make sure it’s all there, all organised, and all easy to find when you need it.
Keeping an eye on your cash flow
Aside from the money in your accounts, your cash flow is typically one of the most accurate ways to quickly assess the “financial health” of your business. You need to make sure you have more coming in than going out. Bookkeepers can track your cash flow and let you know when your regular expenses are starting to creep up too high, allowing you to better and more quickly react to changing financial situations.
Handling invoices and other payments
Bookkeepers can be trusted to make sure that invoicing systems are working as they should be. This can include sending invoices, keeping track of sent invoices, reminding you when they are due, and so on. This way, they can play a crucial factor in making sure that you get paid by more of your customers on time. Bookkeepers will also often manage accounts receivable to make sure that your records are always accurate and that you’re not kept waiting on cash that you might need down the line.
Helping you reduce your tax liabilities
There is a difference between bookkeepers and accountants, in that accountants are legally trained professionals who can offer advice on specific tax filing strategies to help you manage your tax liabilities. However, while bookkeepers can’t file your taxes for you, they often do have some knowledge of how taxes work to some degree. As such, they can help you look over your expenses and find those liabilities that you might be able to get a deduction on. It’s still your choice as to whether or not you make those deductions, but a good bookkeeper can at least highlight some of your options for you.
Keeping you ready for tax season
When tax season comes, a lot of business owners are caught off guard and don’t have their financial records ready to send off. Because bookkeepers are keeping accurate and organized records throughout the whole year, you’re going to have a much easier time filing your taxes. Bookkeepers don’t typically file your taxes for you, but they can quickly help you gather all the data and documents needed to make filing your taxes a breeze. This way, you can take a lot of the stress out of tax season and get back to work as usual.
Letting you focus on the work that makes your business money
Perhaps the biggest benefit that bookkeepers have to offer any business isn’t anyone specific service that they can offer. Instead, it may well be the sheer convenience of having someone who is there and ready to take care of all of your basic bookkeeping needs. Business owners have to wear many hats and deal with many responsibilities. While you are, at the end of the day, responsible for keeping your books in order, a good bookkeeper will make sure that you don’t need to do much more than look over their work once in a while, letting you focus your efforts on the work that really makes the business money.
Could you benefit from a bookkeeper for your business?
Simply put, a bookkeeper takes a lot of the pressure off of business owners when it comes to their finances. Consider whether you could benefit from the advantages above and get in touch if you think you could.
Need help with your business’s bookkeeping? Bookkeeper Hub can help you save time and money with our Xero bookkeeping and training services. Contact us for more information.
