Why You Shouldn’t DIY Bookkeeping
The early years of starting a new business venture are challenging, as there’s pressure to maintain a healthy cash flow, pay taxes promptly, and plan for the future. To achieve this objective, you must keep your books accurate and up to date.
However, not everyone has the number-crunching acumen to complete books accurately. Even if you know what you’re doing, it will consume precious time, which could have been spent doing something more productive like customer service, operations, or marketing.
Therefore, At Your Ledger Pro, we suggest that if you’re planning on managing your books in-house, you take two minutes to learn why you shouldn’t DIY bookkeeping.
Inaccurate bank reconciliation
If you’re doing the books yourself, you may be unable to keep up with your monthly bank reconciliations. If the bank isn’t reconciled on time, it could create duplicate transactions. You could even be unnecessarily accused of fraud if you enter inaccurate financial data and the differences don’t get rectified.
Know your limitations
At a minimum, you need several years of work experience with a seasoned CPA, Enrolled Agent, or tax preparation specialist to maintain books. You should also be detail-oriented and understand how business finances work.
Simply having accounting software to print statements or send invoices doesn’t equate to bookkeeping. Many checks and balances occur when your books are optimally maintained, and without them, things can get messy.
Do things right - hire a professional!
By now, we hope you’ve decided to call in a professional. An experienced Bookkeeper who understands accounting principles and technology can ensure your books are accurate and up to date.
It will enable you to have critical information available in real-time to make business decisions quickly. An accounting professional will also guide you in the appropriate services for your business.
How much would it cost?
Suppose you charge customers $125.00 per hour. Your lender calls one day and says they need a current financial statement to renew your Line of Credit.
Unfortunately, you haven’t touched your books in months, and now you have to clean them up.
It takes eight hours to clean them up and produce a financial statement (8 x $125.00 = $1,000.00).
So that’s eight hours of your valuable time that could have been spent on your customers generating $1,000.00 or more in revenue for your business.
On a final note, we cannot stress enough that it’s best to outsource bookkeeping to an experienced Bookkeeper who will save you valuable time and money and keep the books accurate and current.
Get in touch with us today!
If you’re looking for a reliable Bookkeeper in College Place, Washington, get in touch with Your Ledger Pro. We pride ourselves on offering customized services to our business clients.
Our services include online bookkeeping, payroll, tax preparation, and QuickBooks Online. We serve clients across College Place, Walla Walla, Benton City, Richland, Kennewick, Connell, Dayton, Washington, Hermiston, Pendleton, Oregon, and the surrounding areas.
To learn more about our services, please click here or contact us by calling (509) 381-7954. Alternatively, you can email beth@yourledgerpro.com.