>> Simplifying bookkeeping, and making it a painless process <<
The short answer is as soon as you have set up your business.
In reality, it's not as simple as that.
Hiring a bookkeeper, or outsourcing it to a company, costs money. And in the early days of running a business, it's an expense you may not want.
In these instances we would recommend you try and do your bookkeeping yourself. Not only will it keep costs down, but you will be surprised by what you learn about business finance - and the more you know, the more you grow.
But there are some signs you may notice as your business ticks along, that indicate when might be a better time to bring in a bookkeeper.
DIY bookkeeping takes up more time than you can afford ...
Your books are never up to date ...
Your accountant does your bookkeeping ...
At tax time, you send way too many emails to your accountant ...
You've no idea of your financial position.
The first and last indicators are the most important and so I'll talk about those here.
Let's start with the first point:
DIY bookkeeping takes up more time than you can afford.
Your time is always going to be better spent on finding, winning and completing projects. And in growing your business, right?
But if you're finding it taking over your nights and weekends and preventing you from delivering actual work - or the things that support work e.g. quotes and invoices, then it would be worth considering whether to bring in a bookkeeper.
The second point important point:
You've no idea of your financial position.
This is a biggy.
The moment you don't know what's in your business accounts ... what your tax liabilities are ... what money is coming in ... or going out ...
... get a bookkeeper.
Knowing, in detail, the financial health of your business is the most important thing in running a successful business. It helps you make key decisions
The small business tip for this edition of the bookkeeping blog series is: don't wait until your books are a mess, if you need help, get it.
The earlier the better.
But for those of you managing your books yourselves, make sure you use tools such as QuickBooks, which I talk more about in this blog.
This will keep things simple and quick, saving you time and money.
And for this, we offer QuickBooks training to get you going - just drop me an email if it's something you would be interested in.
Best, Sarah
P.S. Don't forget to go refer back to the other bookkeeping tips in this series.