Tuesday, April 28, 2015

When and Why to Hire a Bookkeeper

Issaquah Book Keeping

This is a great article from Entrpreneur.com about the when and whys of hiring a professional book keeper to help you with the management of your company finances.
Entrepreneurs thrive on a DIY mentality: Do everything you can yourself and don't pay for anything new until you have absolutely have to. It's especially difficult to justify hiring financial help like a bookkeeper.
With user-friendly software such as QuickBooks available, many business owners feel they should be able to do keep their records on their own, even as they wrestle with finding the time and wonder if they're doing things correctly.
Deciding about "hiring a bookkeeper is something I struggle with all the time," says Randy Mitchelson, owner of National Web Leads, an Internet marketing company in Estero, Fla. While he finds basic accounting easy to do, it takes him away from working on his business. Meanwhile, his accounting and tax planning have become only more complicated in the six years since he founded his business.
Entrepreneurs who hire accounting help usually discover they weren't doing nearly as well on their own as they thought they were.
Zalmi Duchman, chief executive of The Fresh Diet, a meal-delivery company based in Miami, lasted five years without a bookkeeper then hired one three months ago. The new employee cleaned up records that incorrectly mingled expenses and assets, reviewed employee purchases for duplications, and took over the mundane but critical task of paying bills. Duchman estimates his company is saving $500 to $1,000 in late fees every quarter. "I definitely have been able to make better and more educated decisions," he says.
So what are a small-business owner's options for professional help with financial tasks? Here is a primer:
Do I Need a Bookkeeper or an Accountant?Actually it's a trick question. You may need both.
Aaron Sylvan, a serial entrepreneur who lives in New York, compares the situation to needing to hire both a carpenter and an architect when building a house.
An accountant can analyze the big picture of your financial situation and offer strategic advice. He or she produces key financial documents, such as a profit-and-loss statement, if needed, and files a company's taxes.
After tax season is over, an accountant can also act as an outsourced chief financial officer, advising an entrepreneur on financial strategies, such as whether to secure a line of credit against receivables when introducing new products.
In contrast, a bookkeeper does the day-to-day hands-on tasks: making sure new employees file all the right paperwork for the company's payroll, submitting invoices (promptly) and following up on them, and paying the bills. The bookkeeper also tracks company expenses and can assure that every cost has been entered -- and recorded correctly -- into software like QuickBooks so that the business is ready for tax time along with filing any other reporting to, say, creditors or investors.
"I don't keep receipts; they're a pain," says Sylvan, who runs Sylvan Social Technology, an ecommerce-services company. "Every month I get a bank statement with a gazillion transactions," such as taxi rides, meals, conferences and other expenses he has placed on his company's debit card.
His bookkeeper spends a few hours a week sorting it all out. As a result, Sylvan has a better idea about how his expenditures stack up against his budget. He knows he won't bill clients incorrectly or miss important payments.
"Knowledge is power," even when it comes to the small details, Sylvan says. "If you don't have a bookkeeper, you're probably not being as strategic as you could be in how you spend your money."
When to Bring in a BookkeeperIn his running a half-dozen businesses the past 15 years, Sylvan has typically hired a bookkeeper for a few hours a week within a few months after starting a new venture. For the first six to nine months, he's usually too busy to focus much on recordkeeping, then "things begin to stabilize," he says. "Then you can see trends and you can start to think strategically about where your money is going and where you can save." And this is when a bookkeeper becomes valuable. Since Sylvan has fewer than a dozen employees at each new company, the bookkeeping takes about one day a month, he says.
The rates for hiring a bookkeeper on a part-time basis in the U.S. can range from $15 to $60 an hour, depending on location, the workload and whether work is done at the company's office or from home.
Sylvan typically sees his accountant once a year, at tax time. But business owners requiring capital or frequently negotiating credit with a bank are likely to contact their accountants more often.
When to Hire a Staff Accountant or BookkeeperMany small entrepreneurs can probably stick to outsourcing accounting or bookkeeping services for quite some time. The typical service business can often outsource its chief financial officer tasks and bookkeeping until its revenues rises well above the $1 million mark -- or until it has about 30 employees. Until then, most businesses usually don't have enough work to keep a full-timer busy every day.
It's time to hire full-time help, though, when you're calling your accountant often enough that you wish he or she were in the office all the time. Bring in a full-time bookkeeper when your part-timer is spending two or three full days in the office and still falling behind.
Most new business owners find a staffing solution somewhere along the continuum that ranges from trying to go it alone and paying for full-time help.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

The Time A Good Bookkeeper Can Save You

Book Keeping

Small business owners know how important a good record-keeping system is to the health of their business. An accounting/bookkeeping firm such as Account Services, Inc. “ASI” will ensure your office runs smoothly. It is easy to forget to enter accounting transactions when you are busy running your business. A good bookkeeping firm will assign you an account manager who will make sure all transactions are entered into your accounting software. If your accounting software is inadequate or if you currently do not have a system, ASI can help you get the right match. 

It is important to keep business transactions separate from personal purchases. You may be out with your family and use your business credit card for simple purchases, but this will quickly get out of hand. A good bookkeeper will save you time and make the office run much more efficiently. Account Services, Inc. offers experience and knowledge with tax laws that save you money. They can help you avoid hefty penalties.

Business accounting and bookkeeping services will assure that you are connected with the proper accounting software that keeps you informed with the details of your business. This helps you analyze data and plan for the future. Account Services, Inc. “ASI” places a high priority on your finances. ASI can definitely handle your payroll and ensure benefits and labor costs are tracked each month. It is important to stay aware of your business finances at all times. Research shows that businesses that are not financially organized have greater chance of failure.

It is also important to keep detailed records of your inventory. Proper software makes this job much easier. Look for an accounting and bookkeeping service that has experience in your industry. The best reason for outsourcing your accounting and bookkeeping services is saving money. If you hired a full-time accountant or bookkeeper, you would have to pay salary, benefits, unemployment insurance, and workers’ comp coverage plus provide vacation and holiday per your company’s policy. It is worth the cost to outsource to an accounting and bookkeeping service such as Eastside located Account Services, Inc. You can spend your time growing your business instead of entering financial transactions.


Accounting software offers you profit and loss reports that keep you aware of your finances. It will also organize and prioritize customers. You can also view important customer information for your sales department. Account Services Inc. can help you select an accounting software application that can reconcile accounts payable and receivables. This application will also help you send invoices and manage expenses with the touch of a button.