Is Your Bookkeeping Accurate?
Glad to be back here and have time to write an article on our blog again after the busy season for the tax extension deadline ended Oct 15th.
I have prepared quite a few income tax returns for both individual and business including our own returns and still don’t understand why many small business owners don’t see the importance of making sure their financials were done accurately and thoroughly, especially in a timely manner. Even when they said they do, I still see several mistakes on their books or financial records, if they actually have them. Why? Most often the books were managed by someone who has no proper accounting education or much less experience and frequently that person turned out to be a small business owner!
Running a small business in St. Louis is tough, and making sure that your business growth is where you expected or wanted to be is even tougher. When the market is so competitive, every little thing should be accounted for. How would you know that your business is running efficiently and productively when you don’t have a trusted tool like a great set of book or financials to measure the result?
Whether you are planning for the business’ bright future for the next 5 years or have been worrying since your business has started about the common business issues such as tight cash flow, high employee turn over rate, sales decrease, cost increase, meaningful financials can be a great tool for you to use and apply and is also a great measurable result to show how your business is running.
I know truth can hurt but avoiding it will definitely cause long term severe damage.
I kind of understand why most business owners are managing their own bookkeeping. My best guess is it allows them to work in their comfort area. Why not? They own the business , right? Here are the problems; accounting work is not their personal strength as well as it’s totally not their passion. Let’s admit it – They didn’t sign up for this. Most importantly, accounting work does NOT directly bring income to the business. However it can definitely put your business in a difficult place or the worst case it can put you out of business if it is not managed properly. On the other hand, done correctly, it can show you the problems that you didn’t know were there and put money right back into your pocket.
Volpe Consulting and Accounting offers complete bookkeeping services for St. Louis businesses just like yours.
Please think about it and ask yourself if your books really makes sense? You don’t need to be an accountant to get the answer. Your guts and common sense will tell you what you need to do.
