It’s important to be on top of all of the different responsibilities as a small business owner. However, one of the most important parts of growing your business is knowing what you can and can’t handle. If you’ve been in business long, you have probably learned quite a bit about finances, and you may have some decent skills at handling your books. However, trying to do everything in a growing business will wear on you, and can negatively impact the growth of your business. Many business owners will eventually come to the same question, “Is it time to get a professional bookkeeper?”
Here are some signs and red flags that might indicate that now would be the time to get a professional bookkeeper. If you find that any of these relate to your situation, you should take the next step in that process.
1. Your books aren’t up to date and they are constantly behind
We get that it’s stressful and time-consuming to sit down and sift through the receipts and invoices that makes up your finances. But if your books are constantly behind like this, it can cause some major issues. First of all, you won’t know exactly where you stand with your available cash at any given time. That means you might be closer to running out of cash than you might think. Updating your books and staying on top of them means you have the info you need to determine the current health and potential growth of your business.
2. Bookkeeping is taking too much time
Running your business means you’ve got to keep tabs on a lot of different moving parts. We encourage business owners to be involved in the bookkeeping process. But it’s not worth stressing yourself and spending your valuable time on when there are many other things that demand your attention.
If you find yourself spending a lot time doing bookkeeping and invoices and less time doing focusing on the growth of your operation, then it might be time to bring in a professional.
3. Your revenue is increasing, but you’re busier than ever and not making more money
Unfortunately, this happens more often than you would think. Business is increasing, you’re busier than ever, but your net income is stagnatn or tied up so you aren’t able to invest it back into your business. If your revenue is going up but your bottom line doesn’t seem to move at all that means you need to find ways of increasing profit margins.
Obviously, this is easier said than done, but it is possible. You will need to arm yourself with the proper in formation and data. This will only come from the records stored in your books, which need to be up to date to reflect where you business currently stands financially.
Is it time?
If you found yourself mentally checking the boxes as you read along this list, now would be the time to hire yourself a professional bookkeeper. Make sure you shop around and find one that’s the best fit for you and your business.
