Unless your small business is an accounting firm, maintaining the books is probably not your forte. However, your cash flow is the lifeblood of your company, and if you don’t stay right on top of it, how will you know if your products are profitable or if you have enough in the bank to cover supplier invoices?
If you fall short in the financial department, you might end up closing your doors before your business had a chance to thrive. When you start getting so busy that you need to start outsourcing tasks, here are a few reasons why an accounting staff may be your best first step:
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1. You need help with financial housekeeping
Handling the day-to-day bookkeeping could take up a significant portion of your time that you could be spending on growing your business. You don’t need a licensed accountant, either — a bookkeeper could help you manage billing, accounts payable and receivable, payroll and tracking your regular bank activity. Even a part-time freelance bookkeeper can help you keep the finances in order, so you’re spending less on a CPA at tax time.
2. Taxes and business regulations are best handled by the pros
Financial mistakes can be expensive, especially when those mistakes show up on your tax returns. The tax code is complicated and ever-changing. Whether you need a full-time certified accountant on your staff or simply want to hand your annual return over to a professional, this is probably the one place where outsourcing may benefit you the most.
3. They can do more than write checks
It’s not likely that anyone ever got into accounting because they hated working with numbers, and you can put your hired mathlete to work crunching sales and marketing data, too. Profit and loss statements might quickly point to wasteful spending, and processes like Price Analysis can help you with competitive pricing. An accounting department that helps by cutting costs and optimizing sales might end up paying for itself.
4. Accurate projections start with financial planning
Before you can make a quality plan for your company’s future, you should first see where you have been in no uncertain terms. An accurate projection typically needs reliable data presented in a relevant way, or it probably won’t help you much.
After your accounting department helps you gather this information, they can also represent it in a format that makes sense to your bank should you need to apply for financing. From the daily financial routines to tax liability and audits, an accounting department could take a lot of weight from your shoulders so that you’re free to run your business.
