One of the most crucial components of any business is bookkeeping. With or without a
bookkeeper, you ultimately must understand the procedure. As a small business owner, you must
be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of doing your own bookkeeping instead of hiring
a bookkeeper for your business. Here’s what you need to know:
Doing your own bookkeeping.
The Pros
The most appealing advantage of doing your own bookkeeping is that it is completely free! You
won’t have to pay a professional to take over or help you with your work. This is a good option if
you’re familiar with filing taxes, arranging records, and navigating the required bookkeeping
software. And besides, if you’re still in the early stages of your business, the finances are more
straightforward and do not require you to obtain professional bookkeeping services.
Another advantage of DIY bookkeeping is that your business records will remain confidential.
Many companies value their customers’ and employees’ privacy. Thus, they may want to do the
bookkeeping themselves
The Cons
If you choose to do your own bookkeeping, you’ll need to keep track of all receipts and records.
You’ll be in charge of the administrative part of your money and running your company, which
could burn you out at any point. This can be a significant waste of time that could be better spent growing your business or improving your marketing. Plus, it’s easy to make mistakes when doing your own bookkeeping. If you’re hurrying through your bookkeeping to get it done and move on to the next task, you might be overlooking a mistake that could adversely affect your entire organization. Missing payments or failing to recognize past-due bills are two additional examples of DIY bookkeeping mistakes that can cost you money.
Hiring a bookkeeper
The Pros
It’s impossible to guarantee that a bookkeeper will never make a mistake. However, they are far
less likely to make careless mistakes or misread anything because of their training. After all, it’s
their job to keep the books, and they’re well-versed in the common mistakes that occur in
small-business finance. They also understand how to correct them. Plus, bookkeepers can
concentrate on your financial records. Have you ever had to pay a late fee on a company credit
card payment or a business loan due to a lack of attention or keeping track of when your bills
were due? Don’t worry; it happens to a lot of people. However, you can focus entirely on your
business operations with a bookkeeper on staff. On the other hand, a bookkeeper must make sure they’re on top of things, including late fines, and they’ll make sure that vendors and bills that need to be paid are paid on time.
The Cons
Finding the ideal bookkeeper might feel like business dating at times. Because trust is such an
essential aspect of your relationship with your bookkeeper, you should take the time to pick
someone with whom you get along. Obtaining referrals from trusted peers can help you save
time. Then, there’s the matter of teaching your new bookkeeper the ropes, which will also take
some time. Also, if you employ an external bookkeeper to help you with your business, they may
not be able to utilize the same bookkeeping software that you do and may prefer to utilize their
own software.
The Gist
There is no one-size-fits-all solution that can be applied to all businesses. To answer whether or
not you should hire a bookkeeper or do your books yourself, you must first examine and gauge
your time, financial resources, capacity, and willingness to study bookkeeping. This, like any other
company decision, may take some trial and error. Luckily, Alcreance is here to support you in
determining and executing the ideal solutions for your business.