Bookkeeping: your favorite part of operating a small business, right? Let’s face it, you got into business for other reasons. Your area of expertise – whether technical, sales and marketing, operations, or some other specialization – is what drives your business and its success. No one starts a business for the purpose of doing accounting (well, except for us CPA firms). Below, we discuss why you should consider outsourcing your bookkeeping.
The skills you need to get the work done often differ from the ones you need to run the business itself. While you’re growing your business, you end up doing whatever needs to be done. You take out the trash, open the mail, and handle sales. And most time-consuming of all, you keep the dreaded books.
If you aren’t careful, it’s easy to burn yourself out and poison the well of doing what you love. It’s not hard to drift away from your original passion and purpose. However, we think we can help with part of the solution!
You know all that time you spend scanning receipts or reconciling bank statements? Those are minutes (or hours) you could spend growing your business. You could be generating more revenue or even just enjoying the freedom and flexibility that ownership affords – or at least is supposed to!
And if you aren’t even getting around to inputting those receipts and reconciling statements? Well don’t even get me started on the mess you are creating…
The solution…
As an owner myself, I know these problems all too well. I’m at my best when I’m operating as a CFO or strategic advisor to our clients. But too often, I get bogged down with other things. I might be looking for replacement light bulbs, trying to fix a software problem, or working on marketing. Some of the best moves I have made relate to outsourcing decisions.
Whether we’re talking about software and IT support, marketing, office cleaning, or landscaping, the facts are the same. The teams we use are more knowledgeable, more efficient, and overall just better than I am at these tasks. And they free me up to focus on things that I’m better at. I want to keep an eye on all aspects of the business but not to the detriment of taking care of the other things I truly need to do.
I’d love for Culpepper CPA to take the time-consuming burden of bookkeeping and payroll off your shoulders. Your time is your most valuable asset. By outsourcing your bookkeeping to us, you can break out of what author Robert Greene calls “tactical hell”.
Obviously, Greene makes a purposeful overstatement. But the point is valid: As a business owner, your time is best spent at the strategic level.
The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Bookkeeping (Even if you Know QuickBooks)
No matter the size or revenue of any business, accurate bookkeeping is essential for success. From small businesses to large corporations, there are several benefits to be gained by outsourcing your bookkeeping.
- Free up your time. Bookkeeping is an administrative burden, plain and simple. It’s both complex and time consuming. But, by allowing Culpepper CPA to manage these responsibilities, you can invest your time on more central tasks. You’ll be in a much better position to grow your business, increase profitability, and lead your team more effectively.
- Get the tools to grow your business. Your financials are a tool. Accurate financial records are a must if you want to improve and manage your business effectively. But maintaining precise records is no simple endeavor, and multiple locations or revenue streams only compound the complexity. That’s why it’s wise to put bookkeeping in the hands of experienced accounting professionals. When tax season rolls around, we often have to charge more to clean up a client’s books than if we had just done their bookkeeping in the first place! More importantly, a deeper involvement in our clients’ businesses throughout the year allows us to be much more valuable as advisors. The more involved we are in your business, the better we understand it, and the better quality guidance we can provide.
- Gauge your business’s performance. Good, clean financial statements and forecasts will help you gauge your performance and make informed decisions. It’s an important foundation for deciding how to spend cash and seize opportunities.
What Outsourcing Your Bookkeeping Looks Like in Practice
Our primary goal is to turn your financial data into useful information you can use to help grow your business. From startups to large corporations, we understand the nuances of businesses of every size. Each has different needs and faces different challenges.
Therefore, we tailor our services to fit the unique anatomy of your business.
The bookkeeping services you can expect from Culpepper CPA include the following:
- Entering and classifying transactions
- Preparing bank and credit card reconciliations
- Processing payroll
- Preparing all quarterly and annual payroll tax filings
- Maintaining your general ledger
- Tracking and managing cash flow
- Providing up-to-date statements
- Identifying any unusual transactions
- Looking for warning signs and opportunities
- Preparing and filing:
- Forms 1099
- Business license renewals
- Tangible personal property reports
- Secretary of State Annual Reports
Plenty of businesses generate significant gross revenue but still aren’t very profitable. Others may appear much more modest by comparison but are actually growing at a more sustainable rate.
We’ll develop an accurate snapshot of your financial health – paired with objectivity and critical insights – and help you make prudent executive decisions.
On-Staff Accountants vs. Outsourcing Your Bookkeeping to Culpepper CPA
When you outsource your bookkeeping to a professional accounting firm like Culpepper CPA, you’re getting years of expertise from our staff of trained CPAs.
It’s not uncommon for on-staff accountants to be bookkeepers with no formal accounting education. Although they have learned accounting principles on the job, they may not have the depth of experience required to navigate the kinds of complex issues they’ll be up against.
You’ll also end up paying more for a staff accountant in the long run. When you add up full-time salary, payroll taxes, and benefits for the position, your costs can range from $30,000 to more than $100,000 per year. We charge only a fraction of that, and you’ll get monthly bookkeeping, various federal and state filings, and ongoing access to the Culpepper “brain trust”.
And as mentioned above, you’ll pay less for tax preparation each year if you already have clean books.
Entrust Your Bookkeeping to the Professionals
Most people start a business because they want financial success, freedom, and autonomy. The irony is that time, freedom, and peace of mind are hard to come by as an owner. You have hundreds of different tasks competing for your attention.
So why not simplify your life? Outsourcing your bookkeeping and entrusting professionals can free up your own time and energy for doing the things you love.
Culpepper CPA is Knoxville’s top accounting firm. We can give you the time and tools you need to grow your business. We’d love nothing more than to relieve you of the administrative burden of monthly bookkeeping. And we’d also love to see you start enjoying the fruit of your labor!
To set up a free consultation, fill out the contact form or give us a call today at (865) 691-8509.
