Every small business requires a skilled bookkeeper. The bookkeeper's responsibility is to guarantee that accurate accounting and tax compliance are maintained. The complexity of a company's financial situation is not related to the size of the business. Whether you engage them directly or hire a freelancer, it is likely that you will want one on your team as soon as feasible if you own a small business, and you will very likely want one as soon as possible.
But what are the characteristics that define a bookkeeper? For example, how can you ensure that the correct care is being taken of your accounts so that you do not need to be concerned about the state of the company's finances? When selecting a bookkeeper, one of the most important things you should do is seek for certain attributes, and in this section, we are going to discuss those qualities and how you may better recognise them.
It should go without saying that a bookkeeper knows how to do their duties properly.
This requires keeping your accounts organised and maintained, as well as being familiar with any applicable tax rules and making every effort to ensure that your books are in conformity with those laws. Additionally, this necessitates being educated about any applicable tax rules. In addition, a competent book-keeper possesses a few technical skills that allow them to assist in making their task much simpler, which in turn saves you both time and money. They are able to manage your books in an accurate and effective manner because to these talents.
Using accounting software such as Xero, for example, may help them process and organise their accounts much more quickly, improve the recording of transactions, accelerate the process of issuing invoices, improve your payroll system, easily create purchase orders, and provide reports on your accounts. As a consequence of this, a book-keeper who is experienced in the operation of accounting software will be able to do a great deal more for you in a period of time that is noticeably shorter.
Bookkeepers can provide you with the assurance that your financial records are being organised and preserved in the most effective and efficient manner possible, provided that the conditions are optimal. They have the capability of making the financial aspect of the organisation much easier to handle, which will save you time and let you to concentrate on the things that are more important. In spite of this, a successful book-keeper is also one who is able to provide advise that is both sound and honest, particularly when faced with challenging circumstances.
This indicates that they put in the effort to become familiar with your company, its goods and services, clients, and organisational structure, as well as the possible threats to which your company may be exposed. This implies that in times of upheaval, which might put your company in some financial jeopardy, a bookkeeper can give information on what steps you can take to return the books back to a healthy state and offer advice on how to proceed.
Your ideal candidate for the position of bookkeeper should be self-motivated and ready to work independently. It’s important to remember that not all business owners are also accounting gurus; hiring a bookkeeper may help you swiftly fill in any knowledge gaps you may have. It is vital to have expertise tracking revenue and spending, correctly completing the BAS, working with the ATO, and other similar activities. It implies that you don’t need to continually oversee them and worry about whether or not they’re carrying out their responsibilities appropriately.
On the other hand, if you hire a bookkeeper who prioritises accessibility and provides excellent customer care, you will always have access to the reports, recommendations, and details you need on your financial accounts. For example, your bookkeeper and your accountant should be able to collaborate fluidly with one another. This will ensure that both parties are constantly aware of what they are doing and the value that they are bringing to the company.
The bookkeeper is responsible for a wide variety of tasks. They may be working on between five and fifteen different projects at any given moment. Therefore, it is essential to have a solid grasp of their productivity as well as the capacity to manage their workflow effectively. In order to achieve this goal, certain accounting teams, such as the Bookkeeper Hub, make use of applications such as WorkflowMax to guarantee that high levels of productivity and efficiency are maintained at all times.
Your bookkeeper will be able to make a noticeable difference thanks to their effective management of time. This is because they will be able to complete tasks on time while also ensuring that each project receives the individualised attention it requires. Because of this, they will be able to make a contribution to the success of your company. They will be able to give the amount of attention to detail that is expected of them as a result of this, without having to waste hours on tiresome procedures.
When searching for a bookkeeper, you should hopefully use the things that were presented above as a beginning point. The candidate must be a good match for the company as well as the team, but this is something that the two of you need to work on together. The essential qualities and competencies required of a bookkeeper are outlined above; therefore, you should make it a point to keep an eye out for them.
A qualified bookkeeper will be able to assist you in remaining in compliance with applicable tax rules, so reducing the potential for loss to your company and relieving you of the stress associated with monitoring your own financial records.
It’s important to be aware that accounting and bookkeeping are not the same thing, despite the fact that many owners of businesses don’t have a clear understanding of the difference between the two. This is important because to determine whether your company needs the services of an accountant or a bookkeeper, you need to be aware of the distinctions between the two professions.
We are going to discuss what it means to efficiently balance your money, as well as how you may choose between hiring an accountant and a bookkeeper, so stick around if you’re interested. Then, continue reading to acquire further information.
The early errors in financial planning and organisation that your firm makes can have repercussions that are felt across the company for a significant amount of time later. Once they have been set up, inefficient reporting problems can be difficult to fix, and it can be difficult to modify inefficient procedures once they have been implemented.
Nevertheless, it is of the utmost importance to make certain that your company does everything in its power to maintain a healthy and sustainable management of its finances. Of course, it is difficult to do it right if you do not have the appropriate personnel in place to take care of the finances. However, if you do not do this, it will lead to issues in the future. This brings us to the subject of the following part of our conversation.
Both an accountant and a bookkeeper are responsible for keeping financial records, but they do it in fundamentally different ways. If you want to proceed in the most effective manner, you must comprehend these distinctions first. Someone your company hires to come on board and handle the books and the data they contain is referred to as a bookkeeper. They are responsible for remaining current on the dealings of the company, maintaining accurate records, and monitoring both expenditures and revenues. Invoicing and payroll are two examples of everyday chores that a bookkeeper is responsible for handling.
Accountants handle the majority of the tasks that bookkeepers typically perform for many different kinds of small businesses. However, it is common practice for accountants to monitor the work of bookkeepers and maintain tabs on what they accomplish. Billing, analysing activities in accounts payable, and making entries into ledgers are some of the other responsibilities that often come under the accountant’s purview. There are also a variety of other jobs that typically fall within the accountant’s scope. In addition to this, they often organise their tax filings, manage their cash flow, and generally keep an eye on their overall financial health.
Suppose you want to make significant changes to the way in which your company manages its financial systems. In that case, it may be a good idea to assemble an altogether new team to handle the responsibilities associated with this endeavour. When you use this strategy, the accounting department will most likely be staffed with a bookkeeper and a senior accountant who is responsible for supervising the bookkeeper and the accountant.
Imagine that you are searching for someone to work in conjunction with an existing accountant or accounting service that you have in place. If this is the case, it may be in your best interest to hunt for a new bookkeeper or to hire a bookkeeping service, depending on the importance of the task at hand and the outcomes you hope to achieve.
When you bring someone new into your team from the outside, rewards and expenses are connected with making that decision. For example, if you hire a new employee, you will need to monitor their work personally in the office. However, this method is typically far more expensive than the others, and it is also typically the choice that is less productive.
Employing individuals is not only time-consuming but also expensive; however, if your company uses outsourced services, it may be able to outsource its bookkeeping or accounting needs to an entire team of competent specialists at a cost that is far cheaper. This is something that should be considered, even if you don’t believe that your company is now in a situation where it would be beneficial to add a new staff member to your team.
If you already have a team together but want to enhance or update their abilities in bookkeeping merely, we can assist make that happen for you. It is a wonderful method to guarantee that your company’s approach to bookkeeping is the proper one without having to invest a significant amount of money. You can do this by teaching your employees new skills through professionally created training courses.
Your staff will be able to limit the number of accounting and bookkeeping mistakes that are made and guarantee that your company can effectively cope with any and all financial issues that may result from those additional abilities and talents.
Do not hesitate to contact our staff at The Bookkeeper Hub if you believe that a professional bookkeeping training service would benefit your company and that you would want to find out more information. We will assist you with getting you started on regaining control and getting the financial aspects of your small business to where you want them to be moving forward.
Keeping your books up to date is essential if you want to ensure that they are always accurate, that they are always ready to assist you in delivering financial insights about the business, or that you are well prepared for the arrival of the taxman. All these things can be accomplished by ensuring you are always prepared.
You don’t want to put yourself through the extreme crunch that occurs in the days leading up to tax season since doing so might cause you stress and, even worse, cause you to make mistakes with your finances. Therefore, you want to avoid this situation at all costs. As a result of this, the following are some essential pointers to bear in mind regarding the maintenance of up-to-date bookkeeping.
Setting aside time on a regular basis to sit down, and bring your books up to date, is the easiest thing you can do to prevent yourself from getting farther and further behind. To ensure that all of your books are always up to date, schedule a day or block of time once a week (it is recommended that you do this in the morning since this is the time of day when most of us are feeling energised and eager to get started) or once a month.
This also provides a wonderful chance for you to monitor the fluctuation of your cash flow from month to month and maintain a more accurate record of unpaid bills, allowing you to pursue payment from your customers at the appropriate times more effectively.
When it is time to update your books or if you need to justify them, you need to know where the details you need are located. This is true regardless of whether you retain copies on paper or in digital format. This involves maintaining your books, invoices, petty cash accounts, and receipts organised by month so that it is simpler to track down certain facts when you want them. You should retain receipts and invoices that haven’t been included into your bookkeeping in a separate storage area from the rest of your paperwork.
In the absence of this, it is simple to forget to take them into account, which will inevitably result in errors further down the road. We strongly advise retaining both paper and digital versions of your records, with at least one of the digital copies of your data being stored in the cloud, so that in the event that you misplace the old manuscripts, you will still have backups to rely on. It is possible that scanning your paper papers will make managing them much simpler.
You should make it a habit to check that the information in your books is consistent with the transactions that can be seen in your bank account. This should be done as part of your routine. This may be an effective method for ensuring that your books are accurate and for triggering an enquiry in the event that they do not correspond with one another. Make sure that all of the invoices and recurring bills that haven’t been paid in or out yet are accounted for in your records. It is also a good idea to make sure that you have a company account that is distinct from your personal account. This makes it much simpler to avoid becoming confused about which expenses are personal and which are for the purpose of the business. Accounting software may also integrate bank statements directly, allowing you to more easily identify areas in which the two sets of data do and do not correspond.
You may believe that you have a well-organized and efficient method written down in your notebook and that perception may very well be accurate for all we know. On the other hand, this is by no means the most effective method for managing your books. Bookkeeping software such as Xero is not only business-ready but also has a plethora of automatic functions that take a significant amount of the effort out of bookkeeping for you. This saves you a great lot of time and energy. The Bookkeeper Hub provides video training classes for Xero, which you may access if you are unsure about how to use the software you require. We can help you make the most of the greatest software that is presently available, whether you want to know how to start using the programme as soon as possible or if you want to receive training on a level that is equivalent to that of a full-fledged professional bookkeeper.
We have saved this piece of advice for last since we know that most company owners will look for any opportunity to reduce their financial outlays. However, you may find that, despite the fact that the information presented above can make it simpler for you to keep your books up to date on your own, you just do not have the time to do it, and you would rather concentrate your efforts on developing and expanding the company instead. Bookkeepers that have received extensive training and are connected to cloud-based software may not only assist you in ensuring that your records are constantly brought up to date but can also save the amount of time you spend on bookkeeping by as much as 95 percent.
The Bookkeeper Hub is here to assist you with all your bookkeeping needs to guarantee that your records are current and accurate at all times. Do not hesitate to contact us if you are interested in learning how to manage your own bookkeeping efficiently and successfully or if you would prefer to have someone else handle as much of the bookkeeping as possible on your behalf.
Your “to-do” list may sometimes get so lengthy that you feel you cannot devote the amount of attention to each work you want. It may also mean spending more time at the office or dealing with work matters outside of business hours, which would eat into your leisure time and throw off the balance of your life between work and play.
Getting the most out of your work time and focusing on what’s most essential may be made easier by putting these straightforward strategies and tools for time management into practice.
Are you familiar with the time-honoured business proverb, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”? The same is true for effective management of one’s time. Any attempt to improve your time management skills will be a game of chance if you don’t keep track of how you spend your time. Suppose you do not keep track of where and how you spend your time. In that case, you will not be able to evaluate the effectiveness of your present time management practices, nor will you be able to recognise time-wasting activities or responsibilities that may be delegated.
To get started, start by maintaining a journal of the activities you do on a daily basis as well as the amount of time required for each activity. This can be done in a manner that is as easy or as high-tech as you see fit, ranging from scribbled notes on a weekly timesheet to an Excel spreadsheet that automatically tallies the minutes and hours worked for you. The method that you use will depend on your preferences. You can, of course, rely on contemporary technology to carry out these responsibilities on your behalf.
Try out a variety of paid-for and free time management tools that can help to simplify this task before you write off this idea and decide that the amount of additional time you’ll waste tracking your time is not worth the effort. There is a wide range of time management tools that can help to make this task simpler. In addition, many other solutions are available, such as Harvest or Toggl, and most of them come with capabilities that may be stretched out for total staff time management and connected with your billing.
You are not compelled to monitor and keep account of how you spend your time; but, doing so may be advantageous to you. Despite this, you are not required to monitor and keep account of how you spend your time. After a couple of weeks, you’ll have a very good idea of how you spend the most of your days, weeks, and months. This realisation will come as a relief. If you keep a journal, this will definitely be the case. It is likely that you will be astounded by the amount of time that is wasted in meetings, on duties that you might assign to someone else, and on things that you conduct out of habit rather than because they are necessary.
If you are aware of how you spend your time, you will be in a better position to cut out activities that are not required and waste your time. Here are some examples of common time wasters:
If you swiftly transition from one activity to another, read and respond to new emails, and switch tasks frequently during the day, your productivity may suffer as a result. Set out time in your schedule to monitor and respond to messages so that you are not derailed from the task at hand by the constant stream of new communications that are arriving.
If you need some time to yourself to concentrate on a task, ask a member of your team to answer the phone or take a message for you so that you can get some peace and quiet. If you want to avoid wasting time listening to a sales pitch for office flowers or equipment that you are not considering buying, instruct your employees to not let salesmen in to see you without an appointment. This will prevent you from wasting time listening to the pitch. Because of this, you will not lose any time as a result.
At the workplace, time wasters can be managed or eliminated using a variety of additional strategies. For example, while you’re trying to get work done, your social media accounts shouldn’t be sending you notifications in the form of pop-up windows. Rather than spending hours of each week performing this activity on your own, delegate it to a member of your team who will monitor particular company activities and provide daily or weekly updates.
Maintain strict adherence to the meeting schedule. To prevent meetings from devolving into social get-togethers and from eating into the productive time of those who are there, it is important to make a plan and provide only a couple of minutes (yes, literally a minute or two) for each item that will be discussed on the agenda.
Examine your present workload carefully to see whether or not there are any actionable items that you might hand off to another person. For example, can you subcontract some of the more straightforward accounting tasks, such as handling petty cash and reconciling accounts? What about more general activities such as product development, sales and marketing chores, general communication, quality control, and other tasks? The owners of small enterprises are well known for their unwillingness to delegate tasks because they falsely feel that they can handle the work better themselves. Delegation, on the other hand, may help you reclaim some of your precious time and provide you the opportunity to concentrate on expanding your business rather than spending all of your time on the day-to-day operations of that firm.
Make a list of the tasks that you are able to delegate and the members of your team who are capable of taking on the duties that you have outlined in the list. The vast majority of employees have an interest in climbing the corporate ladder and would be thankful for the opportunity to broaden their skill set or take on more responsibilities in their jobs. You want to make as much time available to you as you possibly can so that you can work in a manner that is both strategic and efficient and still have time to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Attempt not to get into the trap of delegating just the jobs that you don’t like performing; instead, try to delegate everything. You don’t want to fall into the trap of delegating only the tasks that you don’t like performing.
In the long run, you can save a large amount of time overall by investing a small amount of effort today in the establishment of good procedures for your organisation. This will allow you to save time in the future. Similarly, setting up procedures and becoming more organised will assist you in saving a large amount of money. This is true whether you are referring to the time spent establishing a computerised accounting system or the time spent implementing a physical or virtual filing system so that you do not waste time looking for paperwork or documents. Both of these activities are necessary in order to ensure that you do not waste time.
If your time tracking shows that you spend a lot of time responding to fundamental sales questions, you could, for example, save time by writing up some template responses that you (or an employee) could personalise in order to respond to specific inquiries. If your time tracking shows that you spend a lot of time responding to fundamental sales questions, you could also save time by writing up some template responses. You would be able to save time by doing this without compromising the quality of the responses you provide. In a similar vein, adding a page on your website that addresses frequently asked issues will enable you to regain some of the time that you had previously lost. It is possible to save a large amount of time and effort by utilising software that maintains interactions with customers.
Imagine that you no longer have to rush from one crisis to the next at your company because you have more free time. In such scenario, you will most likely be able to identify various methods in which you can work smarter rather than harder, as well as ways in which you may find ways to boost the productivity of your workforce.
It is simple to become preoccupied with the issue at hand, which may be referred to as the problem of the day in certain companies. A “to-do list” can be of great use at this point. A straightforward list of the things you have to or want to complete, together with a specific due date, can greatly assist you in maintaining your concentration.
By putting them in order of importance, you can make sure that the chores that are most essential to you are completed by the due date and that other jobs do not slip your mind and get forgotten. It may surprise you, but crossing tasks off of your to-do list may be quite motivating.
It makes perfect sense to put in your most productive hours. Everyone has their own unique schedule and set of preferences. If you’re the type of person who feels most alive and motivated in the wee hours of the morning, setting aside some time for completing significant tasks is a good idea. When you are in a less productive cycle in the afternoon, it is a good idea to schedule more mundane chores or small creative projects. When you are at your most prolific, you should avoid holding meetings to plan periodic production.
Getting those usual jobs out of the way first thing in the morning is a good idea if you’re not a morning person and don’t feel like you’re functioning at your best until after your second cup of coffee. The next step is to tackle the main projects or to plan the crucial meetings for a time when you will be able to give it your absolute best effort. Getting those usual jobs out of the way first thing in the morning is a good idea if you’re not a morning person and don’t feel like you’re functioning at your best until after your second cup of coffee.
It is vital that you provide your employees with the necessary tools for the job in order to maximise their productivity and efficiency while they are working for you. This will allow you to ensure that they are successful in their work. You, as the only owner of the business, are subject to the same constraints. If you do not have the appropriate resources, such as people or equipment, then you will not be able to execute duties in a timely and efficient manner.
You should not see this as a green light to run out and buy an iPad2 if you have no purpose for such a device. On the other hand, this suggests that you shouldn’t continue to fight and waste hours in order to finish a work when investing in technology will enable you to complete the task in a way that is significantly more productive for you.
It is virtually never a good idea to try to cut costs by relying on technology that has become out of date. Instead, you should make a rough estimate of the amount of time it will save you, then compare this number to the amount of money it will cost you to invest in equipment, software, training, or staff. This information will assist you in determining whether or not it is beneficial for you to make the investment. If your company’s cash flow can sustain the purchase, this cost-benefit analysis can tell you very quickly whether or not it is worth it to make the investment. Determine whether or not it would be financially beneficial for your firm to make the investment in the tools or support that you require.
Guest post by : team Form -
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