Top 5 Reasons NOT to Procrastinate Your Business Bookkeeping| Perry And Associates CPAs

Looking for the Easy Way Out of Business Bookkeeping ?

Procrastination Isn’t It.

Whether you dread your business bookkeeping or you simply cannot find enough time to get it done, putting off your accounting duties never ends well for you or your business. We understand that as a small business owner, you are being pulled in numerous different directions at once and it can be complicated to accomplish the mundane task of keeping up with the books. It is easy to write it off as non-urgent, vowing to catch up later.
But inevitably, later becomes next week, which becomes next month, which becomes 2 weeks before taxes are due. So why is this important? What does it matter if you wait until April to start actually doing your “business bookkeeping” for the previous year?

Top 5 Reasons Procrastination Can Kill Your Business

     1.)Poor Bookkeeping Leads to Poor Financial Decisions
The list of decisions a business owner must make every day often seems endless – how much inventory should be purchased, how much to invest in marketing, is it time to open a new line of credit, can you afford to hire a new employee, which bill should you pay first, should you get this new software, can you afford hardware updates, and on and on.
It can be difficult enough to make intelligent and informed decisions even with all of the data in front of you, but when you have no idea what the numbers are to back up these decisions, you will be driving blindfolded through your decisions. You are far more likely to crash when drawing upon ‘gut feelings’ for choices rather than your up-to-date cash flow, account balances, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable totals.
     2.)Audits…Need We Say More?
Handing your CPA a total mess of papers come tax season will not end pretty for either party. You will end up paying a much larger bill for the time they are going to have to spend on your filing, and while CPAs can work some magic, they are still human. Improper account management will likely leave you open for an audit.
If you are not carefully and accurately reporting what is going on in your business, you’re a much more likely target for the IRS. This can result in large late fees and expensive penalties if mistakes were made when you were rushing to reconcile the books.
     3.)You Could be Giving Away Free Money
Let’s face it, most businesses don’t have customers reminding them that they owe money. Getting behind on bookkeeping for your business means falling behind on your accounts receivable and invoice cycling as well.
If you simply try to make mental notes or “jot down” who owes you what, you will likely forget and lose money somewhere. Not collecting on accounts receivable is like giving away free money. Cash flow is the #1 reason that businesses fail, and much of that success or failure can be tied to tracking and updating your accounts receivable.
     4.)You Won’t Keep Good Employees Around
Your employees are the frontline of your business, and what you do is not possible without them. It is critical that your employees are paid on time and correctly on the regularly agreed upon schedule.
If you are slacking on the books, you may end up with an issue where you sacrifice your own paycheck so that all others are able to be paid. This is not unheard of for small businesses.
You may also end up with employees who do not report if you are over paying them, but who certainly would if you were underpaying them. Overpaying and underpaying employees will show on W-2 forms and can cause serious tax and legal issues for both you and the employee.
If employees cannot expect a reliable and regular paycheck, they will begin to look for work elsewhere, and it will be difficult to find new hires as word spreads.
     5.)You Will be Denied Financing
When it comes time to ask your bank for a loan or other line of credit, they will check your records in order to approve or deny your application. If the bank sees that you have poorly updated records and your bookkeeping is a mess, they may be unable to reach a decision or even deny your request.
Additionally, investors or donors will also want to see your most recent records and financial statements in order to confirm the security of investing in your business. When these are unprofessionally done, or not done at all, you have lost the ability to increase your company’s growth through business lending or investing.
Overwhelmed? Don’t procrastinate your bookkeeping…outsource it!

Outsourcing Business Bookkeeping

Most firms that provide business bookkeeping services actually end up costing far less than the amount of time it would take you to properly manage it. Do you know your ideal hourly wage for your own time (i.e. what are you worth in your business)? Multiply that hourly by the amount of time it would take you to keep your books in order each month. Chances are, it’s much less than the amount you would pay a business bookkeeper to do it for you. And you’ll have the added peace of mind that your business bookkeeping is being done properly and orderly.
If you need help with your bookkeeping, call Perry & Associates today. We have 5 different offices throughout the Mid-Ohio Valley as well as online portals for handling accounting virtually.