Bookkeeping Mistakes – Every Small Business Owner Makes Them
My friend, Karen, has a boutique. She has been running the small business single-handedly for close to six years now, and she recently expanded to take over some additional space next door. The additional square footage has had a greater impact than she expected – and has created some real stress and most importantly, one humongous realization.
Not only does additional space mean more shelves and racks, inventory and even utility costs, the volume of her bookkeeping has increased. She’s putting out more and taking in more and well, she discovered she was making mistakes. Everything took more time to record and track and monthly bank reconciliations – well, she let those slip by.
It all came to a head because she forgot to record a couple of deposits. It came time to pay the bills and she panicked because the money she showed in her bank account wasn’t enough to pay the expenses. Her receipts and invoices were a mess and she didn’t have time to keep the doors open, serve customers, and figure it all out.
There were several sleepless nights – some because she feared the additional costs of expansion were going to ruin her small business and others because she was up all night trying to get her financial situation figured out and under control. Numbers were her nightmare.
In the end, Karen was really lucky. She discovered there was enough in the bank because she’d not recorded all the deposits. Her panic was short-lived. But Karen learned a couple of really important lessons:
- It was time to outsource and get a bookkeeper to keep her books on track and accurate.
- Business decisions can’t be made with faulty or incomplete information.
Her mistakes weren’t as costly as some could be, but she didn’t want to live with the specter of bookkeeping errors hanging over her head because of her haste.
Bookkeeping Matters!
That’s the issue Teresa Ray was hearing from many small business owners and why she decided to provide bookkeeping services through The Payroll Department. It doesn’t matter if your business is struggling, growing or thriving, either. Grace Walker is an experienced bookkeeper and certified by Quickbooks, too!
- When business is slow, accurate bookkeeping is essential because every penny is important.
- When business is good, accurate bookkeeping is essential so solid business decisions can be made.
At the end of every year she heard stories about how small business owners were losing out on tax deductions and what a challenge it was for them and their accountants to “figure it all out” when all the receipts and financial records were just collected in a box all year long.
Keep a good handle on your small business finances. Contact The Payroll Department to see how our Bookkeeping Department can help you grow your small business.
-Elaine of The Payroll Department Blog Team
