When you start your business journey, managing your finances may be easy. However, as your business grows, you might start feeling overwhelmed by balancing your books and keeping your finances in check. We get it. Managing your finances is time-consuming, especially when they aren’t your area of expertise. But there’s a handy solution: hire a financial expert to help sort your queries and present practical solutions for your business transactions.
But hiring an accountant or a bookkeeper can be tricky, especially when you don’t know whom to ask for help. If that’s you, don’t worry. We’ll talk about the benefits of accountant and bookkeeper in this article. Let’s dive in!
What Does a Bookkeeper or Accountant Do for Your Business?
An accountant or bookkeeper can do much more than reconcile your transactions, prepare your financial statements and your tax returns. They help you maintain a proper record of your finances, advise on tax planning and compliance, and manage your financial reports.
They can also:
- Offer valuable insights
- Reduce your tax bills
- Update your finance books
- Keep track of your payroll
- Help you maximise profits and tax deductions.
But bookkeepers focus more on day-to-day responsibilities, while accountants are responsible for providing tax, accounting, and business advice or financial insights.
When Do You Need a Bookkeeper?
A bookkeeper is responsible for recording and classifying a business’s financial transactions. These tasks can include the payment of bills, reconciliations of transactions, loading of expense invoices to your accounting system, payroll etc. Bookkeepers may or may not have a finance degree but usually have a professional qualification.
The motive of a bookkeeper is to paint an accurate picture of your finances. So, what can a competent bookkeeper do for your small business?
They Record High Volume Payments
You need a bookkeeper when you have to track high volumes of transactions. This can be tedious and time-consuming. Plus, keeping an eye on cash flow and business growth can take time and effort you don’t have. As a result, you aren’t able to record every transaction you make, and your books become a mess. You can prevent that from happening by obtaining the services of a bookkeeper. They’ll ensure your books are always updated, allowing you to track system flaws and areas of improvement.
They Help Make Cash Flow Predictable
Cash flow statements help you sort out the unpredictability of your income and expenses by showing how much money you owe people and vice versa. This will assist in making day to day business decision. So, a bookkeeper keeps you updated on your cash flow on a periodic basis.
Automate Administrative Tasks
Their skills help them automate administrative tasks that prevent you from concentrating on your primary business goals.
When Do You Need an Accountant?
An accountant can evaluate your financial performance and position. They serve as a more strategic planner, especially during tax time.
Wondering if you need an accountant? Here are a few common instances:
Manage Your Debt
From managing the inventory to managing employees, a small business owner has a million things to take care of. But debt is one of the top items on the list. If you find yourself struggling to manage your debts, you need an accountant. An accountant can advise you when to reinvest in your business and find the least expensive borrowing options.
Provide Advice on Financial Decision-making
Accountants help your business grow by helping you implement an effective business strategy. They assist in managing your tax debts and assist in liasing with regulatory bodies such as the ATO and ASIC. They can also assist with payroll issues. They prepare your annual tax returns and financial statements including the preparation and lodgement of various statutory documents with the regulatory bodies. An accountant will ensure you are on top of tax compliance so that you are able to focus on your core business.
So, it would be best to work with an accountant when you need assistance with financial decision-making, tax law and obligations, assets investments, cash flow management, entity structures etc.
They Can Help Improve Profits
If your business’s revenue has increased, but your profits have not, it’s a sign that you may need to change your strategy and therefore need the assistance of your accountant. A competent accountant can provide key industry specific insights and prepare user friendly management reports that help you recognise where to minimise costs and how to improve revenue in order to increase your profitability. An accountant will assist in minimising your tax liabilities which ultimately lead to increased after tax profits. Part of this strategy could be ensuring you have the correct business structures in place.
How to Choose Whom You Need?
Working with a bookkeeper and accountant helps you take control of your business’s financial performance and position. But finding an experienced accountant and bookkeeper is challenging. This is where we come in to the picture.
We help you make the right decisions and gain complete control over payroll, superannuation, invoicing, bank reconciliations, tax return preparation, preparation of financial statements and business strategy.
If you need assistance, please get in touch with us on 03 98859793 or at enquiries@glanceconsultants.
