Bookkeeping: The mere mention of the word can give business owners a headache. But it doesn’t have to be painful. In fact, if you follow these ten tips for hiring business bookkeeping services , you can reduce errors, increase productivity, and improve profitability.
1. Don’t Do It All Yourself!: Most small business owners hate the idea of handing over the bookkeeping reigns to someone else. They feel like they’re losing control. Does this sound like you? The truth is that having small business bookkeeping services in fast-moving Los Angeles actually frees you up to focus on your core business and serve your customers better. 2. Communicate: Communication is key when you hire a small business bookkeeping services in Los Angeles. Make sure you keep the firm up-to-date on all financial transactions—especially such things as new property purchases and employee bonuses that are often overlooked. 3. Save Receipts: This may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s easy to forget to keep receipts or even misplace them in the day-to-day hubbub of a busy office. It’s important to have the backup documentation for your deductions so tax time can be easier and more beneficial. 4. Track Expenses: As a small business owner, you may pay for expenses out-of-pocket. While this is not ideal, the real problem is forgetting to track these expenses and submitting them to the company to be reimbursed. A small business bookkeeping services in Los Angeles specializes in keeping you on track so you can reduce your tax liability. 5. Reconcile Properly: It’s a fundamental aspect of bookkeeping. The books and bank statements must be reconciled each and every month. This can be a time consuming process for a business owner, so again this is another task that can be managed by a small business bookkeeping services in Los Angeles. 6. Backup!: A paper trail is imperative. Documentation or verification should always be available. You don’t have to have all of it on-hand. Just sign-up with an automatic data back-up service to ensure everything on your system is backed-up on a daily basis. 7. Properly Classify Employees: Do you know who is an employee, who is a contractor, a consultant, a freelancer? It can get confusing. Make sure you hire a small business bookkeeping services in Los Angeles to help you classify each and every employee so you can get the biggest benefit at tax time, not to mention avoiding penalties for misclassification. 8. Know Your Petty Cash: How much money is in petty cash at any given time? Setup a system and make sure a petty cash slip is filled out whenever money is removed for any purpose. Something as simple as petty cash can really mess up a company’s bookkeeping. 9. Categorize Expenses: Are you using the right categories for expenses? Again, this can get confusing. Your small business bookkeeping services in Los Angeles can help you follow generally accepted accounting practices. 10. Deduct Appropriate Sales Tax: Many retail businesses make mistakes when deducting sales tax. This can actually be a huge problem if you have many total sales because it results in a higher total sales amount without lowering the taxes due. Of course, this can be easily corrected and regularly monitored by a small business bookkeeping services in Los Angeles so you can avoid any tax burden as a result of sales tax.
These may seem like second nature to some business owners, but keeping focused can keep your books clean.
Bookkeeping: The mere mention of the word can give business owners a headache. But it doesn’t have to be painful. In fact, if you follow these ten tips for hiring business bookkeeping services , you can reduce errors, increase productivity, and improve profitability.
