Everything Bookkeeping: A Crash Course for Small Business Owners

Bookkeeping is essentially about keeping track of everything that your business spends for as well as everything that your business takes in. Transactions and functions would be recorded in cashbooks, daybooks, and journals then transferred to ledgers, hence the term "bookkeeping" because it was all about “keeping the books”.

Can bookkeeping actually affect the smooth running of a business? The answer is a definite YES! One of the primary aims of bookkeeping is checking whether you’re spending more money for your business growth rather than earning it, which is a bad sign about income and profit. For small businesses, it is always helpful to have reliable information about your financial transactions. This will help you plan and budget and essentially make sound decisions for the good of your business.

Traditionally, bookkeeping was done by business owners or managers themselves. This could be a huge mistake because this takes away your focus on the more important aspects of growing your business. You should be able to channel creativity, innovation, and flair into ideas and implement them without having to worry about numbers and figures on Excel spreadsheets.

These days, the wise choice is to hire bookkeeping services to do the heavy lifting for you. Rid yourself of the worry of keeping accurate transactions to record and reconciliate your books. Basically, here are the important functions of bookkeeping:

·         Recording. This is about keeping track of sales, which was traditionally done by writing in logsheets but can now be done thru invoicing software. Particularly for small businesses which have a small investment or capital, its crucial to keep track of purchases and orders so that you’ll know whether your business is staying well ahead of expenses.

·         Reconciling. This refers to balancing your transactions, payments, deposits, and bank fees with your record books, and identifying potential reasons why they don’t match. This is where it all becomes technical and a little bit blurry for non-enthusiasts of numbers and math, which is why there are bookkeeping experts you can hire.

In this highly advanced world, it is becoming more common to outsource a bookkeeping firm to take care of your small business bookkeeping needs. In fact, our firm offers virtual bookkeeping which is definitely hassle-free, cost effective, and time efficient on your part. If you’re new to this concept, here’s what you need to know about virtual bookkeeping services:

Virtual bookkeeping through the clouds. Sometimes also known as cloud accounting, this is when bookkeepers work with their clients remotely through a shared online accounting software. Your virtual bookkeeping team can use this to review and update you on bank statements, check your financial statements, and reconcile your accounts to make sure all your payments, expenses, and receivables are on-track. This kind of arrangement is beneficial for small business owners because it is less costly than working with an actual bookkeeper on-site.

Bookkeeping deliverables on a schedule. What’s advantageous in getting virtual bookkeeping services is the frequency of reports and functions that they deliver to you on a regular basis. Through outsourcing, there’s an option to have accounting and bookkeeping services done virtually and within a specific time frame. You can have financial statements within your reach and on a schedule that’s convenient to you and your business timelines.

As insiders in the bookkeeping service industry, we have the advantage of knowing the latest when it comes to outsourcing and what’s the next best step for small business owners such as yourself.