Dangerfield himself was a master of slinging jokes, but given his onstage character’s reputation for not getting his due, he’d have fit right in as a bookkeeper.

Because here’s the simple truth about bookkeepers: They’re the most underrated, undervalued asset that your business can have.

Hell, let’s go one step further. Bookkeepers are the most spit-on, disrespected resource in our entire industry.

And it’s about time to finally put an end to that.

If you’re absolutely serious about putting your business in a position to be successful, having a top-flight bookkeeper on your side is an absolute must.

The clear benefits of hiring a bookkeeper

Any bookkeeper worth their salt will do the following for your business:

1. Save you from overpaying someone else. Compared to getting an accountant to do it, bookkeepers clock in around $30–70/hour.
2. Onboard your business to new technology. They’ll help your business convert from its old desktop financial software. After all, it’s 2020 — your bookkeeping belongs in the modern digital era.
3. Get your paperwork fully organized. Namely, filing and archiving years and years of paperwork to spare you time wasted (and boredom, probably).
4. Once they’re in the cloud with you, tackle your “bank reconciliation process.” This means going through every bank account and credit-card statement, ensuring that every bill matches every expense, and that every last bit of revenue coming in matches every payment recorded to your bank accounts.
5. Prepare your reports. Including your sales tax report — whether it’s on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis — and your monthly payroll report.

With that in mind, hiring the right bookkeeper is something that can’t be stressed enough. (In other words, stop scouring Kijiji for freelancers and back away slowly…)

Bookkeepers possess a level of control we call “God Mode.” They input the numbers, they can decide which accounts things are being coded to, they can make decisions free of restriction, etc. It’s an impressive amount of responsibility, but it also means one mistake can have a domino effect on your accounts and end up being costly.

Dedicated bookkeeping services also prevent you from having to go it solo because bookkeeping is all time lost with no value, save for the output.

Sure, you might be saving a bit of cash, but if you really have so much time on your hands that you feel you don’t need a bookkeeper, it means you’re not spending time on your business and what you’re best at.

Why hire a bookkeeper when I already have an accountant?

Believe it or not, your company’s finances don’t all fall under the purview of accounting, and accountants and bookkeepers are not interchangeable parts.

Some owners have this false perception they can just go to their accountant with all their papers, wait a couple months, and presto! All of their financials are in order.

In fact, your accountant — who, by the way, is usually a CPA and has absolutely no problem charging you $150/hour minimum to do your books from the comfort of their mahogany desk — doesn’t normally do bookkeeping. Or like bookkeeping. Or draw any sort of pleasure from it whatsoever.

Bookkeeping is messy, mundane grunt work. Stop and think of the patience and precision it would require to stick the landing on just bank reconciliation every time, far less all of the tasks listed above.

An accountant’s not going to enter bills into software on your behalf, or code a bank account, or produce sales tax and payroll reports, so it makes sense that they stay away from that stuff with a ten-foot pole.

Instead, they’re going to produce your year-end filing and financial statements, which will take them a few hours to do… once the bookkeeper has finished doing everything else leading up to that point.

Right the ship with cloud bookkeeping services

You need your financials to run your business and that can’t happen without your books being done.

If you’re operating your business without a bookkeeper, good luck. Really.

If you do have a bookkeeper, but they’re still coming into your office and picking up papers, or you’re still delivering papers to your accounting firm who has a bookkeeper, it’s time you look at a real-time solution with cloud-bookkeeping technology and tools.

With Cloudmeb, we offer a full turnkey, end-to-end solution with all of the above included. Book a call with us today and we’ll show you the positive impact good bookkeeping can have on your business.