5 Accounting Mistakes That Cost Small Businesses Significant Growth
Source: business.com | Re-Post QBScott 10/10/2019 –
Failing to have a firm grasp on your business’s financial status can significantly hamper your ability to grow.
• The vast majority of small businesses handle all of their accounting and bookkeeping on their own.
• If you do hire an outside professional, make sure they are either a certified bookkeeper or accountant.
• Small businesses are best served separating their personal and businesses expenses.
• Small businesses should always be preparing for tax season.
When it comes to growing your business, few decisions can pay off as significantly as how well you set up the management and oversight of your firm’s finances.
That’s typically the task for an accountant or bookkeeper, but many small business owners go it alone, attempting to balance the complex burden of managing their books with everything else they already do to keep their business going.
Only about one-third of small U.S. businesses employ a bookkeeper, and just under a quarter employ an accountant, according to Accounting Today. The same survey found that 66% of small business owners had no plans to hire an accountant.
A broad swath of small business owners are tackling the myriad tasks required to pay bills, invoice customers, cut checks to employees and contend with past-due accounts, among other accounting tasks. While that might work for very small businesses, it often opens the door for firms to make accounting mistakes that undermine their growth and siphon precious time and mental focus from other important areas of their business.
Author: Scott Meister, CPA
I help small businesses, accountants, bookkeepers, office managers, and business owners with their accounting needs. I’ve used QuickBooks since 2002 and train folks on how to use it efficiently. I create high-quality video training tutorials for QuickBooks and post them on QBScott.com.
Certifications include: Certified Public Accountant (CPA) | Certified Bookkeeper (CB) | Advanced Certified ProAdvisor for QuickBooks Desktop | Advanced Certified ProAdvisor for QuickBooks Online | Certified ProAdvisor for QuickBooks Enterprise | Certified ProAdvisor for QuickBooks Point Of Sale