There is a season in every organization when it’s possible for a select few (or one person) to wear many hats (i.e. salesperson, accountant, researcher etc.).
Being a small business owner myself, I understand that doing all the work myself gives me the assurance that it is being done the way I want. But there comes a point when even the most routing tasks eventually become too much for business owners to handle themselves.
There is probably no area in which this applies more than bookkeeping.
Today’s economy dictates that organizations run lean and efficiently, focusing only on core activities if they are going to compete. Therefore one of the most common trends these days is to outsource any tasks not directly related to the core service. For example if your core service is ministry, then it probably makes more sense to outsource operations that do not require full-time placement internally such as legal work, IT and bookkeeping.
Often times, I am called in long after the owner has been buried so deep in organizing and tracking data from paper records, that there is a lot of cleanup involved before we can get to efficient and streamlined bookkeeping services. And it’s usually after the business owner has experienced frustration and lack of focus on the core of their business such as retail, fixing cars or ministry.
An outside provider is able to do bookkeeping much faster than a non-specialist simply because of their expertise, resources and experience. Expertise that bookkeeping providers have not only allows them to handle the volume of work faster, but also identify areas where companies are losing money. Overwhelmed business owners often incur late fees and penalties from failing to pay bills on time. Professional bookkeepers are skilled at finding unnecessary expenses and problems.
I understand from personal experience how hard it can be to let go of certain fundamental tasks within your business. Entrepreneurs by their nature think that they have a better idea when it comes to starting a business, so it’s only natural they want control over as many aspects of a business as possible.
But doing everything by yourself unfortunately is going to get in the way of growth and time management on your part. In fact it can sabotage your business by distracting you from your core services. Using outside bookkeepers may have initial costs that owners want to avoid, but in terms of money saved by avoiding waste, late fees and regulatory penalties, they cost much less in the long run.
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