How do you know if your business is at a stage that you need a bookkeeper?
First, it is really interesting to understand that bookkeeping has evolved from what it was when it first became a professional.
I think that these days people assume that bookkeeping is the same as either accounting or admin, and that it isn’t a necessary business service when you can just do it yourself. This may be true for some, but not for others
So how do you know if you need a bookkeeper
To understand what a bookkeeper does and to maybe overcome any preconceived ideas it is helpful to know the evolution of a bookkeeper’s role, which is actually quite interesting! I had no idea we were once referred to as scribes!
Bookkeeping came about due to civilization moving toward agriculture where goods were being exchanged, rather than hunted and gathered. This gave rise to currencies and taxes being created all over the world – put simply!
As civilization evolved and profits were gained, this further evoked the evolution of the bookkeeper and by the time capitalism arrived, the accurate recording of money and records was paramount since there was no technology to audit this. Not just for businesses, but for households.
Prior to technology arriving you could not run a business without bookkeeping!
You might think, well we have software for that now. Do I need a bookkeeper? Again, yes and no!
While technology has evolved, so has the way money works and businesses operate, and thus, so has the role of a bookkeeper.
These are the services a bookkeeper does for a business
- Processing purchases, sales, receipts, payments
- Processing payroll
- Superannuation lodgements
- PAYG for employee tax
- Help with setting up business systems
- Providing reporting for preparation of a BAS
- Producing profit and loss reports
- Creating business reports for the accountant for preparation of the tax return
- Advisory on expenditure and cashflow management
These might not all be services that you need, for example, you don’t need to do BAS lodgements if you are under the GST threshold, and you don’t need payroll, PAYG and superannuation if you don’t have employees!
It is always helpful to have a bookkeeper from the get-go even if you think your business is not at that stage if you are not particularly savvy when it comes to finance and running a business. See us as an additional support person for your team!
All of our packages are designed to dial-up (and down) as you need, and any good bookkeeping service should be able to offer you the same no matter where you are located.
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