Is Your Accounting Staff Able to Take You to the Next Level?

by: MargotBrandlin
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When your company is just beginning, you're not necessarily thinking about the talents and skills your employees are going to need in the years to come. At first, you just focus on surviving, and that sometimes means that you're willing to hire just about anyone who will work at the pay level you can afford.

As oftentimes happens, a business owner hires someone they already know and trust, such as a neighbor or sister, to do the bookkeeping for them. Now, it's true that this person might not even have experience in bookkeeping, but they just are more skilled at it than the owner.

Have You Outgrown Your Accounting Staff?

As your business continues to expand, so, too, will your business's requirements and needs grow. There may come a time when the bookkeeper you hired can no longer do the job. As your business grows, transactions, too, will get more complex, and this can make the books undoable for some without that level of skill. And if the bookkeeper is just focused on keeping up with basic tasks, more finely oriented details get neglected.

No one is managing cash, monitoring profitability, or building relationships with lenders-no one is paving the way for growth. Even if the owner knew how to present the business to a bank or investor, the numbers might not be reliable. It can end up literally handicapping the entire organization.

Hold on, There's Help for the Business Owner

It's true that many business owners don't think they are versed in accounting or finance, and don't have a formal background in these types of skills. This can leave them with little skill and knowledge so that they can't properly supervise the bookkeeper they've hired, much less train them. It's also true that they might not be able to handle issues like financial forecasting, keeping costs under control, and analyzing profitability.

If you hire a qualified CFO or controller, this can help you in two ways:

* The CFO or controller can support and train your existing accounting staff, so that they can operate at optimal levels. This might include putting together procedural manuals, automating some processes, and reorganizing disorganized books, so that the bookkeeper can have a fresh start.

* By performing financial duties that fall outside the expertise of the bookkeeper and the owner-this might include things like preparing and analyzing financial statements, creating business plans, defining budgets and performing cash flow analysis.

It takes unnecessary pressure off the business owner, who is freed up to focus on running the business. And the bookkeeper tends to thrive with training and clear expectations in place.

Efficient Processes Increase Your Bottom Line

How your accounting operations are run makes a direct impact on how profitable and able to grow your company is. As an example, when you process accounts receivable efficiently, you collect payments more promptly, cash flow comes in more evenly, and banks can see your business has more credible.

If you question your accounting staff's ability to take you to the next level, you might want to consider calling upon a professional accounting service.

About the Author

About the Author: Margot Brandlin writes for OWL Bookkeeping and CFO Services. Owl Offers Businesses in Minneapolis Quickbooks training and implementation.  

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