Do I Need A Bookkeeper If I Have An Accountant?
This is a great question and we hear it often. This is a great overview of why we feel you need both.
bookkeeper? accountant?
If you are running your business, chances are you already have an accountant. Accountants are a crucial piece of your business journey as they are the tax gurus. Have you ever found yourself wondering, “Is this enough?”.. Well, you’re not alone.
If you don’t have a bookkeeper, you have likely completed your own financials to provide to your accountant or you’ve brought your shoebox for your accountant to sift through for year end. Your accountant handles the critical pieces like taxes and year end filings, but they’re not always set up to manage your day to day financials that help you run your business.
That’s where a bookkeeper comes in.
what’s the difference between an accountant and a bookkeeper?
Here is a simple overview:
Bookkeepers focus on the granular day to day details, keeping your books organized, accurate, and current throughout the year. Everything a bookkeeper does, goes to your accountant for year end.
Accountants take the data provided from your bookkeeper to file your taxes and provide high-level advice and tax strategy- usually (not always) after the year is over.
Signs you might need a bookkeeper
When you are busy running your business and providing your clients with care, the last thing on your mind is organizing your receipts and finances. Here are some tell tale signs that it might be time to find a bookkeeper:
You dread catching up on receipts
You’re constantly behind on paying your suppliers
You’re behind on reconciling your accounts
You’re constantly surprised at your year end tax bill
You want to start planning- not reacting
You wish you understood if your pricing is enough to cover expenses
Sound familiar? A bookkeepers helps to solve these pain points and makes your accountants job easier (and usually less expensive).
can’t my software like quickbooks handle this?
The answer is: No. Software is an excellent tool to help track the data, but it doesn’t know your business.
A bookkeeper:
Builds your chart of accounts to suite you and your business
Makes sure your accounts are categorized correctly and consistently
Spot issues early
Recommends software to simplify your business
Can answer questions
Think of your accounting software as the tool and your bookkeeper as the one who knows how to use it, properly, so you don’t have to.
So…. do you need both?
In most cases, yes.
Your accountant is the tax expert. Your bookkeepers is your day to day partner. Together, they create a full team of financial support that keeps you confident and compliant.
