Bookkeeping is absolutely crucial for staying on top of your small business’ finances. Too often, small business owners try to do their bookkeeping on their own when they’re first starting out. That’s all well and good, but you’re bound to end up making your fair share of mistakes. That’s why we recommend hiring a bookkeeping service. Here are some bookkeeping mistakes that small businesses too often make when they go without outside help.
Doing your own bookkeeping? Don’t make these common bookkeeping mistakes.
Too Much Guesswork
If you aren’t a professional bookkeeper, you’re almost certainly going to end up making your fair share of guesses when attempting to keep track of your records. This could include improper categorization of expenses, neglecting tax deductions, or failing to file in a timely manner. You might think that guesswork will suffice for now, but trust us—you’re in for a headache come tax season.
Procrastinating
Unless your wildly passionate about bookkeeping, chances are that you will end up procrastinating your bookkeeping duties for some time. We’ve all procrastinated before. But when you end up with a veritable mountain of records that need to be recorded, you’re going to wish you hadn’t done it.
Having a hard time sticking to a weekly or even a monthly bookkeeping schedule? Hiring a professional bookkeeper to keep track of your records is the best way around this.
Tossing Receipts
The cardinal rule of bookkeeping for small businesses is never to throw away your receipts. Still, all too often, people do exactly that. This can be a big problem if you get tax audited and you’re unable to back up your deductions.
Just because you should hold onto your receipts for the next seven years doesn’t mean you have to be bogged down in paper. Digital receipts are just fine. Even if you can’t opt for digital receipts to start, you can document your paper receipts digitally and store them either in the cloud or with accounting software.
Not Hiring an Experienced Bookkeeper
Even if you do decide to outsource your bookkeeping, you can still make the mistake of not hiring the right bookkeeper. Before making use of a bookkeeping service, do your research about them. You want to see years of experience and testimonials from satisfied clients. Their services should be inexpensive, but be wary of any that are suspiciously cheap.
If you do your research, we’re sure you’ll end up with us.
Contact Bowman & Company Today
Bowman & Company CPA, PC provides all of our individual and small business customers with experienced, accurate, and affordable financial services. Our financial services aim at decreasing your taxes and increasing your net worth through responsible, timely, and accurate record keeping. We offer our services to clients throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area including Maryland and Baltimore County, Columbia, and Howard County. For more information on our offerings, contact us online or call us at (410) 381-8121. You can also find us on Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, and Youtube.