The tasks that most small business hate the most tend to be the ones around money: keeping the books, staying on top of which taxes you need to be paying (and when) and paying people who work for you. It’s time-consuming work, especially if you hate doing it or aren’t skilled or experienced in this kind of work. It could be a very wise move to get yourself an accountant, bookkeeper or use a payroll company, (such as Moorepay, linked to here) yet many small business owners struggle on alone.
If that sounds familiar, here are three reasons why you’re not outsourcing these tasks and what to do about them:
1. How do I know I can trust them?
Although it may sound wonderful to be able to hand all that bookkeeping to someone else, there’s always the nagging worry that they’ll rip you off, behave in a fraudulent way or just do a bad job and get you into trouble with the people who collect tax in your country.
So what can you do to reassure yourself that you’ve got a professional you can trust? You can meet them or at least talk to them on the phone if they are not near you. Remember to check out any qualifications, credentials and membership of professional bodies. Do they have experience of working with small businesses like yours? Then check out testimonials, or better still ask around the people you know to see if they can recommend a service provider to you.
2. But my books are a mess!
An accountant friend of mine told me how some of her clients came to her once a year with a carrier bag of receipts. That was the full extent of their bookkeeping! These professionals are used to people who don’t understand accounts, that’s their job. It may cost you more if you give them messy records to sort out – after all there’s more work involved that way – but that shouldn’t stop you from getting help if you need it.
3. It’s too expensive
You may be surprised how inexpensive bookkeeping and payroll outsourcing can be, especially when you think about how long it would take you to struggle through it yourself each month. A professional could easily have the job done in the third of the time you could.
Accountants do appear to cost more, but on the other hand a good accountant should actually save you money because she will point out more tax-efficient ways of running your business that could save you thousands. If you’re starting out and seriously strapped for cash, some accountants reduce your fees in the first few months for start-ups, so it’s always asking that question. Most small business accountants allow you to pay monthly which spreads their fee over the year rather than hitting you in one go.
So I hope I’ve exploded most of the reasons why you’re not freeing up more of your valuable time!
Can you think of any other reasons why you’re still handling all the money stuff yourself?
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