| |
| |
|
Small Business Information |
|
|
|
5 Tips for Hiring a GREAT Bookkeeper
Bookkeeping?the "dreaded" word is something we all have to worry about. Business owners rarely go into business to deal with the financial aspects of running a business. It's easy to understand why! Who wants to do all those boring record keeping functions? Not many. Therefore, one of the first things most entrepreneurs do is hire a bookkeeper. Though hiring a friend, relative or anyone who isn't experienced with the basics of bookkeeping may be a recipe for DISASTER! You may have the best of intentions and they probably do to; however, you need to be objective when hiring a bookkeeper if you want a GREAT one! 5 Tips for Hiring a Great Bookkeeper: 1. KNOWLEDGEABLE. Make sure they have a basic understanding of accounting and how the "big" picture all fits together. The difference between an accountant and a bookkeeper is that an accountant will do more analysis and usually has additional training. So, while you may not need an accountant on staff, you do want someone who has a basic understanding of the difference between assets, liabilities, equity, income, cost of goods sold, and expense accounts. 2. AVAILABLE. Ensure that they will be available and dependable to keep your bookkeeping up to date. Your information should be input on a consistent basis so you can get reports in a timely manner. If they are trying to "squeeze" this function into their other responsibilities, they may not give it the focus they should. 3. ACCOUNTABLE. You want a bookkeeper that will keep you accountable. If they have checks or deposits that they are unsure of, you want them to be willing to hold you accountable and get good information for record keeping. You don't want someone who is going to code everything to "miscellaneous." 4. COMPETENT. You want to keep your books on a computer, not by hand. So ensure that your bookkeeper is competent in using a computerized bookkeeping program, like QuickBooks®. You want a full-service package that incorporates your budgeting, estimating, invoicing, job costing, bookkeeping, and reporting aspects all in one. Though it is key that they are competent enough to be able to input good information into the computer system. 5. FAMILIAR. Having a bookkeeper that is familiar with your industry will shorten the learning curve and provide better details. While the basic bookkeeping fundamentals are applicable to all industries, there are very different specifics needed for different industries. Construction companies rely on job costing to understand their profitability. While, retailers are focused on inventory aspects. Restaurant, non-profit, and service-based industries require different insights too. It's important to have some basic accounting knowledge, but ideally you want someone with industry familiarity. 7 Questions to include in your interviewing process: 1. What companies/industries do you have bookkeeping experience in? 2. What computer software programs are you familiar with? Word? Excel? QuickBooks®? Other? 3. How do you continue to improve your skills? 4. How do you trouble shoot when you have a problem? 5. What time management secrets do you use to ensure projects are completed on time? 6. What are the basic financial statements and why are they important? 7. How will they help you be accountable to the details of record keeping? Some feel uneasy about holding their boss "accountable", but that is exactly what you need! Hiring employees should never be taken lightly, especially when they are going to be doing your bookkeeping! Without good financial reports, you have no idea how your business is doing. Garbage In = Garbage Out. Input is critical to having a successful business report that you can utilize in your management decisions. These same requirements should be incorporated if you are hiring an outside firm to do your bookkeeping also. These 5 Tips for Hiring a GREAT Bookkeeper will help you! Contact: Pam Newman is a Certified Management Accountant, Author, and Certified QuickBooks® ProAdvisor for Financial and Point-of-Sale software. For more information, visit her website at http://www.quickbooksinformation.com or call 816.304.4398. Email: pam@rppc.net
MORE RESOURCES:
Small-Business - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Failures Guide to Small Business Success How many "get rich schemes" have you joined? Or have you invested in numerous legitimate business endeavors only to have them not work for you? Have you started you business and now facing a complete shut down? Do you consider yourself a failure? Are your loved ones pressing you to give up?Risk-taking is a large part of entrepreneurship, in fact it is what drives it, and it's why so many people avoid small business, despite its many potential rewards. Those of us who have tried it only to have failed may find ourselves right back where we started, which could leave us feeling like total failures. A Look at Incorporating a Business in Florida As you may know, there are many ways to incorporate a business in Florida. While companies exist to do the legwork and paperwork for you, the most direct way is to contact the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporation's website itself. Are You a Small Business Lone Ranger? Take My 10-Question Quiz To Find Out! So what exactly is a "Small Business Lone Ranger?" A "Small Business Lone Ranger" is a business owner who does all the work themselves.No matter how big or small the project, the Lone Ranger handles 100% of it. Hosted PBX, Is It Right For You? "Order Now!" "Your Business Will Fail If You Don't Have This New Technology!" "Your Competition Has This Tool, Why Don't You?" Does any of this sound familiar? Does it make you cringe? It seems to be impossible to keep up with all the new trends in business today. It's hard to know which trends are just flash in the pan gimmicks and which are valuable tools that your business can actually benefit from. Small Business Operators - 7 Reasons You Should Change Your Accountant A recent survey showed that only 28.7% of small business owners were happy with their accountant, and only half of those would recommend him to their friends because he was too busy already. Small Business Stress Buster: Completion not Perfection Completion not Perfection Five Keys To Doubling Your Productivity and Boosting Your EffectivenessI frequently meet with business owners and executives who feel overworked and undervalued. Many of them are highly gifted and are in fact contributing a huge amount of work, energy and brilliance to the companies they own or work for. A Small Business Consultant Can Help in Many Ways... But One Thing He Can't Provide A consultant must remember that the business belongs to the client. There is always a danger that the consultant will take a dominant position to the detriment of both of them. Secrets of Cleaning Truck Trailers in Your Fleet from a Veteran Truck Washer Cleaning the trailers towed by big trucks is not easy, those big forty-foot to fifty-three foot boxes are quite intimidating up close when you are holding nothing more than a brush and pressure washer gun, looking at a soap bucket. The hardest thing to do is to clean the back doors of trailers because they get really greasy from all the debris and stuff the truck has driven through. Get Out Of The Rut And Back On the Track Do you sometimes find yourself just going "through the motions" of your business from day to day? Has the excitement gone out of your daily routine?What happened? Remember way back when you began doing this? You were excited and enthusiastic about what you were going to do. What went wrong? Where did the excitement and enthusiasm go? More importantly, how do you get it back?Of course, this may be a signal that it is time for you to make some changes or to "move on. Four Reasons Why Small Businesses Succeed (or Fail) The American system of business management has been admired and emulated around the world. This system is characteristic of two traits in the American psyche: (1) enthusiasm for the future and making things better, and (2) an openness and willingness to change in order to achieve that end. Start a Resume Writing Service for Profit The resume writing service serves an important role in the economy. Many qualified candidates have a difficult time marketing themselves to employers and turn to a professional writing service for assistance. Environmental Boat Washing and Detailing Some marine biologists feel that the concentration of dead marine growth on boats and in boat harbors can create hypoxic zones or a lack of oxygen. This causes a decline in the water quality and may at times cause adverse effects on living marine life such as salmon in the case of the State of Washington. Home Based Franchise Case Study Here is an interesting case study of a company, which franchised mobile car wash units. It started with the humblest of beginnings indeed. Setting Prices - Pricing Your Consulting Services THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRICINGIn case you hadn't noticed, people can react very differently when faced with the same price for a product or service. In fact in most cases, we'll never actually know what is in their minds when they consider a price and then decide to respond to it in certain way. Time to Sell your Restaurant? Some Advice from Restaurant Consultants, Inc. As a specialist in getting restaurants open, it is surprising how many people ask, "How can I get out of my restaurant?" Reasons for this question vary greatly, from a death in the family to a merger with another firm, to the end of a lease.Selling your restaurant requires quality prior planning if you are going to realize the maximum value for the business. Sex Up Your Business Growth A top executive called up me late in the night. He was still awake at 3 o'clock. Top 7 Small Business Tax Tips Here are seven ways for owners of small businesses to save money on their taxes.1. SBIR - A Nice Add-on Business If you are a small business and qualify to participate in the SBIR program, it is a natural enhancer to your existing business. If you are small enough you may be able to start a company using SBIR funding, but you will soon come to realize that if your sources of income are not diversified (with SBIR being only one source) you might fall victim to funding cycles and no income. Janitorial Cleaning Service: Getting Started A janitorial cleaning service is one of the best businesses for a hardworking, blue collar person to start from scratch. Every business and every building needs to be cleaned once in a while - in some cases, many times each day. Pressure Washing Aircraft Hangers at the Airport If you are looking for a way to own your own business using a pressure washer or expand your current pressure washing business you might consider cleaning Aircraft Hangers out at the airport. Why Wash Aircraft hangers? For one it can lead to much more work cleaning all sorts of things at airports which is an encapsulated market.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
