When Do I Need Bookkeeping Services?

To have a successful business you need a product and/or service to sell, a marketing scheme by which to sell them and then a system to account for your sales income and related expenses.  If you can’t sell what you are offering, then you certainly don’t need an accounting system!  However, if you are selling, then you need to have a manner for the accounting of income and expenses, and the means (loans and/or investments) by which your business is operating.

When your business is small, and if you little activity, most activity can be accounted by a simple spreadsheet showing the cash flow of the business.  You can categorize items to be total at different portions of the spreadsheet to account for your transactions.

When the transactions get to be too many, then it is time to consider an accounting software, if you wish to continue doing the accounting yourself.  There are plenty of online and desktop options from which to choose, some better than others.  QuickBooks is the most popular, but others may serve you just the same.  If you plan to continue growth in your business you may want to consult with your tax preparer to see if the system you will use matters to him/her.

When maintaining the accounting system takes too much of your time, then you will want to consider having an office employee be trained to do the accounting functions or to subcontract these services.  There are benefits to either option, keeping the books in house or to subcontract.  You can keep the books in house and subcontract with remote access option, online software option, or subcontractor comes to your office.  This may be an option for a combination of inside and outside help to run the accounting system as needed.  Talk with an accounting system specialist to discover the best option for your business at this stage.