As your small business probably knows, anyone can perform bookkeeping tasks. It isn’t hard to categorize synced transactions from the bank! It’s not a matter of finding someone who can perform this responsibility well, but finding an experienced bookkeeper who will do it correctly, on time, and cohesively with a CPA who can in turn provide a proper and thorough report to tax authorities. If your bookkeeper made these accounting mistakes last year, it might be time to rethink your business’s accounting.
Didn’t Work in Conjunction with Your CPA
Having a bookkeeper and a separate tax person can prove to be an issue, as they are not incentivized to communicate with one another. Consider hiring a licensed Certified Public Accounting Firm that specializes in helping small businesses bridge the gap between transactional work and providing ongoing tax strategy planning.
You will miss opportunities to legally save money on your taxes if your financial efforts are not ongoing and cohesive. If your bookkeeper doesn’t do their job correctly on a daily basis, your CPA will have to clean up messes later on in order to correctly prepare your business’s taxes. Bringing in an integrated CPA team will ensure a seamless financial experience throughout the year as the same group of licensed CPAs sees your business through from the beginning of the fiscal year through to the end.
Missed Opportunities to Legally Save on Taxes
Your business could take a significant hit thanks to a financial disconnect between your CPA and bookkeeper. Is your bookkeeper only equipped to take care of your straightforward and transactional daily financial tasks? Don’t skimp in this area; what you might save by hiring an inexperienced bookkeeper that makes accounting mistakes you will likely spend when paying taxes and then some.
Enlisting the expertise of an integrated CPA team guarantees that you are getting high-quality service from a group of CPAs that work together to benefit your organization.
Didn’t Provide Year-Round Advisory and Planning
To truly thrive, your company needs year-round, customized financial expertise from an industry professional that has been trained to help business owners like you. Trusting an unqualified bookkeeper that works in total separation from your CPA will not do the trick.
A strategy that was established at the beginning of the year might need to be altered if your bookkeeper reports that day-to-day conditions have changed since the strategy was put into place. A communicative, collaborative relationship between these two is crucial for your organization’s success.
Mis-Reported and Risked An Audit
You will be a likely auditing target if your bookkeeper continually makes mistakes—even small ones. Rounding to the nearest whole number, simple math errors, incorrectly categorizing expenses, neglecting to track reimbursable expenses, and more can catch the attention of the IRS and put your business in a vulnerable position.
If errors of this nature don’t trigger an audit for your company, your CPA will either have to allocate extra time and effort to rectify these mistakes later on or your business will simply miss out on opportunities to save money.
Didn’t Get to Know Your Business
Your bookkeeper should have an in-depth familiarity with your business, its problem areas, its long-term goals, etc. in order to help you save money. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Can my bookkeeper help identify problem areas?
- Opportunities to increase profits?
- Do they understand my goals to grow my business? Do they help me figure out ways to cut costs?
If the answer is no, and your bookkeeper makes accounting mistakes, consider how upgrading to an integrated CPA team might improve the financial aspects of your business.
What Can Be Done?
As mentioned previously, there are simple solutions to these costly mistakes. Insogna CPA serves small businesses to bridge the gap between transactional work and providing ongoing tax strategy planning so your business doesn’t suffer from poor financial management:
- Small business bookkeeping helps your company save on its taxes as much as legally possible.
- Identifying problem areas in your business, opportunities to maximize profits, and advising on how to cut costs. Put simply, not only calculating your books but reading them, too.
- Preventing unnecessary audits by maintaining good reporting habits and avoiding audit-triggering mistakes.
Is your small business’s bookkeeping costing you too much and not saving you enough? Contact Insogna CPA today to find out how an integrated CPA team can help you come out ahead.