May 13, 2022
Every day you make financial decisions about your company,
which affect how successful and sustainable your construction
business is. If you're responsible for the bookkeeping and all the
paper management (bills, receipts, estimates, invoices), you could
be making errors that affect your decisions. Because of an
incorrect decimal place, you may think that you have more money in
the bank than you do. Or you may not fully understand how a
decision today affects your business tomorrow.
Keeping up with paperwork is a typical construction business
timewaster we noticed in more than thirty years in the industry.
Doing your books often winds up costing you more money in the end,
not to mention the time and energy that goes into a task you
despise or, at the very least, don't fully understand.
This is one area that many construction company owners hate to
be part of but still choose to take responsibility for.
Here are some ways having a construction bookkeeper can solve
your paperwork frustrations and free more of your time:
1. Financial
Health
A bookkeeper keeps track of your
company's financial health and can advise you on decisions that can
help you grow your business. They can also warn you about pitfalls
that could hurt your long-term growth.
Consider that you have a great month with a lot of money
coming in, so there's extra cash in the bank account. You might be
tempted to upgrade your equipment, but a bookkeeper can warn you
that there are upcoming payments the money is earmarked for. They
can help you determine the best time to purchase those tools, so
you won't suddenly find yourself with a zero balance.
This information becomes even more critical if you're looking
to undertake significant financial transactions, such as taking out
a loan or purchasing a new truck. A bookkeeper can help you fully
understand the financial ramifications of such a move.
2. Late
Transactions
You might think a late bill payment doesn't affect your
business, but the fees associated with late payments add up, and
missing the wrong payment can affect your company's credit. That
may make it more challenging to get a business loan or credit
card.
Worse, you could miss important transactions in one month that
have ramifications for your business the next month or later on. By
absent-mindedly skipping a payment in May, you may think you have
extra money that gets spent—until you notice you have to double up
on payment in June.
Construction Bookkeepers stay on top of your financial
transactions and understand how every transaction affects your
business. They can help determine the optimal time to pay debts and
let you know if clients are behind on payments.
The information and insight a bookkeeper provides can go a
long way to helping you make intelligent business decisions. Not
having a bookkeeper adds unnecessary work to your load; it
increases your stress and increases the chances of
errors.
3. Tax
Compliance
On top of all that, bookkeepers also stay aware of changing
laws to ensure your company is compliant with payroll and tax laws
and any other financial rules and regulations that affect your
business.
With all the negatives to doing the bookkeeping yourself, why
wouldn't you hire a bookkeeper so you can focus on growing your
business?
Final
thoughts
What to save? What to toss out? At Fast Easy Accounting, we no
longer need to print and save every document in file folders and
keep adding new file cabinets. Our paperwork processes ensure your
happiness and peace of mind knowing that your papers can be
retrieved electronically at any time in the future.
Remember, if you are sick and tired of doing administrative
tasks such as handling your documents, we are here to remove your
paperwork frustrations. Although a 100% paperless office is not the
complete answer, we can certainly help you reduce most of it. In
most cases, we can help contractors like you eliminate over 50% of
your paperwork; the related savings and increased production more
than pays for our services.
About The Author:
Sharie DeHart, QPA is the co-founder of Business
Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood, Washington. She is the
leading expert in managing outsourced construction bookkeeping and
accounting services companies and cash management accounting for
small construction companies across the USA. She encourages
Contractors and Construction Company Owners to stay current on
their tax obligations and offers insights on how to manage the
remaining cash flow to operate and grow their construction company
sales and profits so they can put more money in the bank. Call
1-800-361-1770 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com