Jan 9, 2015
If You Own A Construction Company - Then you
know Bookkeeping is one of those mundane, nasty, dirty,
aggravating, grubby little chores somebody is going to get stuck
with along with its rotten scoundrel cousin the Monthly /
Quarterly Tax Returns.
If You Have Employees - Whoa! Look out! Now you have
to process payroll. In some cases you may decide it is better
to provide cash advances to your employees if it helps
them stay focused on the job and not on personal issues. Finally,
there are all the quarterly payroll tax returns to be prepared
and filed.
Some Contractors - Decide their time is better-spent meeting
prospective clients, putting together bids, managing jobsites and
anything other than providing their own contractor bookkeeping
services. So, they find someone else to do it and that is the
subject of this article.
Just Like There Are - Skilled construction workers and clowns
trying to pass themselves off as skilled workers there are
Professional Bookkeepers and clowns who are really
only Bad Bookkeepers.
You Know How To - Tell if someone knows what they are doing in
construction because you have been doing it a while.
You May Not Know - If you have a professional bookkeeper or a
bad bookkeeper unless you have at least 10,000 hours of
training in accounting and another 10,000 hours training
in construction accounting so here are the top ten things
to watch out for:
Red Flag #1
Professionals Have A Real Office - Professionals in any field,
doctors, lawyers, consultants and contractors bookkeeping services
that cannot afford to maintain an office, even a small one room
office, outside their home is in my opinion dangerous, dangerous,
dangerous!
The Ones Who Say - "I keep my overhead low" may as well be
saying "Your records are available to any of my family, friends and
neighbors to rummage through them because I am not the least bit
concerned about your exposure to Identity theft or you competition
getting a peek at what your construction company is all about."
Red Flag #2
Professionals Do Not Work Alone - Because it is too easy to get
sloppy and lazy when there is nobody else looking over his or her
work. After a while, they develop a severe case of the stupids!
Just like a hermit living in the mountains in a cabin, they go stir
crazy.
Red Flag #3
Professionals Accept Credit Cards - Wanna Bees don't and in a lot
of cases it is because of bad credit score, business location,
business setup, criminal record, (Perhaps involving embezzlement)
and a whole lot of other reasons including the fact that it cost
money to take credit and debit cards.
The Ones Who Say - "It costs money to accept credit cards" ask
them if they use credit cards ask yourself, "What are they really
saying?"
Fast Easy Accounting - Accepts all major credit and debit cards
including Visa, MasterCard, Novus, Discover, American Express,
Check Cards, Cash, Checks and Wire Transfer. And it does not cost
you anything extra!
Red Flag #4
Bad Bookkeeper - For a short list of Bad Bookkeeper Traits
Click Here
Red Flag #5
Time Billing Only - Professional Bookkeeping
Services charge a flat monthly fee for services.
Only someone who does not know what they are doing still charges by
the hour.
We Are Construction Accountants For Goodness Sake - Any
bookkeeping or accounting firm that does not know how to calculate
complex algorithms to allow for fluctuations in the workload and
generate a monthly fee that is fair needs to go back to school and
re-take courses on Decision Modeling, Statistical Analysis
and Business Process Management.
All Professional Contractor Bookkeeping Services - Have
formulas for calculating fee structures. It is not rocket
science:
How many employees do you have? From that we know how much time and effort will be required to process payroll and do the tax reports
What type of construction do you do? New house builder, residential or commercial remodel, service work, residential, commercial? From the number of employees and the type of work you do we know how much time and effort will be required to do all the bookkeeping, bank and vendor reconciliations and the rest because we have a System. Click Here To Learn About Our System
Red Flag
#6 All Businesses Welcome - Gone is the day of the
person sitting at the desk with green eyeshades handling the books
for all kinds of companies and industries. The complexities and
speed of change in all industries means you need a firm that really
understands your industry. If it is construction and you are based
anywhere in the USA including Alaska and Hawaii we are your best
choice.
You Are Facing Fierce Competition - And it is getting worse.
You need someone who specializes in your industry. If you are in
the construction industry, we can help. If you are in the
restaurant industry or anything other than construction, sorry, we
are not your best choice.
Red Flag
#7 Your QuickBooks Is Hidden - Today more than ever
you need to have access to your QuickBooks. Any bookkeeping service
that cannot or will not allow you 24/7 access to
your QuickBooks Desktop Version in a cloud based
environment is doing you a disservice. If you do not want or
need it that is O.K. too! But if you ever decide you want access to
it that should be easy for them to provide.
Red Flag #8
Annual Tax Return And Bookkeeping - Bad, Bad, Bad....I have written
several articles on this subject and you can Click Here For The Best One
Red Flag #9
Unwilling To Collaborate - When your bookkeeper gets a bit
uncomfortable about other people being involved and overseeing your
financial records you have a BIG PROBLEM.
We Advocate Trust-But-Verify - There are five people you
need on your Board of Advisors and you are paying for their
services anyway so you may as well take full advantage of them.
They are there to help you.
Red Flag #10
They Do Not Understand KPI - KPI is short for Key
Performance Indicators also known as the Five Key Reports
every contractor needs. Go to www.fasteasyaccounting.com/KPI to learn more about KPI
Reports.
I hope this podcast helps you understand that outsourcing your contractors bookkeeping services to us is about more than just “doing the bookkeeping”; it is about taking holistic approach to your entire construction company and helping support you as a contractor and as a person.
We understand the good, bad and the ugly about owning and operating construction companies because we have had several of them and we sincerely care about you and your construction company!
That is all I have for now and if you have listened this far please do me the honor of commenting and rating podcast www.FastEasyAccounting.com/podcast Tell me what you liked, did not like, tell it as you see it because your feedback is crucial and I thank you in advance.
For Construction Company Owners who do not need the full power of QuickBooks for contractors and want 24/7 online access we offer Xero Accounting Online and we have custom setup for construction companies.
I hope this podcast helps you understand that outsourcing your contractors bookkeeping services to us is about more than just “doing the bookkeeping”; it is about taking holistic approach to your entire construction company and helping support you as a contractor and as a person.
We understand the good, bad and the ugly about owning and operating construction companies because we have had several of them and we sincerely care about you and your construction company!
That is all I have for now and if you have listened this far please do me the honor of commenting and rating podcast www.FastEasyAccounting.com/podcast Tell me what you liked, did not like, tell it as you see it because your feedback is crucial and I thank you in advance.
I trust this will be of value to you and your feedback is always welcome at www.FastEasyAccounting.com/podcast
This is one more example of how Fast Easy Accounting is helping construction company owners across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii put more money in the bank to operate and grow your construction company. Construction accounting is not rocket science; it is a lot harder than that and a lot more valuable to construction contractors like you so stop missing out and call Sharie 206-361-3950 or email sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com
Thinking About Outsourcing Your Contractors Bookkeeping Services?
Click On The Link Below:
Need Help Now?
Call Sharie 206-361-3950
In closing, I want to caution you that we may or may not be a good fit for your contracting company. This guide will help you learn what to look for in outsourced construction accounting.
Thank you very much and I hope you understand we really do care
about you and all contractors regardless of whether or not you ever
hire our services.
Bye for now until our next episode here on the Contractors Success
MAP Podcast.
Warm Regards,
Randal DeHart | Contractors Accountant