If you’re like most small business owners, keeping the books isn’t something you enjoy doing. You would rather be working on growing your business and keeping your clients happy. Despite the fact you recognise that efficient management of day to day finances is vital. GST returns, bank reconciliations and credit control can often be considered unwelcome interruptions to the business at hand.

Often the workload involved doesn’t justify employing a full-time bookkeeper. That’s where outsourcing the work to a qualified and experienced bookkeeper becomes a cost-effective way of getting the job done. Leaving you more time t0 focus on marketing your business and servicing your customers.

If you do employ a part-time staff member to take care of things for you, here are a few tips that will make the numbers side of your business go smoother:

1. Understand why it is important in the context of your business.

Why is it important and how will this improve the running and time management of your business.

2. Before you get someone in to help it’s a good idea to think about what financial information you will need to track how your business is doing.

• Income vs. Expenses
• IRD obligations
• Gross profit margins
• KPI’s

Reporting on these means you know exactly how well your business is doing, where your sales are coming from and where costs could be managed better. This key financial information should be used when making strategic business decisions. For example, you may find that one range of products or services are more profitable than others. This may lead you to expand this product category or work out why it’s doing so well to see if there are opportunities that can be applied elsewhere within your business. Good financial records will also be important if you ever need to secure finance.

3. Set up bookkeeping processes as a regular business activity.

When you get someone in to look after your accounts for you, take their advice on how often they will need to work on your bookkeeping. If it’s done regularly (rather than once or twice a year at GST or tax time) it will be a lot easier and will save you a lot of stress.

Once a month may be enough, or it may need to be done weekly to keep on top of things. Your payroll processes may also play a part in how often someone needs to come in. As part of this, a process for retaining and storing receipts and bills paid, IRD returns, and bank statements will make the end of year tax reporting easier and put you in a good position should you get audited by the Inland Revenue.

Your bookkeeper may need to spend a little more time initially in setting up your bookkeeping software for your required reports, and in establishing systems for your paperwork and bookkeeping processes, so that things run smoothly.

4. Pick the right software for your needs.

Investing in software such as QuickBooks, Xero or MYOB makes managing your bookkeeping processes so easy. It’s not a matter of one-size-fits-all and is important that you get good advice as to which one will best suit your particular business before you buy. Your bookkeeping provider will be able to recommend the right one for you taking into consideration such things as whether or not you have employees or if you need to keep track of inventory.

Outsourcing your bookkeeping may mean that you don’t have to learn the more advanced features of the software yourself. However knowing that it is able to provide you with the information that you need efficiently should be important when considering your options.

5. Find a qualified and experienced partner.

If you outsource your bookkeeping to an expert, you are going to be sharing information about your business finances. You will also be putting trust in someone that your accounts will be organised well, your obligations met, and any confidential business information will remain confidential.

Make sure the bookkeeping service you use are fully competent. It would be helpful if they are experienced in your software system if you already have one in place. They should also be good communicators and be able to provide referrals from their other clients.