By Becky Paulk,

Simplify Professional Services / Bentonville

I think about small business as a three-legged stool, with each leg having its own function:

• Marketing brings customers in the door
• Production builds client relationships, and maintains and improves products and services
• Accounting gathers and interprets financial information from all aspects of the business

With out any one of the legs, the stool falls over. The Small Business Association claims 50% of businesses fail in the first five years, with poor record keeping and financial controls cited as top reasons why. Here are five ways outsourcing your accounting function can strengthen your business and better your bottom line.

1. Save time and money. If you spend as few as 10 hours a month at an average of $50/hour on your accounting, you spend $500 of your valuable time on a non-revenue generating task. If you took that time to spend with potential customers, what would be the impact to your sales or customer loyalty? To maintain a competitive advantage you are probably constantly looking for ways to improve products and services. Free up time to get it done.

2. Monitor the health of your business. If you consider bookkeeping a difficult chore, here’s your chance to get peace of mind knowing your record keeping and financial controls are really being taken care of. You will have access to valuable information and analysis you can use to find innovative ways to drive sales and improve profitability.

3. Lose the infamous ‘box of receipts’. Do your receipts, invoices, and bank statements pile up? If you don’t have time to maintain it, you can’t analyze income and expenditures effectively. That information is more valuable to you right now than sitting in a box waiting for tax season. Partner with a bookkeeping professional all year and you gain insight and understanding that can help your business thrive.

4. Manage cash flow. Cash flow is one of the biggest challenges small businesses face. Will you have enough income to cover bills, stock inventory, pay employees, take advantage of marketing opportunities, and pay yourself a draw?  Understanding the movement of cash in and out is critical to its survival.

5. Develop future strategies. Your dream of expanding products and services is closely tied to your accounting. An accounting partner can help budget those strategies into your financials, and give you back your time to develop new business and revenue streams.

Becky Paulk is a certified professional bookkeeper and owner of Simplify Professional Services. Corporate trained and qualified, she is dedicated to small business enterprise and the personalized assistance they often require. Email questions to Becky at
becky@simplifyprofessionalservices.com or call (479) 619-8872.