By their nature, entrepreneurs are inclined to want to do everything themselves.
These are the people who don’t want to work in 9 to 5 cubicles following the directions and dreams of others.
They want to set their own work hours, soar to their own standards, and fulfill their own goals.
This admirable personality that allows them to find the courage to think up and build their businesses can sometimes undermine their success as they grow and cannot tap into their ability to delegate.
One of the most common areas of problems is keeping up with daily accounts.
The accountants and bookkeepers of the nation can testify to the number of horror stories they receive of shoeboxes of receipts kept without references that are suddenly dumped at their desk as the problem reaches crisis point.
Nobody wins when accounts are not kept meticulously up to date, least of all the entrepreneur who must make business growth decisions based on cash flow, projections and profits and revenue.
Fortunately there are many options in today’s world to help in this area, and out-sourcing your day-to-day bookkeeping and being able to access up-to-date data about your financial status can be done with the click of a keyboard thanks to the Internet and the Cloud.
The important thing is to set up a workable, efficient system right from the start.
If you try to do it all yourself, you will end every day with the chore of doing your numbers when your mind would be better served on handling the growth of your business and accessing up to date numbers and trends provided to you.
You don’t have to take on a staff bookkeeper. No do you have to pay by the hour to an outsourced accountant that makes it hard for you to budget.
With outsourcing online firms, you can work from a set established budget and have access to everything 24 hours of the day, seven days a week.
For example, at our firm we use Cloud bookkeeping and Cloud accounting technology to digitize and automate your bookkeeping, accounting and tax preparation process.
When an entrepreneur outsources their bookkeeping and accounting to us, there are no end of day chores and the full focus in the growing stage of your business can be on product or service development and client services.
Although our physical location is in Richmond Hill, Ontario, we handle clients from Victoria to Halifax with the efficiency of Cloud bookkeeping services.
We take away a burden from the shoulders of busy entrepreneurs across the nation and ensure their information is up to date and relevant.
Best of all, there is no panic at tax time, because we have all the records up to date and can project situations accurately.
The process of starting and growing a business is a constant balance of risks and opportunities, and wiser decisions are made when the fiscal challenges are obvious. Having up to date records is a great counterpoint to the overly enthusiastic and optimistic thought pattern that often accompanies the entrepreneurial spirit.
Entrepreneurs aren’t usually afraid to take risks and make mistakes and they learn from them.
But with that mantra comes the consequence that some mistakes can be so costly they sink the business.
A good accountant, aware of all the aspects of your business revenue and profits and expenses, can provide the essential statistics that make the risk more grounded in reality.
Our accountants don’t work in isolation. We place a high value in being aware of the impact of trends in the economic climate around us, not just in Canada but in other countries and our significant trading partners.
Cloud services provide a level of access that isn’t even normally possible with an in-house accountant who may close the door on weekends and vacation periods or is confronted with a sudden debilitating illness.
Recent research shows that 94 percent of business owners surveyed acknowledged they think Cloud accounting is beneficial to their business, but a smaller percentage use it.
If you are looking for a way to balance your entrepreneurial know-how and spirit with practical input about your financial statistics, consider Cloud accounting as a new option in a world where up-to-date data can be a lifesaver.
Certified professional bookkeeper and certified tax specialist Elena Ivanova is managing director of Piligrim Accounting Inc., a national accounting and tax preparation service based in Richmond Hill, Ont. You can reach her at elena@piligrim-accounting.com.
