We all get busy within our businesses. We are assisting clients, working on their bookkeeping, and tackling some of the other million tasks we have on our plate. All of those things can make it easy for us to let our books fall behind. We rationalize our decision to skip working on our books too. We can catch up next week. We will do two months at once next month. The reasoning can go on and on.
However, what happens if you do get behind with your bookkeeping??
I’m sure you know that your books can tell you a lot about your business. After all, that is exactly what you tell your clients. So, what are the reasons why your books cannot be behind?
Your Numbers Tell a Story
You can easily use your numbers to see how your business is growing. If your bookkeeping is not up to date, you won’t have any idea of how good, or bad, your business really is.
You Learn from Yourself
As you do your bookkeeping, you will learn so much about your habits and where your money is going in your business. You can get lots of free training when you simply analyze your company. I recommend taking advantage of this training and utilizing what you learn when engaging with clients in the future. You know a client will listen to you better if you share your own personal experiences. Especially if you can tell them the exact steps you took when you had the same problem.
Ability to Create Strategies
You cannot create strategies to fix issues in your business or grow if you have no idea what your numbers are.
Ability to Pay Yourself a Salary Plus Percentage of Profits
If you are constantly trying to figure out how much you get paid each month because you are working off of the money that is left, keeping your books up to date can help. While you should be paying yourself a regular salary and percentage of profits, not knowing how much money you have left is not going to get you any type of paycheque any faster.
Profitability Plus the Ability to Preplan
The only way you can be quite profitable, and capable of planning for the future, is to keep your books up to date at all times. Failure to do that will only ensure you really have no idea how much money you have.
What to Look for When Analyzing Your Books
There are a few things you should also pay close attention to when you are analyzing your books.
- If you choose to work with percentages, you must make sure everything is fitting within the percentages you assigned. If something is off, you must determine the reason.
- Keep a close eye on your receivables, so you don’t have an issue with cash flow.
- Look at the percentage you are paying your team compared to what is being billed.
- Consider options for improving your bottom line.
- Create an account and put money in it for future training, conferences, courses, and anything else you know you will want to do. This will prevent you from scrambling to find the money at the time of the event.
- Look for any anomalies.
You won’t be able to do much for your business if you don’t keep your books up to date. I recommend having a team member do your books and have them flag things you should look at. This will ensure your books get added to the workflow and are completed as they would be for any other client.
Remember, you are your best client! Keep your books pristine, so you can be profitable, gain valuable information, and use the insight you have to help your clients in the future.
Do you constantly struggle to keep your books up to date? Join my free Facebook group and gain a support team who will encourage you to get those books done regularly!
I work on my books, pay bills on Saturday mornings. All my billing gets done either when the session is done (monthly) or on a pre determined schedule with the client. My current clients are still on hourly/retainer or flat fee/retainer or I have the CC to bill/pay. I basically don’t have an AR because of how I set up the retainers etc. I also need my books current for my weekly sessions with my business coach.