As a business owner, managing finances can quickly become overwhelming—especially as your company grows. While keeping track of expenses, invoicing clients, and filing taxes may seem manageable at first, it can easily become a time-consuming and error-prone task as your operations expand. Knowing when to hire a bookkeeper is a crucial decision that can help free up your time, reduce stress, and ensure your financials are in order.
So, how do you know when it’s the right time to bring a bookkeeper on board? Here are key signs that indicate it may be time to hire a professional to handle your bookkeeping needs.
1. You’re Spending Too Much Time on Bookkeeping Tasks
When you’re first starting out, it’s natural to wear many hats—marketing, sales, operations, and finance all fall on your plate. But as your business grows, your time becomes more valuable, and your focus should shift from daily administrative tasks to higher-level strategy and growth.
If you find yourself spending hours every week on bookkeeping tasks—such as reconciling accounts, managing invoices, tracking receipts, and generating reports—it may be time to outsource. Bookkeeping can quickly become a drain on your productivity and creativity. Hiring a bookkeeper allows you to offload these time-consuming tasks so you can concentrate on managing and growing your business.
2. You’re Making Frequent Mistakes or Missing Deadline
If you’re finding that your financial records are marred with errors, or you’re consistently late on filing taxes or paying bills, it’s a strong sign that you need professional help. Mistakes in your bookkeeping—whether it’s incorrect tax filings, missed deductions, or misclassified expenses—can lead to significant financial penalties, missed opportunities, or even legal issues.
A professional and organized bookkeeper will have the expertise to ensure accuracy, consistency, and timeliness in managing your finances. With their help, you’ll avoid costly mistakes and stay on top of important deadlines, such as tax filings, payroll, and bill payments.
3. Your Business is Growing and Becoming More Complex
As your business expands, so does the complexity of your financial situation. You may start to have multiple revenue streams, a growing customer base, additional employees, and more sophisticated accounting needs (e.g., handling payroll, inventory tracking, or balancing bank statements).
If you’ve noticed that your current system—whether it’s an Excel spreadsheet or a simple accounting tool—is no longer enough to keep track of your financial data, it’s time to consider hiring a bookkeeper. A skilled professional will be able to manage and understand financial data, track income and expense, and provide insights to help you make informed decisions.
4. You’re Not Sure Where Your Money is Going
One of the biggest challenges for business owners is understanding where their money is going. Without proper tracking and categorization of expenses, it can be difficult to know which areas of your business are profitable and which ones may need attention.
A bookkeeper can help you set up a system for categorizing your expenses, tracking cash flow, and generating financial reports that give you a clear view of your business’s financial health. This level of visibility is essential for making data-driven decisions and planning for growth.
5. You’re Feeling Overwhelmed by Tax Season
For many business owners, tax season is a stressful time, especially if you’re trying to sort through months of receipts, invoices, and financial statements on your own. Missing deductions, failing to keep proper records, or making last-minute errors can result in costly tax penalties or even audits.
A bookkeeper can help ensure your financial records are in order year-round, making tax season much less stressful. With their expertise, they can also help you identify potential tax deductions and tax-saving strategies to reduce your liability. This peace of mind can be a huge relief during the busy tax season.
6. You Need Help with Payroll Management
As your team grows, managing payroll becomes a more complex task. Ensuring that employees are paid on time, tax withholdings are correct, and benefits are accurately tracked is essential, but also time-consuming. If you’re handling payroll on your own or with software that you don’t fully understand, you risk errors that could lead to legal issues or unhappy employees.
A bookkeeper can manage all aspects of payroll, including calculating wages, handling tax withholdings, and ensuring compliance with local and federal regulations. They can also assist with year-end reporting, such as generating W-2s or 1099s, saving you time and reducing the risk of payroll mistakes. If you have a payroll company such as Paychex, or ADP, your bookkeeper will be able to correctly enter your payroll each pay period. This is very helpful at tax time to have all of your payroll records entered correctly to save time and cost with your tax preparer.
Conclusion
Hiring a remote bookkeeper can be one of the best decisions you make for your business. It allows you to focus on what you do best which is managing, and growing your business. With the right bookkeeper, you can leave the financial details to a professional. If you’re spending too much time on bookkeeping tasks, struggling with accuracy, or feeling overwhelmed by the complexity of your business’s financials, it’s probably time to bring a remote bookkeeper on board.
Kraft and Sons bookkeeping services will first and foremost, help with day-to-day financial management. In addition, we can also answer many financial questions and provide assistance helping you understand your company’s financial reporting. When you hire us to do your company bookkeeping, you’ll be able to maintain a healthier work-life balance, reduce stress, and ensure that your finances are in order for years to come.
