How Can Small Business Managers Put Less Time Into Finances?
When you're a small business manager, keeping track of your finances is an important aspect of making sure the ship stays on the right course. But unless you specialize in finance, you might wish to spend more of your time and energy on other business matters. Here are some steps to take so that you can have a tight financial strategy without putting in excessive personal effort.
Hire a Specialist
The first thing that needs to happen is having an expert to handle most of the financial strategy. For larger businesses, it's often possible to hire a full-time accountant or bookkeeper to do this work. They may also handle payroll services at the same time. If you're a smaller business, you could have a small business accounting service handle most of the work for you.
Using a specialist to do the work has many benefits. You'll spend less time as a company learning about different financial management strategies, creating systems and reviewing numbers. Instead, your professional accountant will already have the knowledge needed to provide a high-level, accurate service. You'll spend less time correcting the financial mistakes of an amateur, as well, which could potentially save money.
Have a Strong Bookkeeping System
The second component of a low maintenance financial system is a great bookkeeping plan. Over the course of many years, you as the manager may be one of the only people who has their eyes on the financial data year after year. When audit time comes around, you might need to put a lot of effort into providing data to the auditor. If your company is able to set up a strong bookkeeping system from the start, you will be able to glance through the past documents to find information you need, and you won't have your current bookkeeping team wondering where certain documents went. Small business accounting teams often have experience in devising these systems for new businesses.
Use Management Reporting
Finally, management reporting can be very helpful in creating an easy financial management system. Have your accountant print out your profit and loss statements and other key reports on a weekly basis so that you can confirm that your finances are going in the right direction. These management reports are fairly low effort on your end, but they can provide you with valuable feedback that helps your business avoid larger financial mistakes in the long run.
For assistance, talk to a professional like Bliss & Skeen CPAs.