Business owners who have QuickBooks and are somewhat familiar with it, may think it is just a matter of data entry. A professional bookkeeper knows how to enter your data so that is it accounted for correctly. Knowing the difference between assets, liabilities, and expenses. For example if you purchase a new laser printer for your office for $650.00 is that an expense or an asset? A professional bookkeeper knows how to categorize these items, which means when your CPA is looking at your books at year end all his questions are answered. When your accounting is done properly it will take less time for your CPA to review your books. Having your businesses books up to date, correctly categorized and reconciled gives your business the financial reports you need to see exactly where you are spending your money and how you can improve your businesses financial health. As a business owner you want to spend your time in the most effective ways possible. Look at how much time you are spending on bookkeeping. You could be using that time to grow your business. Investing in a professional bookkeeper frees up your valuable time giving you the opportunity to focus on your business goals.

A professional bookkeeper will take on many of the tedious tasks such as data entry, accounting reporting, and reconciliation. Depending on your level of service, your bookkeeper will manage payroll, accounts receivable and accounts payable. At Brooks Business Support, we also specialize in helping you structure your accounting systems to suit your business.

Keep all receipts. Make notes on receipts about their business purpose. By keeping receipts and notes pertaining to their purpose you protect yourself and your business in the case of an audit. For tax purposes it is necessary to keep all bookkeeping records and receipts for at least six years. If you don’t want to keep all that paper, you can scan in receipts and keep them electronically. Regardless of how you choose to keep your records always keep a back-up. If paper receipts are somehow lost or damaged, having scanned copies of them is a good back-up. Always back-up your electronic copies, because hard drives crash. No you can’t just use your credit card statements in place of receipts. The credit card only shows a total purchase, not what you purchased.