Do you work with a contracted accountant but want to hire an in-house bookkeeper? As a small business grows, bringing in some outsourced tasks back into the company's control often increases efficiency and cost-effectiveness. But you'll need to ensure that your bookkeeper employee and the hired accountant work together to keep your company on track.
How can you do this? Here are a few key tips to put into practice.
1. Arrange for Meetings
If you don't arrange face-to-face meetings between the employee and the accountant, they may not take the initiative to get to know one another and have the best communication. An in-person meeting could be done when the accountant is working on your annual company taxes or as complex year-end work is being done. This gives both individuals the opportunity to talk more openly and bring up important topics.
2. Encourage Questions
A knowledgeable accountant is a valuable resource for the company — but only if your people make use of the resource. If the bookkeeper is hesitant to ask questions of the accountant because they don't want to bother the person or because it might cost the company money, they may miss out on important answers. Make clear to both parties that getting needed information and clarifications is more important than saving a few dollars.
3. Be a Cheerleader for Both
The bookkeeper may feel a little intimidated by an accomplished accountant. If this is the case, confirm your support and respect for the bookkeeper's skills in what they do. However, you should also know when to back up the accountant on important subjects. As the employer and owner, your job is to avoid favoring one side but rather to appreciate both for their strengths and facilitate collaboration.
4. Create Shared Projects
Can you get the bookkeeper and accountant working together proactively? For instance, you might ask them to work together to streamline the monthly closing or make the chart of accounts more efficient. What about reducing data entry using modern technology? Or creating a job costing system? Innovation not only helps your company stay ahead of the competition but also helps them form a good working relationship.
If you put these few tips into practice, your accountant and staff bookkeeper will soon become a better team. And then you can leave the number crunching to them and focus on boosting your profit so everyone wins.
For further tips, reach out to a business accounting firm near you.
Share30 June 2020
Accounting is the absolute most important element of running a business. If you mess up the bookkeeping even the slightest bit, the entire business could be in trouble. I know how costly a small bookkeeping error can be. About three years ago, I made a seemingly small mistake in the financial records for my business and the next year when I filed my taxes, things were very bad for me. What would have required a small tax payment had suddenly turned into a big tax bill and quite a headache. Since then, I have worked with an accountant and things have been better.