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Why Your Accountant Shouldn’t Do Your Small Business Bookkeeping

May 10, 2021

Delegating the day to day management of your finances is a smart move, but if you decide to do so, you need to be strategic about who you delegate to!

After all, it makes no sense to ask a gourmet chef to mow your lawn!

The same goes for your accountant.

While accountants and bookkeepers are adept at working with numbers, there is a considerable difference between the two professions.

Just as you shouldn’t expect your bookkeeper to handle your high-level accounting tasks, you shouldn’t ask your accountant to take care of your regular administrative, financial tasks. Here’s why.

 

Bookkeepers And Accountants Have Different Skillsets

Naturally, because both careers work with financial data, there is an overlap between the two roles. This doesn’t make one better than the other. It just means they have different training, a different focus, and differing objectives.

Think about the difference between a doctor and a nurse at the hospital. A nurse is skilled in monitoring symptoms and medications and measuring your vitals – among dozens of other specialised skills. Doctors are capable of doing all these things, but their focus is on the bigger picture of diagnosing and treating patients using the information provided by nurses.

Bookkeepers and accountants have similar roles when it comes to your finances. Bookkeepers monitor and record the day-to-day information, ensuring everything is accurate and up to date, while accountants tend to focus on the bigger financial picture.

For a more in-depth look into the differences between bookkeepers and accountants, check out this resource.

 

Accountants Need An Objective View

One of the benefits of using an accountant is having a fresh set of eyes to review your finances a few times a year. This objective insight allows your accountant to give you advice on improving and streamlining your business.

However, if your accountant is in charge of the day-to-day numbers in your small business bookkeeping, they may lose that objective fresh view by being too close to the information. This means you may miss out on that all-important annual strategic analysis.

 

Two Heads Are Better Than One At Small Business Bookkeeping

Bookkeepers and accountants have a lovely symbiotic relationship. Your bookkeeper presents all the information needed to your accountant, who can then provide that valuable objective analysis.

You get the benefit of having two sets of eyes on your books, meaning there’s more chance of picking things up.

 

There Are Better Ways To Spend Your Money

Accountants are highly qualified, which means they charge more per hour for their services than bookkeepers – often, a lot more! Asking your accountant to do fundamental bookkeeping tasks is like asking a 5-star Michelin chef to boil you an egg. Sure, they can do it, but it probably isn’t the best use of their time, or your hard-earned money!

Small business bookkeeping is labour intensive and needs to be done regularly. Paying an accountant every week to do this task is not the best way to spend your money when a bookkeeper has greater expertise in this area than an accountant.

 

Grow Your Team

When you are running a small business, you know that you can’t do it alone if you want to be successful. Which is why it is vital to get the right people on your team. Engaging an accountant and a bookkeeper is a great start when it comes to outsourcing.

There’s no denying that every business needs an accountant – but getting them to do your books is not a smart move. Instead, invest in a great bookkeeper. They have all the knowledge necessary to manage your finances and prepare them for your accountant when the time comes.

And, if you are looking for a great team of bookkeeping professionals to wage war on your financial management, then reach out to us here at Admin Army.

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