As a small business owner, you juggle endless responsibilities. Along with delivering excellent service to customers, you have to keep up with payroll, marketing, hiring, and so on.
For business owners who would rather focus on what they do best, financial bookkeeping isn’t always on top of the priority list.
Accounting is tedious, complicated, and confusing. However, it’s an essential responsibility for any business owner.
If keeping track of your small business’s finances is becoming a burden, it might be time to work with an accountant. Here are six signs that your company could benefit from teaming up with a small business accounting firm.
1. Your Finances Are Becoming More Complex
As your business grows, so do your receipt stacks and expense spreadsheets.
In the early years of your business, you may have kept things simple and managed to do your own bookkeeping and tax prep. However, with growth comes complexity. As your business accumulates financial accounts, increases sales numbers, and adds expenses, managing your own finances becomes impractical.
Working with an accounting firm relieves the burden of tracking all of your business’s finances by yourself. Your accountant can provide customized service that keeps your books in order and simplifies your tax filing process.
2. Your Business is Growing and You Need Help Managing Employee Compensation
Managing payroll for one or two employees wasn’t so tough. But now, your team has grown and employee compensation is taking up more of your time and energy. Furthermore, you’re not sure how all of your payroll expenses will affect your tax filing.
Working with accountants who specialize in small business payroll takes the stress out of employee compensation. Your accountant can help you understand, design, and manage a payroll system that prioritizes simplicity and improves your tax filing position.
3. You’re Not Sure Which Financial Data You Should Be Tracking
Do you need to save every receipt? What items can be counted as expenses?
Sometimes, trying to keep track of every dollar that your small business earns and spends makes you feel like a dog chasing its tail.
Working with bookkeeping experts takes the number-crunching off of your busy hands. Accountants can manage your books in a manner that accounts for every penny, yet paints a clear and simple portrait of your finances.
4. You Need Help Filing Your Taxes
Tax filing is a high-stakes event for your small business. You need to pay all that’s required, but you’d rather not pay a penny more.
For a stress-free tax season, work with an accounting firm that specializes in assisting small businesses in your industry. Your accountant will ensure that your taxes are filed quickly and painlessly and that your business neither overpays nor underpays its tax burden.
5. You Have an Upcoming IRS Audit Or You Previously Failed One
No business owner is happy to hear that they’re going to be audited by the IRS. However, an audit doesn’t necessarily mean that you did anything wrong, and the process doesn’t need to take up a great deal of your time.
A number of factors and triggers can lead to an IRS small business audit. These include:
- Random selection
- Transactions with other audited parties
- Errors on tax return
- Excessive deductions
- Excessive expenses
One thing is certain: you don’t want to handle an audit by yourself. Accountants are audit experts who can help you conclude the process as quickly and smoothly as possible.
6. You Need More Time to Focus On Your Core Operations
Is bookkeeping pulling your time away from focusing on core operations?
You should be running your team and ensuring great service for your customers. You shouldn’t be stuck in front of a spreadsheet adding up decimal points.
When you put your bookkeeping in the hands of professional accountants, you can get back to doing what you do best.
Small Business Accounting Services From Stratlign
Stratlign isn’t just an accounting firm. We’re a team that’s focused on serving small businesses like yours.
We specialize in accounting for the construction and trade industries. We appreciate the work these businesses do and we know what makes them tick. Most importantly, we can streamline and simplify your tricky financial records and help you breeze through tax season worry-free.
To learn more, schedule a 15-minute discovery call with one of our team members today.
