‘I just started
business and can’t afford to employ an Accountant’; This is a popular mindset amongst
business owners. In my opinion, this is not just a mantra but the truth. These
businesses have barely broken even and are still struggling to stay afloat. But
then, is that enough excuse not to have a Book Keeping system in place? Candidly,
the answer is “No”. Infact, it’s
possible that the challenge your business faces that seems to be a nightmare is
due to a lack of a book keeping system…. However, that’s a topic for another day.
Book keeping can be
done without necessarily having an in house Accountant. Don’t get me wrong,
having an in house Accountant is still best practice. However, there are other
means to achieve this which are effective as having an in house Accountant but
with future limitation as the business grows. At that time, the business would
have made enough money to employ a profound Accountant.
To the crux of the
matter, thank goodness for the advent of IT (Information Technology). Bill gates once said “Information Technology
and Business are becoming interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully
about one without talking about the other”. I guess you can’t agree more.
Technology has helped simplify business processes and book keeping is not an
exception.
First,
there are quite a number of accounting apps and interestingly, some are free.
For those that are not free, you pay a token. This implies that the major cost
will be to get a smart phone that can download and enable the use of the app.
These accounting apps may not give you the package an in-house Accountant will
give but it will meet your basic book keeping needs which may be all your
business need at start. Examples of these apps include: Daily Accounting, My
budget free, Expense Manager, My Accountant to mention a few.
Visit
Blackberry world for Blackberry phone users, App store for iPhone, Google Play for android phone e.t.c.
The second is like
the first but in a more advanced form and it is accounting software. You will need a computer preferably, a desktop
computer to use these software which can be an online or/and offline version.
Examples include Store Harmony which is an indigenous software, Zoho books,
Quick Books, Sage One, Xero e.t.c.
Genuinely, these accounting software
functions are quite elaborate and may even provide same result as having an in
house Accountant but operating this software still requires an expert skill.
Some savvy business owners may try do it themselves but there is a possibility
that at some point there will not be enough hours in the day to keep up or it
takes away time from focusing on your business or you reach a crossroad were
your skills become inadequate. How to solve this dilemma takes me to my last
suggestion and it is outsourcing.
Outsourcing in this
context is contracting the book keeping function of your business to a
consultant with requisite knowledge, skills and expertise. Benefits to be
derived include lower cost as compared to employing an Accountant and
benefitting from the tripod of the consultant’s knowledge, expertise and
experience. You may engage a consultant to help set up the Accounting Software,
train employee(s) and/or management on its usage from time to time. Or engage a
consultant to set up an Accounting system that will capture all the relevant
information needed to prepare the books by the consultant periodically or as
agreed by both parties.
It’s pertinent that
SMEs begin to get their Book Keeping right and it’s not too late for you to
start no matter the stage of your business.
If you have wealth of
ideas but no capital or seeking to expand your business but no fund, this next
article is for you.
Thank you for your
time.
Cheers.
I appreciate the fact that you mentioned that companies or businesses will still require expertise skill in addition to whatever book keeping software that has been acquired.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, from my personal experience, businesses cannot rely on sophisticated accounting packages in the hands of a novice. Preparation of final accounts basically follows the rule of; Debit assets and expenses, Credit Liabilities and Income. If a novice using a package switches the order by crediting assets and expenses, and debiting liabilities and income, the statement of financial position will still balance. The role an accountant who knows his job plays in the success of any establishment cannot be over emphasized.
On a lighter note, I think the owners of the listed software in this article should pay for the advert you just did for them.