Does Your Bookkeeper Know What Your CPA Needs

How many employees are asked to handle the basic bookkeeping needs of their employer even though they aren't technically trained to do so? For the small business, my estimate is about one in every office. After all, they have Quick Books. Unfortunately, the assumption that once you can create an invoice and print a check does not mean your accounting system is functioning properly.

Most business owners don't understand accounting and many of them are quite successful. Seems logical then that they believe a bright employee of theirs should be able to figure it out, especially with a highly touted computer program like Quick Books. Well I can tell you from 25 years of personal experience that 80-90% of those situations cost that employer when it comes time to work with his/her accountant or CPA. There seems to be so little focus or importance placed on the accounting records even though every business owner knows they need them. At the very least the business owner knows they need to file tax returns every year. They also know the tax return is derived from their accounting records but yet the importance placed on those records is so little.

When importance is place on a function, it normally performs well. When it isn't functioning well, people are trained or hired that have the skill set to make sure it is performed well. I guess thats what the CPA is for...they/we should be able to figure it all out. And figure it out we do, but at what cost? Doesn't it make sense to spend a few dollars training your bookkeeper to do a better job so that the CPA can focus on high value services like tax planning instead of cleaning up Quick Books files?

I have trained many bookkeepers during my 25 years but never developed a training program for them. With the recession in full force I have put together a series of three webinars that teach bookkeepers the practical side of bookkeeping and finally explaining to them exactly what the independent accountant/CPA needs from them. The goal is for employers to get more for the dollars they are spending on their staff and more for the dollars they are spending with their accountant/CPA. As good as Quick Books is, it falls way short on explaining how crucial it is you understand the accounting that happens on the on the back side of those invoice and check transactions and how expensive it is for a trained professional to clean it up.

The first webinar, titled "Understanding What Your CPA Needs From You", launches this month and the rest will launch in January, stay tuned for the details. Get your house in order, invest training dollars wisely and I wish everyone a fantastic holiday season and a tremendously prosperous new year!