Bookkeeping: What To Do In-house & What to Outsource

Running a business, big or small, can be challenging, but running a small business is especially difficult. With fewer staff and resources at hand, you have to be very careful about correctly allocating your time and budget. As such, small business owners often wear multiple hats; they can be the maker and creator, the customer service representative, and the admin all in one.

If you find yourself in the position where you’re trying to juggle multiple roles at once; spending the little downtime you have trying to do your own bookkeeping rather than spending time with the family or being proactive in growing the business, then outsourcing bookkeeping service on the Gold Coast may be just what you need.

Let’s face it; if you intended to do bookkeeping, you would have become a bookkeeper, not a small business owner. By outsourcing some of our bookkeeping tasks to Gold Coast bookkeepers, such as those at Grow Advisory Group, you will free up your time and probably get a better tax return for your ingenuity.

If you’re looking to gain time and possibly a bigger and better tax return each year, you need to know what bookkeeping services you can do yourself and which best to outsource to professional bookkeepers on the Gold Coast. Continue reading this post to discover just that.

What Bookkeeping To Do In-house

Obviously, you don’t want to spend money outsourcing 100% of your bookkeeping tasks if you can do them yourself. Several bookkeeping tasks are easy enough for anyone to do without needing to have taken a bookkeeping course and without them taking up too much of your valuable time.

At Grow Advisory Group, we encourage our clients to do minor bookkeeping tasks. It keeps them abreast with their current financial position and helps our professional bookkeepers and accountants complete the more significant tasks more efficiently.

If you want to save some money and still have some input in your financial position, we suggest you manage the following bookkeeping tasks yourself or in-house.

Data entry

True, data entry may be the most boring job in the world, but someone’s got to do it, and it might as well be you or one of your staff. You will be paying a lot more for professional bookkeeping services to do this simple mind-numbing task.

While much of today’s accounting software automates this task, many business areas still need to be manually tracked with data entry, such as cash sales and sundries. The finished compiled spreadsheets are then sent to a professional outsourced bookkeeping service on the Gold Coast for further processing.

Bank Reconciliation

Matching the cash balances in your bookkeeping records with your bank statements to determine the differences between each, noting changes in the records, and resolving any discrepancies is vital for any business’s financial management.

While an accountant or outsourced bookkeeper on the Gold Coast can reconcile a bank statement, the business owner often does the task. The task itself may sound complicated, but it really isn’t. It involves the following steps:

1. Comparing the deposits
2. Adjusting the bank statements
3. Adjusting the cash account
4. Comparing the balances

Today’s accounting and bookkeeping software also makes the bank reconciliation process much easier and eliminates any errors. If you need help getting your accounting software set up to manage bank reconciliation or need help using your accounting software, Grow Advisory Group can help.

Not sure which software is right for you? No worries! Read our post, ‘Which Accounting Software Is Best for Small Business?‘ to make an informed decision. Alternatively, our Gold Coast bookkeepers and accountants are cloud-based bookkeeping software experts who can assist with Xero, MYOB or Quickbooks accounting.

Accounts Receivable

The driving force behind many businesses’ continued operation is accounts receivable – preparing and sending invoices to credit customers and clients, who pay for billable work and services at a later date.

Not all businesses can work on an up-front payment model. For those who offer credit to paying customers, ensuring payment is collected in terms of the agreement; ensuring outstanding and unpaid invoices are paid promptly is vital.

The accounts receivable process involves the following steps:

1. Establishing credit application policies
2. Invoicing & providing documentation to customers and clients
3. Setting specific payment deadlines
4. Tracking & monitoring Accounts Receivable
5. Settling accounting for Accounts Receivable

As with bank reconciliation, the accounts receivable process is also made relatively easy thanks to today’s accounting and bookkeeping software. If you need help with Xero, MYOB or Quickbooks, call the Grow Advisory Group team. Our friendly Gold Coast staff can help get you up and running to manage all these in-house bookkeeping tasks.

Accounts Payable

No one likes paying bills, but in business, bills are inevitable and must be paid on time to stay on good terms with suppliers, creditors and contractors. When money is outstanding with suppliers, creditors and contractors, the entry is known as Accounts Payable and is shown as a current liability on the business’s balance sheet.

The role of accounts payable is to ensure all invoices and bills are genuine, correct, and paid on time. Accounts Payable can include vendor payments (suppliers, creditors and contractors), internal payments (reimbursement, petty cash, sundries etc.) and travel expenses.

The accounts payable process involves the following steps:

1. Receiving the invoice
2. Reviewing the invoice details
3. Updating records once the invoice is received
4. Paying the invoice by the due date

Managing accounts payable in your accounting and bookkeeping software will streamline your accounting process, making it much easier to manage your cash flow. Contact our Gold Coast bookkeepers today to get set up.

What Bookkeeping To Outsource

You can’t expect to be an expert in all areas of bookkeeping. Your speciality lies within your business’s products and services, not bookkeeping, which is why outsourcing some of the more challenging aspects of bookkeeping is often a very savvy move.

Not only will it relieve you of much stress, but it will also save you precious time, and the expert knowledge of professional bookkeepers can help reduce your taxes, amongst many other benefits.

A good outsourcing bookkeeping service on the Gold Coast will encourage a collaborative approach to your business bookkeeping. They will work with you to only take care of the bookkeeping tasks you don’t want to manage in-house – Grow Advisory Group is one such service.

Bookkeeping Software Setup

To effectively manage and complete the in-house bookkeeping tasks outlined above, it’s essential to have a bookkeeping software setup and grasp how to use it.

Grow Advisory Group is just the team to get you up and running. We are the Gold Coast’s best Xero bookkeepers, specialising in Xero, MYOB and Quickbooks. We can help you choose the best option for your needs and requirements. Our staff can complete the entire setup process, making the tasks of Data Entry, Bank Reconciliation, Accounts Receivable, and Accounts Payable much easier for you to manage in-house.

Bookkeeping software will enable you to track your businesses’ finances and assist your outsourcing bookkeeping service with their tasks.

Find out more about Grow Advisory Group’s Bookkeeping Software service here.

Payroll

Payroll can be a complex and time-consuming bookkeeping task that must comply with tax legislation.

Outsourcing payroll to a full-service payroll provider offers peace of mind, knowing that professionals manage the entire payroll system. As a business owner, your only responsibility will be to provide the employee information and weekly timesheets and any changes to employee tax or employee status – they take care of everything else.

Find out more about Grow Advisory Group’s Payroll service here.

Financial Reports

Having financial reports at hand, whenever needed, can be a massive benefit for businesses. Outsourcing this element of your bookkeeping to professionals will ensure you have profit and loss reports, balance sheets, and other essential reports available for your taxes. It will also be beneficial in making crucial business decisions surrounding expansion, budgeting, business process, etc.

Grow Advisory Group are more than bookkeepers; we’re also accountants. Thus, we have additional skills and knowledge to deliver crucial financial information to help you better manage your business’s long-term profitability.

Tax Returns

Everyone wants the biggest possible tax return, but this is often only achieved by having in-depth knowledge and understanding of the tax system. Outsourcing tax returns is the best way to achieve such a goal.

Professional tax accountants, such as the Gold Coast tax accountants at Grow Advisory Group, can prepare complex tax returns, saving you lots of stress and possibly lowering your tax bill to yield a greater refund.

Find out more about Grow Advisory Group’s Tax Return service here.

Conclusion

Bookkeeping is essential for any business, but you don’t have to take it alone. Whether you’re a sole trader, a small business or a large corporation, investing in outsourcing bookkeeping services makes sense to perform the tasks you don’t have the time or skills to complete yourself.

To outsource some of your bookkeeping tasks to professional bookkeepers on the Gold Coast, look no further than Grow Advisory Group. As the Gold Coast’s best Xero bookkeepers

Call us today on 07 5599 5700 or complete the following enquiry form.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this blog is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from an accountant and/or financial adviser.