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Small businesses are the backbone of the economy, but as we all know, running one isn’t always easy. By taking care of your bookkeeping, though, you can free up precious time and mental energy to focus on growing your business in other ways! Here are seven ways a virtual bookkeeper can help your small business grow. If you haven’t already done so, it’s time to talk with a small business bookkeeper about whether they’d be the right fit for you.

1) Monthly and Quarterly Financial Reporting

Virtual bookkeepers are able to provide accurate monthly and quarterly financial reporting in a timely manner. This allows you, as an entrepreneur, to make important decisions quickly. In addition to timely reporting of your business’s financials, you also get peace of mind knowing that you have one less task on your plate by outsourcing it to a virtual bookkeeping service. 1) Monthly Financial Reporting: Most small businesses use QuickBooks or another accounting software program to keep track of their finances on a daily basis. However, most entrepreneurs don’t know how to prepare their books for tax time (which is usually at least once per year). A virtual bookkeeper will take all your QuickBooks data and prepare it for tax time (or whenever you need it prepared). 2) Quarterly Financial Reporting: Depending on what type of business you own, there may be times throughout the year when you need additional financial information from your accountant such as when applying for bank loans or seeking investors. A virtual bookkeeper will be able to provide information about sales trends, cash flow projections and other key figures related to your business’ performance over time with ease.

2) Account Reconciliations

One of the first and most critical tasks for a bookkeeper is to reconcile accounts. (If your business does not keep its own books, consider hiring an outside accountant who specializes in accounting for small businesses.) Running bank and credit card reconciliations will allow you to see whether or not your customers have paid you. This allows you to check your records against those of your clients, ensuring that all transactions are accurate. It’s also one of the quickest ways to catch fraud!

3) Tracking Tax-Deductible Expenses

A virtual bookkeeper makes tax time a breeze because they’re tracking tax-deductible expenses all year long. Make sure you know what is and isn’t deductible, as many small business owners mistakenly think that any spending incurred during their business activity is deductible. This isn’t always true, so make sure to consult with your accountant before spending money in your business. If you use QuickBooks, it will even help you track these expenses throughout the year!

4) Cash Flow Forecasting

Invoices are paid slowly, or not at all. Budgets don’t exist. More and more lines of credit are pulled out to pay current expenses. Cash flow forecasting tools monitor your capital on a daily basis to give you the financial standing of your company and to help you avoid the cash flow issues that many small businesses face. The sooner you know about a problem, the better chance you have of finding a solution quickly and nipping it in the bud before it gets too bad.

5) Understand your financial position before you need it

While it’s great to have money, what’s more important is understanding your financial standing. A virtual bookkeeper will be able to give you insights into where your business is going. They’ll know where you are financially and where you should be going in order to reach certain goals. These insights will help you stay on top of any challenges your business faces, so that when something goes wrong, you’re able to quickly recognize it and react accordingly.

6) Budgeting for the Future

A business bookkeeper is responsible for the financial management of your business. As such, they take on the role of financial analyst and provide valuable insight into how your company is doing—and where it could grow in the future. If you are planning to grow your business or want to build stability, a bookkeeper can help you plan for that. That way, if you do hit some bumps along the road, your finances will be safe and secure. Efficient Accounting: No matter what type of business you run, you need accurate books to keep things running smoothly. The best bookkeepers make sure that happens by taking over your day-to-day accounting tasks so you have more time to focus on running your business. Whether it’s handling payroll or setting up budgets for projects, having someone else manage these tasks means less stress and more time spent growing your business. Additionally, an outside perspective may reveal areas where there is room for improvement within your accounting processes. For example, say you consistently find yourself using cash because checks just don’t get written out quickly enough (or at all). Perhaps it would benefit your organization greatly if payments were automated with direct deposit or online payment portals.

7) Bank Reconciliations

Bank reconciliations are when the bookkeeper or accountant matches the books with the bank statements to make sure all transactions have been added correctly, and that the books are in agreement with the bank records. Banks generally provide the full history of each transaction over the previous month. This historical record is used to match each deposit and withdrawal with an entry on your internal financial records, making sure any revenue, expense, asset, and liability accounts are properly updated as necessary. The reconciliation process helps ensure that you have accurate financial data at hand, which is essential for managing your business. And it also allows you to verify if there were any unauthorized withdrawals or deposits by comparing your account activity against what was recorded by the bank. For example, if you deposited $1,000 into your checking account but only $800 shows up on your bank statement, then there may be a problem somewhere along the way—perhaps someone made a fraudulent withdrawal from another location using your card information? Whatever happened here needs to be resolved before it becomes a bigger issue for you down the road.