Working with Your Bookkeeper

Best Practices for Working with Your Bookkeeper

Life is too short—and too expensive, frankly—to operate in a silo. Gone are the days when children, cleaning crews, bookkeepers were to be seen and not heard. (Thank our lucky dog biscuits for that; no one knows more about what’s going on around here than the booties-on-the-ground folks.) 

As such, if I had a magic wand, I would give every dog in the world a happy home… and THEN I would create matches made in heaven for small businesses and their bookkeepers. 

Business owners would enjoy all the perks of impeccable back-end bookkeeping and an infrastructure that supports innovation, adaptability, and growth…

…and bookkeepers would have a dedicated inside point person, a liaison and ombudsman, to keep the conduit of coordinated effectiveness at peak performance.

Empowered partnership for the win. 

Cloud-based software and a work-from-anywhere world have made it possible to work with your bookkeeper from afar, but that doesn’t mean left to their own devices, praying for a crystal ball. 

From the bookkeeper’s perspective, the more immersed we are in the everyday operations, the more effective we can be with our strategy and systems. If we have a solid trust relationship with a single point of contact, who is dedicated to making things happen on their end, or we have the ability to act like an insider, there’s nothing we can’t do. 

From the business’ point of view, a bookkeeper that has access to everything they need to make the most out of their time, energy, and resources can move the needle on initiatives and innovation. After all, no one ever saved the company thousands of dollars by uncovering stale costs or integrated systems that helped people get paid faster with fewer steps by putting out fires or chasing tails all day. 

Luckily, I don’t need a magic wand to create matches made in heaven for small businesses and their bookkeepers. It just takes a growth mindset and pivoting with purpose on the part of everyone at the table. 

TL:DR  Empower your bookkeeper. Either set them up with an inside person whose job it is to be a conduit for effectiveness, someone who will set up monthly folders and “own” the relationship OR give them the ability to be an “inside man” with access to internal systems and operations. 

It benefits everyone.

No matter what your industry—from retail to restaurant, from law firm to landscaper, from smoke shops to seaside vacation rentals—your relationship with your bookkeeper is one of the most important factors in your business’s financial health and wellness. 

Look, we know we’re biased, but I would put your relationship with your bookkeeper at the top of the food chain. Why? 

Make a point to be on point with this partnership and watch us move mountains in decimal points and interest points.

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Bookkeepers can be the lifeblood of your financial resiliency, when you have one that is empowered to be your advocate and bottom-line watchdog. If unrestrained value creation is what you’re seeking and you’re not sure how to move forward with a bookkeeper, reach out. 

Think you might be in a codependent relationship with your current bookkeeper? Read “Break Up With Your Bookkeeper.”  

Unleashed Financial Advocates | unshakable loyalty