Do I have to do my accounting?

Do I have to do my accounting?

We revisit this topic every so often as we continue to see people not doing the accounting for their business.  The simple answer is yes-you have to get the accounting done.  If you really don’t like to do it yourself then you need to build a bookkeeper or accountant into your budget.  No matter how small your business is, you just can’t run it properly without good numbers and you cannot get good numbers without someone doing the accounting.  We thought the evolution of accounting software programs like QuickBooks or FreshBooks would reduce this problem, but there are still a lot of people who don’t enjoy the numbers the way we do!  I don’t know if it is fear (fear of doing it wrong or fear of the results you get?!) or just a feeling that the work is tedious, but we still see people procrastinating and it makes us sad. 

Establishing a good process for your bookkeeping/accounting functions and staying current will empower you.  Even if the numbers paint a bad picture, you still have the knowledge and it will help you pinpoint the source so you can start fixing it. 

Do I have to do my accounting?  Yes-but look towards the reward of gaining the knowledge and not at the tedium of completing the process.