One of the first things I see coaches urge business owners to do is to delegate tasks that they aren’t good at, and one of the first tasks that is on that list is their bookkeeping.

As an independent bookkeeper, I fully support that advice! BUT—what I often see business owners do is breathe a sigh of relief that they can take that off their plate, and then completely abdicate all ownership in the financial side of their business.

I’ve generated financial statements that never get looked at. I have clients completely stunned to find that they are losing money or, conversely, owe a huge amount of taxes when they have their return done.

Outsourcing your bookkeeping is not the same as outsourcing financial management of your business! A good bookkeeper will record transactions, reconcile accounts, and produce financial statements, but the business owner is the one making the decisions about how to manage the money. That includes setting goals, monitoring results, and getting their taxes taken care of.

A big part of the issue is that business owners don’t know what to look for.  So this week, I’ll be posting a series of tutorials on what the various financial statements are, how to read them, red flags that the business may be in trouble or the books may not be correct, and how to monitor the work your bookkeeper is doing to prevent errors or fraud.

Stay tuned!