The curse of the good bookkeeper

I know. Many of you would give plenty to get hold of a good bookkeeper!

That’s because good bookkeeping is a fundamental building block of good information, and good information is critical to informed decision making. So, if you are lucky enough to have a good bookkeeper, don’t rush out and fire them!

But don’t settle for ‘good’ when you can have ‘thoughtful’. Thoughtful bookkeeping is the type of bookkeeping that is done with the end in mind.

A thoughtful bookkeeper considers all of the following questions:

• Who will use this information?
• What do they need or want to know?
• What reliance is being placed upon this information?
• What decisions do they need to make?

What is the curse of the good bookkeeper?

It’s when they are or were good enough to hang onto, when they are good people with good intentions and a heart of gold but not helping to drive your business forward.

Read: Do I Need a Bookkeeper if I Have an Accountant?

You may be in this boat if:

• Your bookkeeper has been with you for 15 years
• You are still using MYOB
• There is still a lot of manual data entry
• There seems to be a lot of ‘workarounds’
• Someone is always querying their pay or leave entitlements
• You still don’t truly know what your margins are
• Your monthly accounts don’t always seem to make sense
• You sense that you can’t rely on your financials
• Your external accountant uses an entirely different chart of accounts

So, if you don’t fire a good bookkeeper, what should you do? Help them to become thoughtful, of course!

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BridgePoint Group works with business owners and their bookkeepers to get more out of their engagements. We provide the support, guidance and encouragement they need to take their game to the next level.