Monday, April 27, 2009

When is it the right time to terminate your bookkeeper and save money too ?


There comes a time for any business, no matter what the size, that it’s time to replace or eliminate an employee’s position. This article is written for the business owner who has a bookkeeper and has given some thought to this topic. As business owners, we need to make tough decisions all the time. Perhaps one of the hardest decision involves eliminating or reducing the hours of an employee. Let’s face it, nobody likes to terminate an employee, especially in this economic environment. We all know, that it’s important to always care about other people, so this type of decision is special and often hard to make. Sometimes your perception of the problem is blocked by your feelings for the employee. So instead of making a decision, your perception creates a series of thoughts about the problem that results in no decision. This is article is written to help you realize that it’s time to make a decision.

It’s tough to make this type of decision, because there is no one to talk too, especially if you are a small business owner or you really haven’t had the time to devote to this problem. Here are 10 reasons or indicators to help you make that decision or to reinforce your decision to terminate or reduce the hours of your bookkeeper. If you can identify with a couple of these reasons or perhaps just one, and you believe that the problem cannot be fixed, then it’s time to terminate your bookkeeper or reduce their working hours.

1. Financial information is always received late and when received it has mistakes.
2. You are computer savvy and willing to invest some additional time to do the bookkeeping.
3. You wife, your parents, your in-laws or other family members lost their job and you need to replace their income.
4. You are too dependent on the bookkeeper and your bookkeeping doesn’t seem as complex as they make it out to be.
5. You have been fair, discussed this problem with the employee and it can't be fixed
6. You don’t understand what the bookkeeper is saying.
7. Your bookkeeper is always too busy to give you the answer to your questions.
8. Your bookkeeper seems to have a lot of extra time.
9. You think you have too many people employed.
10. Self Realization - A little birdie or an inner voice tells you that it’s time to terminate your book keeper or reduce the bookkeeping hours.

Remember, sometimes these indicators are a matter of dollars and sense, and you need to save the dollars and it makes sense to internalize the bookkeeping within the family, assuming the replacement person is computer literate and/or is willing to learn.

Sandy Lenner CPA,MBA and a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who works as a part-time consultant with Susan Missal Lenner, P.A.

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1 comment:

Robert M. said...

good article...thanks for sharing.