As a small business owner exploring the bookkeeping services Charlotte has to offer, you must undoubtedly be asking yourself what, exactly, a bookkeeper can do to help your business.

What Is a Bookkeeper?

A bookkeeper documents your daily financial transactions and prepares your accounts. While this may sound simple, doing it accurately and cleanly takes a lot of work and know-how. It is not a task you can set aside if you want your business to prosper.

Benefits of a Small Business Bookkeeper

Having your financial records properly managed by a professional bookkeeper can help your small business in many ways, top among them:

1. Making sure you get paid on time
2. Making sure you pay your bills on time
3. Monitoring debt levels and applying payments appropriately as deadlines approach
4. Recording incoming cash and depositing it in your bank account
5. Processing payroll
6. Managing bank reconciliations each month
7. Reporting on variances and issues when they arise
8. Maintaining your yearly budget
9. Collecting and remitting sales tax to all the states in which you do business

While helpful, and inordinately so, these are merely the tasks a small business bookkeeper will perform for your business. However, the real benefits of a small business bookkeeper are what you gain from having all of these tasks properly handled.

When your small business’s financial records are in order, you can have the peace of mind that lets you focus on the more pressing tasks ahead of running your business. When you know exactly where all your funds are coming from and going, you can make smarter decisions regarding budgeting for your business. When you understand your business’s key metrics and seasonal flow, you can make better operational decisions. You also have all the detailed documentation you need to protect you from an audit.

Small Business Bookkeeper vs. Accountant

Your bookkeeper also provides your CPA with the information needed to prepare and file your small business taxes. This brings up another question many small business owners wonder about when considering a bookkeeper, which is whether they actually need a bookkeeper or an accountant.

What, if anything, is the difference between small business bookkeeping and accounting services? Quite simply, a bookkeeper manages your day-to-day financial records, while an accountant takes those records to prepare and file your taxes.

By this definition, both small business bookkeeping and accounting services seem valuable, if not essential. Fortunately, you don’t necessarily need to choose between one or the other, at least if you’re located in or around the Charlotte, North Carolina area, because Scott Boyar, CPA is both in one: a Certified Public Accountant who offers the small business bookkeeping services Charlotte businesses need.