Y’all, it is so easy for the accountants to tell you that you NEED to do something. I mean, we make money off it right? We want you to feel like it’s so imperative. But other than taking about the boogey man (cough IRS cough) we don’t always provide a lot of reasons why. 

I wanted to discuss today three reasons why (and yes one of them is the IRS) you should focus and take your bookkeeping seriously. You’ll be grateful that you did!

First – the IRS. I know, the boogey man, but seriously, you need your records. Desk audits are popular (the ones where you just get a letter) and the IRS is shifting its focus from the big corporations to the smaller businesses. The IRS often will win the case against the smaller business (corporate often has a team of tax professionals who analyze EVERYTHING before taking a position). Keep your records, keep your receipts and you will be in a much better place to come out ahead on an audit.

Second- save money! The better your records – the more accurate your deductions can be! Ever file your taxes THEN remember you had this purchase of a printer during the year but forgot to deduct it? Those records would have helped you (or your tax preparer) catch that deduction and take it. Do not leave money on the table and pay more in taxes because of spotty bookkeeping.

Third- mindset. Brooke Castillo had a fantastic podcast recently about doing things for your future self. Well if your future self wants to own a large, growing business, then do your future self a favor and start your bookkeeping now. Big businesses don’t grow with half-done numbers. You can’t get investors with “well I think this was my profit”. Have the mindset of growing big, of being big, and act that way. Do your bookkeeping.

Now, if you are thinking YES I want to do all this bookkeeping and I’m so ready to get started right but you are sure where to start- visit my contact page and set up a 15 min call. It’s free, we’ll get you started on the right foot. You can also get my FREE excel template for bookkeeping. It’s a great start that won’t cost you a thing and you don’t need a paid software to start. Don’t let the fear of software stop you. And of course if you just don’t want to bother with any of it – that’s what I’m here for. I love this work and I’m happy to partner with you to grow your business. It’s too hard to grow your business if you don’t know where you are starting at.