QuickBooks helps business owners manage invoicing, expense tracking, report generation, and more. But working with a professional is still wise to maintain compliance and growth practices.
Key Takeaways
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QuickBooks provides benefits like tax preparation, automation, instant report generation, payroll management, and more
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Getting professional help is still wise so that business owners:
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Know what reports they need
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Get tax preparation assistance
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Assess trends and performance
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Segment business profitability
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Ask the right questions
Small business owners often struggle to have time to focus on accounting and bookkeeping. Using a platform like QuickBooks can drastically improve workflows, ensuring that everything is being tracked daily and the numbers are always accurate.
But, even with QuickBooks, you may still want to get help from a professional. It’s not always easy to know if you’re using its features to their full advantage, or if there are certain tools that you’re just not aware of. A professional will also ensure you’re asking the right questions about performance.
Let’s discuss why QuickBooks is such a game-changer for business owners and why working with a professional is still the best way to use the software.
How does QuickBooks help business owners?
QuickBooks is the most popular accounting software for a reason. It helps individuals and business owners manage all of their income and expenses in one place, and the interface is intuitive and simple. The platform allows you to:
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Generate invoices for customers
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Send and track invoices
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Pay bills
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Accept payments online
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Prepare tax information
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Generate financial reports, including profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statements
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Connect bank accounts to record transactions
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Scan expense receipts
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Categorize expenses automatically
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Track upcoming payments
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Manage payroll and track employee hours
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Track mileage
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Use keyboard shortcuts
QuickBooks clearly makes accounting practices a lot easier for business owners who may not have these skills or enough time in the day. There is also the QuickBooks Self-Employed option for freelancers and independent contractors.
Why do you still need professional help?
When you’re just getting started with this software, it may all seem overwhelming. It takes time to fully understand how the platform works and how to integrate the right tools to create a smooth process that works best for your business.
Even though QuickBooks does a lot of the tedious work for you, you should still consider working with an accountant or other financial professional. Why? Let’s walk through a few good reasons:
1. Knowing what reports you need
A professional will know which reports you need to generate, when you need them, and what they tell you. Some reports overlap with information, and it’s hard to know which should be used for what purpose. For example, which report do you need to show investors? What statement provides the best glimpse of business performance? What business numbers are the most important to track?
2. Tax preparation
It’s still a challenge to know every business expense you can deduct on your taxes and what credits you may be eligible for. While QuickBooks helps you track information throughout the year, which is crucial for doing your taxes, the tool can’t provide tax guidance and advice like an accountant will. Working with a professional for taxes is still wise, so you’re taking advantage of all the available tax breaks and staying fully compliant in your tax practices.
3. Assessing trends and performance
If you’re not a financial expert, it’s hard to know what to do with all the information being gathered and stored in QuickBooks. You can generate a report in seconds, but what does it mean about the health of your business? Working with a financial professional means you will know a lot more about business performance and why you may be having cash flow issues. An accountant can help you uncover expenses you could lower or eliminate, and you’ll be able to create a more effective plan for the future.
4. Segmenting business profitability
Accountants can help set up your QuickBooks account to segment your business functions. This is important for identifying what areas are the most profitable. You will better understand where you should be investing time and money and which areas are performing well. Segmentation also allows you to identify where additional training could benefit the business.
5. Asking the right questions
Financials are pretty straightforward facts. But just because you have a nice profit one month, that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily on track for long-term growth. You need to dig deeper into what your numbers are telling you.
What’s changing from month to month, even though your bottom line may be stable? What’s causing cash flow problems this period? Are certain seasons more successful than others for your business? What trends could impact your bottom line in the near future? What will the next year look like if things go as planned?
It’s just not enough to use accounting software without the help of a professional who can guide you through what everything means. QuickBooks has a lot of free tutorials online that help you learn how to use the tool more efficiently, but you still need help to be able to assess your business’s financial health.
Accountants and other financial experts can help you understand which reports you need and when, what the numbers are saying about your business, and how to prepare for a successful future full of growth.
Why Franco Blueprint?
To keep your small business on track, you need the help of industry experts who can help you put the right accounting practices in place.
The team at Franco Blueprint helps with CFO and controller services, implementing accounting systems, financial training and workshops, budgeting, business formation, and compliance. We make sure your workflows are helping reach your goals, and we believe that having a great accounting system in place is crucial to business growth and long-term success.
Our team is with you from the beginning, so we can guide you through setting up your business and getting ready for taxes with the right accounting solution by your side.
Contact Franco Blueprint today to set up a free consultation.