Bookkeeping Setup Services for Small Business Owners in Houston
Bookkeeping setup services are recommended when a business needs to establish their accounting and bookkeeping practices – or when it needs to improve its existing accounting practices. Bookkeeping services provide companies with several advantages, but most importantly, they ensure a business is compliant with best accounting and reporting practices. This is vital for minimizing liability and for optimizing the company’s operating efficiency.
What do Bookkeeping Setup Services Entail?
Bookkeeping setup services build out a company’s bookkeeping and financial management practices, and it’s essential to get those right. To do so, accounting experts typically provide the following with their bookkeeping setup services:
Setting up business accounts
Bookkeeping setup services include establishing a chart of accounts (CoA) that includes a list of the company’s accounts, as well as their intended purpose (holding assets, offsetting liabilities, etc.) and any other pertinent information. Along with a CoA, bookkeeping experts can set up any needed accounts and ensure they are properly linked inside the company’s accounting chain. This is essential for tightly monitoring account activity and ensuring personal and company funds aren’t commingled.
Transaction reconciliation and data entry
During transaction reconciliation, your bookkeeper will review the transaction details for any of your company’s accounts – typically payable or receivable. During this review, your bookkeeper will verify that the account’s transaction activity matches reality. As transactions are reconciled, the relevant financial data will be recorded and tracked for financial sheet preparation.
Transaction reconciliation can also be used to pinpoint any accounting discrepancies and spot potential fraud.
Establishing payroll processes
Bookkeeping setup services usually involve setting up payroll, as well. An accounting expert can manage every part of the payroll process, including tax withholding, managing payroll deductions (for retirement accounts, for example), calculating employee wages, filing payroll tax documentation, maintaining up-to-date employee tax records and preparing any payroll reports for tracking purposes.
Integrating accounting software or practices
Many small business owners choose to manage some aspects of their company’s accounting procedures. A bookkeeping service can identify the right accounting software for their small business clients and assist with setting it up.
Bookkeeping setup services can also establish the day-over-day accounting processes that will help keep the organization’s financial picture in focus.
Quality assurance and due diligence
If your business is forming in conjunction with a merger and acquisition (M&A) or with a major real estate transaction (you’re buying manufacturing facilities or a warehouse, for example), expert bookkeeping services can perform a measure of due diligence, ensuring that the asset in question is valued properly.
Implementing tax planning strategies
Early on, your business-related decisions will have significant tax ramifications. Your entity’s tax structure is one obvious example, and a business bookkeeping expert can advise on which entity structure – partnership, corporation, LLC – would serve their business best. This is just one example.
Bookkeeping services may include ongoing tax planning advising as well, such as identifying opportunities to accelerate expenses, defer income or harvest capital losses.
Four Benefits of Bookkeeping Setup Services
Bookkeeping setup services offer several advantages to business owners, advantages that can give those businesses a better chance at remaining competitive in their industry. These advantages include:
- More time – An experienced bookkeeping service will free their business owner clients from tedious accounting and financial management tasks. Depending on the scale and nature of your business, this could be dozens of hours every month. And if your business needs to closely monitor its cash flow or other financial particulars, you can add more time onto this.
Expert bookkeeping setup services allow business owners to recover this time and invest it into other, more forward-looking parts of the company’s operations. - More efficient operations – Bookkeeping setup services provide business owners with optimized processes from the start, minimizing waste and inefficiencies. This supports better profitability and lower operating costs.
- Guaranteed compliance – Many tax and legal issues arise from sloppy bookkeeping practices. These are preventable errors that experienced bookkeepers will ensure their clients avoid – along with the expensive penalties that come with lapses in compliance.
- Protection from financial crimes – Fraud is a risk for every business, including small businesses. The cost of undetected fraud can be crippling for new companies striving for profitability, and it can be difficult to detect. Bookkeeping services are effective at spotting the warning signs of fraud (such as unusual transactions) and preventing further losses due to financial crime.
Partner with Expert Bookkeeping Setup Services and Launch Your Business with Proper Support
Business owners are often overwhelmed by the time and effort required to maintain their company’s books. For many, it can feel like a second job – one that doesn’t pay extra. Setup bookkeeping is also extremely complex and can expose business owners to potential liability if it’s not expertly considered.
A reputable bookkeeping setup service will ensure your company’s bookkeeping processes are aligned with your goals – optimal efficiency, minimal waste and maximum profits.
