Isn’t It About Time

You started your business for a specific purpose. Maybe it was the chance to build something of your own. Maybe it was just the idea that you’d be the one calling the shots. It probably wasn’t to spend your nights and weekends staring at a pile of receipts, trying to remember whether the one you’re looking at from three weeks ago was a business expense or a personal one.

Here’s the thing about bookkeeping — almost every small business owner does it themselves. For many, it’s not something they enjoy, it may not even be something they are good at, but it has to get done, so they do it.

What would you do with those hours?

That’s not a rhetorical question. Think about it for a second. The time you spend on the books — entering transactions, reconciling accounts, chasing down missing receipts — what would you do with that time if you got it back?

Spend more time with the people you started this whole thing for? How about just relaxing, enjoying a cold drink, getting in some fishing, a round of golf, or going to a ball game? Whatever you enjoy or are passionate about, you just got extra time for.

There’s no wrong answer. The point is that time has value, and we all should evaluate how we’re using it. Is doing your own books really how you want to spend it? And if you’d rather put those hours back into the business, imagine what you could do working on something you’re actually good at — and making it even more successful.

The cost argument, flipped

The most common reason business owners give for doing their own bookkeeping is that they can’t afford to pay someone else to do it. That reasoning makes some sense. But your time isn’t free — it has value.

You’re spending hours every month on the books. Hours that aren’t adding to the bottom line, but could be — generating revenue, serving customers, growing your business. At some point the math works against you, and freeing up that time can have a significant impact — without breaking the bank.

Most small businesses don’t need a high-priced CPA for the day-to-day numbers, just a bookkeeper that handles the fundamentals — recording transactions, managing accounts, keeping everything clean and organized — without the overhead of a full-time employee or an accountant’s billing rate. It’s a practical, affordable solution that many business owners are surprised to find well within reach.

It’s not just about getting it off your plate

There’s a version of this conversation that ends with “hire someone so you don’t have to deal with it anymore,” and honestly, that’s a perfectly good outcome. Getting the books off your plate and out of your head has real value all by itself.

But it undersells what good bookkeeping actually does for you.

u. When your books are in order, and someone who knows what they’re looking at is keeping an eye on them, they can provide valuable information that positively impacts your business. They can spot trends before they become problems and give you real numbers — at whatever level of detail you need — to work with when it’s time to make decisions. We’ll dive into that deeper in an upcoming “tip.”

So — is it time?

If the books are the last thing on your to-do list, if they follow you into your evenings and weekends, if you’re spending time on them that you’d rather spend anywhere else — it might be worth asking yourself whether that’s still the right approach.

You started this business with a purpose. The numbers should be working for you, not wearing you out.

The next article in this series takes an honest look at what bookkeeping actually costs — and the real cost of handling it yourself. Might be worth a few minutes of your time.