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As you grow your business, you may find that you are becoming overwhelmed (if you are not already) with the various tasks that need to be completed day in and day out in your business. Especially a service-based business as that of a landscape business. The roles and responsibilities as an owner-operator are endless. And the truth is that me, you, and everyone else are not good at every single role that is required in a business. Nor do we enjoy every single task that is required.
This is why we hire employees to be able to take the load off of our plate. This allows us to continue to grow our business and to scale. However, there are some roles and responsibilities within a business that may not require a full time employee. This could be something like bookkeeping. It would not make sense to hire a full time bookkeeper when you are just starting out or even as you continue to grow and scale your business. There is a threshold somewhere when you become so large that it makes sense to hire a fulltime bookkeeper. But until then and unless you have experience in bookkeeping, it makes sense to outsource this task.
And if you want our recommendation or a bookkeeper in the landscape industry along with an introductory offer, you can find that at the bottom of the article.
Landscaping Bookkeeping
Having a good landscape bookkeeper on your team is extremely valuable. It is still good to do your own research on how to do your own bookkeeping, but it is likely not a task that you will want to take on over the mid to long term of your business. It is best left to a professional that specializes in your industry and is able to provide guidance on your business based on their experience and analysis of your numbers.
Bookkeeping for landscapers involves a number of tasks that are required to fulfill tax requirements, income reporting, and so on. A bookkeeper / accountant should be able to provide you with a balance sheet and income statement / profit and loss statement. These should be reviewed on an ongoing basis with your bookkeeper / accountant which is typically included in any package that you may sign up for with them. Something that you should definitely be looking at when hiring a bookkeeper. A good bookkeeper / accountant will be able to make you money and not cost you money. They should be able to guide you through your reports and provide practical suggestions on how to increase your profitability.
Costs should be broken down by department, your pricing structure should be assessed based on your overhead markup, your salary as an owner should be set and budgeted for, depreciation of assets should be accounted for, replacement costs of equipment, loan payments, and many other trackable pieces of data should be handled by your bookkeeper / accountant and relayed to you during monthly or quarterly meetings when looking at the profit and loss statement and balance sheet.
A profit and loss statement is a snapshot of your business during a given period of time to see what expenses were accrued and what money was brought in. A balance sheet looks at assets and liabilities in your company. Both of these will provide valuable information on your business and a bookkeeper / accountant can help you to dissect these reports and make suggestions towards the financial well-being of you company.
Hiring a Bookkeeper
Always the best way to find someone to hire for a task is to have them recommended to you by someone that you trust. So before you start your search for a bookkeeper, perhaps ask around in your network to see whether or not they have someone that they recommend. Leverage your network first and then start to interview and get consultations with a variety of bookkeepers. It helps to have a consultation to see whether or not they may be not only a good fit for your business but also if they would be a good fit personally to you.
It is always best if you can find a bookkeeper that specializes in your specific industry. This is because they will have experience with business models like yours and will be able to make relevant recommendations through the analysis of your numbers in your business. They can also compare your numbers to others in the industry and be able to create benchmarks in your business. This is a top priority whenever we look for an employee or someone we can outsource work to. Are they experienced in your industry? Will they be able to make recommendations on your business model based on your industry? By getting the right bookkeeper and accountant, you can have more than just those tasks outsourced but you can also have a consultant on your team that wants to see you succeed because you will remain a client of theirs for the long term.
It also does not hurt to do your own research on what makes a good bookkeeper and to understand the basic roles and responsibilities of a bookkeeper. You can learn more about bookkeeping for landscapers here.
Take your time and evaluate bookkeepers that may be a good fit for your business. Do not try to rush this process of narrowing down the right bookkeeper. You will make an emotional decision if it is a last-minute pursuit of a bookkeeper for your business and this may lead to a mistaken choice that you will need to remedy with having to go through the process all over again. It does not take much for an unqualified candidate to make a mess of your books and to require someone else to come in and fix everything starting from square one.
If you are in the United States and are looking for a bookkeeper, accountant, or for CFO services, check out Cycle CPA. They specialize in the green industry providing industry benchmarking and are able to fulfill the requirements necessary within your business. If you mention How to Hardscape, you will receive $200 off their services while also helping us out as we receive a small commission if you do sign up for their services!