Want to streamline your bookkeeping processes? Your bookkeeper certainly wants you to!

At CornerStone, “effective” is one of our favourite words. We love systems that work, streamline and simplify. In fact, we specialise in making life easier for small business owners.

Being more effective gives your business the ability to grow and opens you up to opportunities that you may not have available otherwise.

So, want to discover some straightforward ways to get your business finances better organised for yourself – and help us in the process? Read on!

6 Things Your Bookkeeper Wants You to Know to Be More Effective

1: File It In The Cloud

Optimise your time – and your bookkeeper’s time – by not being a shoebox/drawer/computer desktop filer. There’s one optimum spot to centralise your financial information: the cloud.

That way, when your bookkeeper needs to review a contract or payment history, we can visit one system, quickly find the data we need and finish our tasks. And you’ll benefit as well since the cloud offers extra security such as permissions-based access, encryption, mobility, and more.

2: Listen To Technology Recommendations

Experienced bookkeepers often have technology that we can recommend – solutions that streamline processes without sacrificing security and convenience. For example, accounting solutions like Xero should connect to your expense management or business bill payment solution. That way, all information is automatically synced without manual interference – leaving your books squeaky clean.

Need help integrating your accounting solutions? I know tech and integrations can be confusing, so let me do that for you! At CornerStone Bookkeeping we are specialists in Xero software. Let us set Xero up for you and provide full training and support, giving you the tools to successfully manage your business with beautiful accounting software.

Already a Xero user? Let us provide ongoing support Xero support and a regular Xero health check, where we’ll review, recommend and fix anything you need us to.

3: Keep In Touch

Don’t be a stranger! At CornerStone, we like to maintain regular contact with you, to keep on top of all your bookkeeping needs. The same goes for you, we’d love it if you kept in touch with us regularly.

If you only reach out at the end of the financial year, we’ll miss you! (And we’ll have tonnes of work to do all at once – not fun for us, or you.) If you have any questions or would like to hear more about what we do and how we can help, reach out at any time. We’d love to chat.

4: Provide Information In A Timely Manner

We understand! Life (and business) gets busy and things on your “to do” list can get away from you. But there’s no escaping it: properly managing your finances in business is very dependent on dates, deadlines and the rhythms of the financial year.

CornerStone can help. A quick email or phone call is all we need to get onto something for you. We want to save you from paperwork chaos, late fees, unnecessary interest payments and other penalties. We’re responsive and great with meeting deadlines and due dates. Together, we can do this!

5: Put Me In Touch With Your Accountant

At CornerStone, we believe in building close relationships with both you and your accountant. Consider giving us the OK in advance to communicate directly with your accountant when questions arise. We’ll work together to provide each other with insight into the past, present and future of your business.

With your permission to talk directly, we’ll often be able to resolve each other’s questions in a quick phone call. If not, you may get caught in the middle when we have a question for your accountant or vice versa.

Remember: professional, ethical bookkeepers (that’s us!) and accountants will never disclose information about your business and finances to anyone else without your permission.

6: Help Me Understand Your Industry

While bookkeeping for a retail store, hair salon, or internet service business has the same basic bookkeeping fundamentals, it's not precisely the same. Each industry has different terms and insider aspects. Help us to help you – share your knowledge about how things work in your industry and we’ll be better set to help you manage your books throughout the year.

Ready to optimise your bookkeeping processes and make your life easier? Call me, Joanna on 021 578 450, or email accounts@cornerstonebookkeeping.co.nz – and let’s talk.