"It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money -- that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot -- it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better."
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
Any war stories to share??
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Bookkeepers, AGH!!!!
Your company probably uses a bookkeeper to keep your records on Quickbooks or something similar. They are pretty good, not great, and get your taxes filed on time. Big deal. They work all 12 months for the once a year tax game.
But do they give you information to let you know how you're doing? That's something you need at least 12 times per year. And most don't do anything except publish an Income & Expense report. What about sales, comparing this year to last year, by product line or for your top 10 customers? What about looking at costs. Are they rising faster or slower than sales revenue? What about comparing your expenses to your budget. Are you spending too fast?
And my biggest complaint is that they group expenses for tax reporting, not for management information. I want them to break their sacred "Insurance" account out and include auto insurance with auto expenses, health insurance with people costs, and liability insurance with SG&A. And what about grouping all the 'executive compensation' together (salary, your wife's car, you kids' cellphones, your country club expenses, etc etc) so you can see what the business is really doing for you. They can put the expenses back into the 'proper' categories for tax reporting in March. But for the 12 months you look at informational reports, lets make them meaningful and clear.
You may not have this problem. You may not care. What do you think?
But do they give you information to let you know how you're doing? That's something you need at least 12 times per year. And most don't do anything except publish an Income & Expense report. What about sales, comparing this year to last year, by product line or for your top 10 customers? What about looking at costs. Are they rising faster or slower than sales revenue? What about comparing your expenses to your budget. Are you spending too fast?
And my biggest complaint is that they group expenses for tax reporting, not for management information. I want them to break their sacred "Insurance" account out and include auto insurance with auto expenses, health insurance with people costs, and liability insurance with SG&A. And what about grouping all the 'executive compensation' together (salary, your wife's car, you kids' cellphones, your country club expenses, etc etc) so you can see what the business is really doing for you. They can put the expenses back into the 'proper' categories for tax reporting in March. But for the 12 months you look at informational reports, lets make them meaningful and clear.
You may not have this problem. You may not care. What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
