Before You Hire Someone to Do Your Books, Ask These 3 Questions

Your business brought in $150,000 last year.

You've got clients.

You're paying contractors.

Money is coming in consistently.

And now you're ready to sit down with your tax professional to figure out what you owe and how to reduce your tax bill.

Except...

Your QuickBooks hasn't been reconciled since June.

You've got 187 uncategorized transactions.

Your Stripe deposits don't match your sales.

And nobody can tell you what your actual profit was.

Girl...

Your tax professional needs accurate numbers to prepare an accurate return.

And if we're talking about tax planning?

We need reliable financial information to make meaningful projections and recommendations.

Because how am I supposed to help you figure out what you should be doing with your money...

when we don't even know how much your business actually made?

Women entrepreneurs are building legitimate businesses.

They're making sales.

Hiring help.

Investing in equipment.

Expanding their services.

But the bookkeeping?

It's still operating like they're making $500 a month on the side.

Girl.

And now tax season is exposing the gap.

Not necessarily.

If you're maintaining accurate books yourself, your accounts are reconciled, and you can explain your financial reports?

You may not need to outsource bookkeeping.

But if you're consistently months behind...

If you can't explain why your bank deposits don't match your recorded revenue...

If you're not sure whether certain transactions are business expenses, owner draws, or loan payments...

And I want to emphasize QUALIFIED.

Because hiring somebody who doesn't know

what they're doing can create a completely different problem.

Let me show you why.

Your business collected:

$180,000 from clients.

Your payment processor deducted:

$5,400 in processing fees.

Your bank received:

$174,600.

But your bookkeeper recorded only the bank deposits as revenue.

Now your books show:

Revenue: $174,600

Processing fees: $0

Instead of:

Revenue: $180,000

Processing fees: $5,400

Net amount received: $174,600

Your profit may end up the same in this simplified example.

But your revenue is understated.

Your processing fees are missing.

And your financial reports aren't telling the full story.

Or trying to figure out whether an S Corp election makes sense.

Or whether you can afford another employee.

Or how much to set aside for taxes.

Girl...

It's about making sure your financial information is accurate enough to USE.

If you're planning to outsource your bookkeeping, PLEASE don't hire somebody

just because they charge $150 a month and promise to handle everything.

I'm not saying affordable bookkeeping is bad.

I'm saying you need to understand what you're actually paying for.

Because I've seen what happens when business owners assume their books are being handled...

only to discover months later that the accounts haven't been reconciled and the reports are wrong.

And girl...

I don't want their answer to be:

"I categorize your transactions in QuickBooks."

That's part of bookkeeping.

But that's not the whole job.

I want to hear how they:

- Reconcile bank and credit card accounts

- Investigate discrepancies instead of ignoring them

- Review financial reports for errors

Because categorizing transactions without verifying the balances?

That's how mistakes sit in your books for months.

This matters more than people realize.

If your business uses Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, or other payment processors...

your bookkeeper needs to understand how those transactions work.

If you have contractors, payroll, business loans, or equipment purchases...

they need to understand how those affect your books.

Ask them to explain how they'd handle a situation relevant to YOUR business.

They don't need to know every answer off the top of their head.

But they should understand the accounting involved, know when to research an issue, and

recognize when something needs to go to your tax professional.

Girl...

this one is BIG.

Because you should not be paying somebody every month and then getting to tax season wondering what they've actually done.

You need to know:

What reports will I receive?

Will my accounts be reconciled?

How will you communicate missing information or problems?

Will you coordinate with my tax professional when questions come up?

And what exactly is included in your monthly fee?

Your bookkeeper and your tax professional have different responsibilities.

Your bookkeeper helps maintain accurate financial records.

Your tax professional uses those records, along with other tax information, to prepare returns and evaluate tax strategies.

And depending on the situation, your tax professional may still need to make tax-specific adjustments.

They should complement each other.

Not spend tax season trying to figure out who made the mess.

Let's say you pay a bookkeeper:

$250 a month.

That's $3,000 a year.

But your accounts haven't been properly reconciled.

Your business credit card has missing transactions.

Your loan payments were recorded incorrectly.

And your payment processor fees are missing.

Now you get to tax season and need someone to clean up an entire year before your return can be prepared accurately.

Girl...

That's what we're trying to avoid.

And the cost isn't just the additional accounting bill.

It's also the time you spent making decisions with unreliable numbers.

I want you to be able to look at your business and answer:

Am I actually profitable?

Can I afford to hire?

How much cash do I need to keep?

Am I setting aside enough for taxes?

Is this business supporting the life I'm building?

Those are the questions women entrepreneurs at this stage need to be answering.

And you shouldn't have to wait until tax season to find out.

First, don't panic and start randomly changing transactions.

You can make things worse if you don't understand what you're fixing.

Instead:

1. Find out the last month your bank and credit card accounts were fully reconciled.

2. Identify missing transactions, uncategorized expenses, and balances that don't match.

3. Determine whether you need cleanup, ongoing bookkeeping, or both.

4. Have the books reviewed before relying on them for tax planning or filing.

That's your starting point.

You can have a successful business and still have messy books.

But the longer your business grows without reliable financial records...

the harder it becomes to make decisions confidently.

And girl...

You built it to grow.

To create opportunities.

To make decisions that support the next chapter of your life.

Your accounting needs to support that.

So if you're making money but have no idea whether your books are accurate...

before you hire another bookkeeper or start planning your taxes...

Book a Girl, Let Me See Your Books accounting strategy session.

We'll review what's happening in your books,

identify the issues, and figure out what needs to happen next.

Because girl...