Accountant & bookkeeper guides > How to do bookkeeping > Bookkeeping for small businesses
Small businesses often do a lot of their own bookkeeping at the beginning. As they grow, they offload more and more jobs to professionals. We look at how you can find a balance.
How to handle bookkeeping in your small business
You may want to do some bookkeeping jobs yourself and get an expert to help with others. Perhaps you’re still feeling your way with double-entry bookkeeping, or you’re afraid of getting payroll wrong, or you’re not cut out for chasing invoices. You can outsource any or all of those things.
We’ll look at how businesses commonly break up bookkeeping jobs between themselves and professionals.
Common DIY bookkeeping jobs
Many small businesses look after their own:
Data entry
Nowadays, software can pull transaction data from banks and read photographs of receipts, so this has become a much smaller job.
Accounts receivable
Preparing and sending invoices is straightforward if you have good templates and processes. You can always get professionals to help to chase overdue invoices.
Bank reconciliation
Most business owners take on bank reconciliation. While still not necessarily a favorite job, apps that allow you to do it on your phone have sped things up.
Accounts payable
If a business has just a few vendors and cash in the bank, paying the bills is simple enough. But professionals can really help if cash flow starts to become an issue.
Hiring a bookkeeping service
Bookkeepers often allow you to choose from different service levels depending on your budget. That means you can start out with basic bookkeeping at a modest cost and add on more advanced services as your business grows. Learn more about professional bookkeeping services.
What does software do?
For most small businesses, the choice between DIY and outsourcing comes down to time versus money: Which can you afford to give up? Software lessens the blow on both sides. It automates or streamlines time-intensive tasks like data entry, bank reconciliation, invoicing and some tax prep jobs. That cuts back labor which either saves you time, or lowers the fees that you pay to professionals.
Chapter 2: How to set up a chart of accounts
A chart of accounts is central to good bookkeeping. We explain the importance of setting them up right, and show you how a lot of businesses do it.
Read next chapterAll chapters:
1. Bookkeeping for small businesses
2. How to set up a chart of accounts
3. How to do bookkeeping data entry
4. How to do bank reconciliation
5. How to manage accounts receivable
6. How to manage accounts payable
7. How to create monthly financial reports

