Time to Tell the Truth!
Okay, it's time to tell the truth: it's April 1st today and by now you should already have all of your stuff over to your CPA for your tax returns. Raise your hand, if you've already got it done and you're just waiting for a refund or you’ve already filed and feel great? Oh, that’s not you?!
Do you still have a terrible weekend ahead of you where you need to dig in and try to sort out all of your expenses from your banks and try to remember what the heck was going on in January 2021? Or are you the kind of person who just exports it all, sends it over to the CPA and lets them just figure it out? Wash your hands of it. This isn't for you anyway. They're the experts at it, and they're going to figure it all out for you. Awesome, they totally will, they're great at that. I love them for that.
Except, it's already April. They'll definitely be cleaning it up and doing some journal entries to fix everything before they tell the IRS where you're standing. But the problem is, that information is only accurate as-of December 31. And it's already a full three months into the new year, and your books are already off the rails again. Yeah, I know these types of people well. But guess what? It doesn't have to be this way.
That's why I like working with my clients. When we work together, we have a reoccurring monthly engagement and open communication and dialogue. It also means you're going to get your financial statements and your management analysis video from me every single month, and most importantly, on-time. You're going to hear exactly what observations I have made and my analysis on your cash flows, expenses, and overall profitability. We're going to be touching on things like this every single month leading up to 12/31, and so you'll get the best information to give to your CPA at the end of the year. It'll be a breeze for them to prepare your returns and you’ll understand your business better.
Or you could do it the other way. You could stress and spend a whole weekend doing what I call the quick and dirty method of trying to get it recorded before your CPA gets a hold of it just in time for the tax filing deadline. Or you can pay them to do all this hunting and gathering which is the most expensive way to get it all settled up and filed. Your choice.
But you're going to have to make the same fixes over and over and over again each year because you haven't changed the processes for your accounting. The various transactions and functions that are going wrong each year are going to continue to go wrong, and you (or your CPA) will need to keep fixing them in your year-end reporting. But you're not fixing the problems for your management purposes or for your daily functionality of running your business. You’re not analyzing the data and helping plan better business decisions throughout the year. And to be honest, you will just keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
I know that this can be really overwhelming and you may not even know which category you fall into. But definitely don't hesitate to give me a call. Let’s check in and see if I have any feedback or if there are ways that I could help you so that tax time doesn't have to be dreaded or confusing or frustrating or all the above. It can be one fast set of reports that you send right over to your CPA and your tax return is done in a snap. That’s what I love to help with and what I do best.
