If you’re running your own business, there’s a very high chance you’re not a trained bookkeeper or accountant by trade. But, like all of us, you need to make sure your finances are in order; invoices need to be created, expenses need to be recorded, and tax returns need to be calculated and filed on time, every time.
The problem is, when you’re spinning plates and trying to earn a living, the last thing you want to do at the end of a long day of work is crunch the numbers.
So, you do the bare minimum. You forget about your deadlines. You drop the ball, and not only are your accounts in a mess, but you’ve probably received a nice little fine from HMRC, too. You learn these lessons the hard way. You realise things need to change – and you admit you need an experienced bookkeeper in your corner to keep everything on track.
I caught up with a handful of my clients to find out what their biggest bookkeeping challenges were before instructing me, and how they have adapted their processes to make sure they spend less time stressing about their financial admin.
Lesson #1:
Leaving everything until the last minute rarely ends well
When asked what they felt they did ‘wrong’ in the past, one of my business owners told me that they always used to put the bookkeeping off, and at the end of the year, it would take them ages to catch up.
On my advice, however, 2025 has been very different.
Every month, they spend approximately 2 hours catching up with their basic bookkeeping tasks and making sure they have everything they need for their tax returns. And if for any reason they need to skip a month, they know they only have an extra 30ish days of admin to do – not an entire 52 weeks’ worth! This client also reckons that having me on board as their bookkeeper has saved them at least 3 hours of work every month, too.
Lesson #2:
Cash and profit are not the same thing
If you’re in charge of your company’s finances – and especially if you’re a sole trader – you might think that as long as you’ve got money in the bank, you’re doing fine. But when you become beholden to a slow-paying customer or realise you’ve got unpaid bills or a tax deadline looming, you’ll quickly start to panic.
This is how the conversation went when I asked another one of my clients what their biggest bookkeeping issue was to date. The key here is to make sure your accounts are set up to give you clear visibility into your finances, so you keep cash flowing and avoid putting your business in a vulnerable position. I can help you do this.
Lesson #3:
Little expenses can really add up
If you’re not keeping an accurate record of expense receipts – and perhaps not even recording expenses accurately at all! – you could be missing out on essential savings, as one client realised after instructing me and comparing their tax return to the previous year’s efforts!
Keep your bills in a safe place, ordered by date. Better still, upload them all into a digital accounting platform so they’re held securely, organised and categorised sensibly, and everything you (and I) need to see is available in one place.
Part of my job as a bookkeeper is to make sure your taxable income is never higher than necessary. I’m not going against the law to save you money; in fact, I’m working with it to keep your tax liability low! So, make a note of everything you spend, even if it’s just a few pounds here and there. It will make all the difference, I promise.
Lesson #4:
Not having robust systems in place will make things so much harder
If you’re still operating from a thousand-cell spreadsheet, or perhaps even recording all your financial transactions by hand, it’s seriously time to move all your data into the Cloud.
So many of my clients over the years have come to me with their books in a mess, their head in a tizz, ready to throw in the towel – and all this stress could have been avoided if they’d just bitten the bullet and got their books online! One client in particular, when questioned about making the transition, was surprised at how easy it was to migrate to a digital platform and wished he’d made the switch much sooner.
If you’re not sure which accounting software is the best fit for your business, my recent blog post will help you make an informed decision. It also explains why digital accounting is no longer optional for most UK-based businesses, largely due to the government’s push towards Making Tax Digital for VAT and income tax.
Lesson #5:
Not doing your due diligence can lead to disaster
You need to be able to trust the person who’s supporting you with your business’s accounts, whether you’ve chosen to hire a bookkeeper or need to partner with an accountant. Here’s a sobering tale from one of my clients, who made the mistake of not researching her chosen provider before instructing them:
“I learned the lesson to be careful to use a really good bookkeeper from day one. My previous bookkeeper made a mistake that ended up costing me many thousands of pounds. She said she was trained to accountant level, but she wasn’t. I might have realised this if I’d asked for references or looked into her qualifications and skillset a little more.”
As well as making sure your finance professional knows what they’re doing, it’s also vital to pick someone you get along with, and who has a similar communication style to you. You can never fully gauge how your relationship with your bookkeeper or accountant is going to go, but I’d recommend having at least one proper meeting with them (either in person or online) to get to know them before you say ‘yes’ to their services.
