Disclaimer: This started off as part of a weekly roundup but as I was writing the excerpt/summary for it, it took on a life of it’s own. Enjoy ~Joyce~
Quote of the Week:
“I knew how to print a financial statement from QuickBooks, but I couldn’t tell you what it meant,” from Basics of Accounting Are Crucial for Entrepreneurs – NY Times
It is my philosophy that just because you can do something, that doesn’t mean that you should! Just because Quickbooks, Peachtree, Xero, and on and on and on… allows you to do the bookkeeping and accounting yourself, it doesn’t necessarily logically follow that you should be doing the bookkeeping and accounting.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am an huge advocate of being self-aware, empowered, doing things for yourself and, extremely important, taking responsibility for the financial health of your business but I’m not an advocate of keeping my valued clients in the dark. We all have the same 24 hours in each day. If that time is better served becoming more proficient at your “front-office” stuff… you know the thing that you do, that thing that you provide to your clients/customers… then you should be doing that – instead of the bookkeeping, especially if you’re not at all interested in learning the ins and outs of accounting (because there are just a few of those to learn).
Food for thought: if accounting was so easy, why do most accountants attend a 4year college to obtain the knowledge that you presume to buy in a box off of a shelf? And why is the CPA exam consistently listed as one of the most difficult exams (ahead of the bar exam and some engineering certification exams)?
Anyway, stick to or pursue what you love. “Do a job that you love & you’ll never work a day in your life” ~Confucius.
Agree? Disagree? Let me know – I’d love to hear from you.
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