The COVID-19 outbreak has sent businesses of all sizes into a tailspin. Even those among us who thought we were having a great year and were extremely prepared for anything the future could throw at us could never have dreamed that the world would come to a screeching halt in March of 2020. Now that we are in the thick of it and pivoting to make the most of the situation, it does shed some light on how organized our business is overall. As many businesses are applying for loans, grants and government-backed assistance to support them during this time, it becomes increasingly apparent how important financial preparedness is. Having your books in order and ready at any point in time is important in normal times and especially in times of crisis or emergency. Let’s drill down on some ways to stay ahead of the game.
4 Financial Preparedness Tips You Should Always Be Following
- Keep up with the details. It’s easy when things are busy, and your business is growing to fall behind on data entry and bookkeeping efforts. This is especially true in businesses where there is not a dedicated person taking on these tasks, or in cases where it is one of a multitude of tasks that an employee has. Months can go by, and the entering of receipts or inventory can go by, compounding the problem. By placing checkpoints in place to ensure this issue doesn’t occur, you will also ensure that your books are up to date should an unexpected challenge arise – even something as inconceivable as a pandemic.
- Place routine reviews into your schedule. By adding routine checks into your schedule, you can sift through and find mistakes when they are small and minor – long before they could potentially become big issues. This is a good point to review business performance, areas where productivity could be improved, as well as, review goals for the future. When this kind of routine check is undertaken, it allows you to feel confident in times of turbulence that mistakes are not likely to be present and that oversight is in place to ensure accuracy and compliance.
- Assess how your tech tools can work together. Technology changes rapidly and sometimes more rapidly than we even plan for. It’s important that businesses consistently assess their accounting tech stacks and make sure all is working together, up to date, and even offer room for growth over time. Having your tech up to date and working like a well-oiled machine when times of crisis occur, helps you access your data, gain insight into key areas of your business, and handoff reports as needed.
- Hire outside help if needed. If keeping up with the day-to-day and managing the high-level requirements that come with technology are too much for you and your team, it might be a good time to call in some assistance. Outsourcing bookkeeping is a popular option for businesses who don’t want to add an accounting pro to staff but need some extra help with this area of the business. If you aren’t sure what that would look like for your business, read our blog post here about outsourcing payroll. An outsourced accounting expert can also help you integrate your technology tools, as well as help, get your internal teams trained on how to use the tools to their fullest potential.
Agile Planners has been working tirelessly to support their clients during this time of uncertainty and economic distress. Our team of QuickBooks-certified accounting professionals provides a wide range of professional accounting services, including:
- Bookkeeping
- Consulting
- Tech Integration
- Training
We are here for you when your business needs us during this stressed time and always.
