Bookkeeping Case Study: The Power of Knowing Your Numbers

A husband/wife graphic design firm.

The owner came to us via a referral. She had, as many business owners do, a ton of stress around finances. She is a creative genius, but the business part of business was pretty much kicking her butt.

During our assessment, we identified many areas where should could use help with the “business of business” but we focused on bookkeeping to start.  Our bookkeeping assessment consists of reviewing 3 months of finances so that we can clearly determine scope and costs of providing bookkeeping support. It also involves deciding who will do what.

What We Did:

Starting with “basic” bookkeeping we decided the scope would be:

• Weekly review of books to property categorize transactions
• Manage accounts payable
• Perform monthly bank and credit card reconciliations
• The client would continue to do invoicing because she like to “tinker/adjust”
• Research and address discrepancies or bank errors (and trust us – they DO happen)
• Over time, as she gained confidence and trust in our team, we have added:
  • Monthly dashboard of reports so she could begin to build financial literacy around what the numbers mean to the rest of her business
  • Integration of her time tracking system into QBO to review project profitability
  • We now do most of the invoices, she reviews, we send, and we help with collections calls as needed
  • We track estimated tax liability for quarterly payments, completely eliminating the year-end shock of “I owe HOW MUCH?!”. She’s also created a separate account where we transfer money regularly to cover tax payments reducing cash flow impact to… NONE.
  • Our wrap around business consulting went from occasional (when she was in crisis) to regular monthly calls allowing her to:
    • Be proactive financially
    • Understand profitability and cash flow
    • Create an awareness around ideal client – bigger is not always better
    • Move from high touch, low profit client to low touch, high profit clients and projects
    • Transition from project-based work to retainer-based work
    • Determine best staffing models

The Results:

They are KILLING it – vastly increasing what they are able to take from the company. Have identified their sweet spot, with the majority of their income coming from retainer projects vs one-offs. They take vacations, re-did their kitchen, and their staff is smaller than ever.

Need a Bookkeeper? We can help.