Bookkeepers are all the same – they make sure the numbers add up and the petty cash balances, right? Wrong.
Bookkeeping is a skill beyond being able to turn a calculator on – and real estate bookkeeping is more specialised again. The average real estate business owner is more than likely a great sales person, not an experienced bookkeeper. So it makes sense for them to spend their time driving new business and leave the accounting and reconciliation to business professionals.
Live Bookkeeping was born to provide a solution to this problem for Real Estate business owners across Australia. I have seen and heard almost every scenario, from the bare basics of bookkeeping to a highly qualified accountant on-site full-time. Like any business decision, your individual agencies needs must be met. It can seem costly to pay this “backoffice” task, when you are trying to build a business, but be wary of unwittingly walking into a disaster because you wished away responsibility for your accounts.
A qualified bookkeeper will tell you how to organize your financial accounts, and keep on top of BAS, Superannuation and PAYG requirements. They will reconcile your accounts and provide peace of mind. But that is where bookkeeping ends, bookkeepers are not accountants.
Preparing profit and losses, making changes to your chart of accounts, preparing budgets are not the mandate of bookkeepers. Running your trust account and settling property sales and property management accounts are also not bookkeeping skill sets. If you want these to be combined, you are looking for industry experience and expertise, and they are both scarce and costly.
Outsourcing is a sound option, and can provide solutions to all of the above tasks, and even better provide greater capacity for the same overall costs.
If you need to review how you currently operate your “back-office”, contact Live Bookkeeping to have a free assessment done, today.
About the author
Chris Mercer CA is the founder of Live Bookkeeping who previously headed up the business improvement team for the Ray White Real Estate Group. Chris is considered one of the industry leading financial experts and thought leader on financial matters in real estate. You can connect with him on Google+ or on LinkedIn.
