While building a deck might be a cinch for you, preparing payroll and Profit and Loss statements might leave you cold. You started a construction company to build or renovate homes and buildings, so consider handing off those construction accounting duties to a professional.

A professional accountant offers many benefits that more than makeup for the cost involved, including:

• Expanded Services
• Constant compliance with tax laws, rules, and regulations
• Personal attention
• Financial reports
• And much more

Should You Hire an Accountant for Your Small Business Payroll?

If you’re a small construction business, then you probably don’t need to hire an accountant. At what point does having an accountant go from a possibility to a must-have? There comes a time when you should hand off your accounting duties to a professional. Signs that it might be time to hire a professional include:

• Having more than eight people on the payroll
• Your revenue exceeds more than $1 million
• You’re no longer able to handle all aspects of the business alone
• You’ve got investors
• You’ve experienced fast growth in a short time span
• You need more sophisticated methods of handling your usual accounting functions
• You’ve realized it’s time to incorporate financial forecasting to make smarter business decisions

When it’s a handoff your day-to-day accounting functions, find an accountant who meets your specific needs. Take your time and find one that’s a good fit in business practices and in the price range. But don’t worry, you can still use your QuickBooks account to stay in touch with your professional accountant. You can share information and messages within the system.

Still not convinced? How about saving your precious time and hard-earned cash? From expert advice to compliance with the latest laws and regulations regarding employment and taxes, a professional accountant can give you the room you need to grow your company and the peace of mind it takes to thrive. They can also help you discover funds by way of tax savings, and learn how to save for future growth.

A Professional Accountant Can Help You Save Money

When you’re spending your time handling your small business payroll, you’re not out in the field making money. Even if you contract with someone to outsource your accounting needs, you can still end up spending more money than if you hired a professional accountant.

Saving money on accounting costs can provide you extra cash for new tools, marketing, and even employees. While this loss of control may seem scary, you can devote your time to expanding the business and courting new clients. A professional accountant can also save you money with your business online payroll. You can even use your newfound time to implement time-tracking software that lets you and your employees log your hours from virtually anywhere – even on a mobile phone. Your employees appreciate receiving paycheques on time, and reducing time spent logging hours manually is welcomed, too. It costs on average 30% less to outsource your accounting work than to bring a professional accountant onto your small business payroll.

An Accountant Frees Up Valuable Management Time

How much time are you spending on accounting tasks? From paying your bills and employees to tracking inventory and determining profit margins, there are a lot of small tasks under the heading of accounting. Even if you have someone in the office handling your bookkeeping tasks, it’s still eating up large chunks of time – yours, or someone in your company. Why would you want your customer service person to spend half their day processing payroll and writing checks every Friday when they could be on the phone with customers impressing the client with their knowledge and willingness to help?

A Host of Additional Accounting Services

Accounting is a lot more than balancing your chequebook and paying your staff. A professional accountant can provide you with a host of services, including:

• General ledger
• Financial statements
• Financial forecasting
• Tax planning and payments
• Retirement planning
• Succession planning
• Emergency funds
• Buying and selling your business
• Estate planning
• Audit services
• And many others.

Before you hire an accountant, it’s beneficial to make an appointment to discuss available services and how those services might benefit your small business.The accountant may surprise you with services you need but didn’t know existed. Many firms can tackle all of your accounting and bookkeeping needs or just the aspects you find too cumbersome to handle on your own. Cover all your expectations in the initial meeting, ask questions, and make sure you get clear answers you’re satisfied with.

Maintain Compliance with the Canada Revenue Agency

Last year that item was deductible! How many times have you said that? It seems like each year there are hundreds of small but different changes to the tax code for both your federal and provincial taxes. Unless you want to spend hours on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website, you need a different plan to stay current on all the tax changes.

Hiring an accountant is the easiest way to do that. Just like you stay current on building codes as part of your day-to-day business, accountants stay up to date on all business and personal tax law changes. They can make adjustments to your payroll taxes immediately and advise you of changes you need to make, such as how much to collect in sales tax. Your accountant stays current on all the latest rules and laws so your small business payroll is always compliant with the most recent regulations. You can request updates regarding compliance changes so you can notify your staff, but you have peace of mind knowing your company is always compliant, no matter what.

It’s also a good idea to discuss any large purchases ahead of time with your accountant to reap as many tax advantage as possible. It’s possible that the legislature is in the process of changing tax laws that make it essential to buy the item now or wait until the next tax season to see if the new rules offer better benefits.

Your accountant strives to keep your company compliant with local, province, and Canadian taxes. Should you receive a summons for an audit, your accountant already has all your records organized and ready to stand up to scrutiny.

Accurate and Timely Personal Service

Tired of dealing with software that doesn’t talk back when you ask a question? An accountant takes the time to answer all your questions and gets back to you in a timely manner when you leave a message. Just like you contact clients as soon as possible, your accountant is a professional who wants to offer you the best service possible to keep you as a client.

While it’s common to make some mistakes, accountants know how to ensure all your numbers are correct. When you hire an accountant, you’re assured more accuracy than you can probably accomplish on your own. It’s a good idea to go over the numbers with your accountant from time-to-time to ensure all your accounts are in order and that you, personally, are up-to-speed regarding your company.

Questions Answered by an Expert

What your current tax rate? Is it a good idea to borrow money to expand right now? An accountant is an expert who is always there to answer your financial questions, and since they already have all of your business details, they can offer you the most sound advice.

Because your accountant keeps up with changes to the tax code and labour laws, you can always reach out and ask for advice for buying stock or offering incentives to your employees. They can also set up financial forecasting to help you determine whether or not to extend a project or start a new construction service. You can also use this forecasting to determine the benefits of borrowing money or taking on an investor.

Your accountant helps you plan for retirement and maximizes the amount you can save for the future. When the time comes to pass your business along to the younger generation, your accountant can help you make wise decisions and avoid massive tax penalties.

Instant Snapshots of Your Financial Health

There are a variety of financial reports that help you make smart decisions to grow your business. These reports include:

• Balance sheets
• Cash-flow statements and forecasts
• Statement of capital
• Income statement
• Profit and Loss Report

All of these reports provide a snapshot of your company’s current financial health, but your accountant can take it a step further to help you imagine the financial implications of certain business choices.

This is also known as forecasting. The reports, or forecasts, take your current numbers into account and then add something new, such as hiring a new electrician or starting a housing subdivision, and predict what it might do to your bottom line. Your accountant can run these reports and walk you through what the information means so you can make an informed decision.

Standard reports are also helpful for getting loans or lines of credit. When you apply for a loan or credit line, you almost always need to provide an income statement and statement of capital. Your dedicated accountant runs these reports as you need them.

While you spend your days making someone a new home, let your accountant take care of your critical financial tasks. You save time and money, enjoy personal service, and have an expert to ask advice from at any time. 5.6 million customers use QuickBooks. Join them today to help your business thrive!