This Podcast Is Episode Number 0217, And It Will Be About Untrained Bookkeepers Are Too Costly   Construction Bookkeepers Without Training Is A Common Problem Many Construction Bookkeepers start out as Admin Assistants and get promoted to doing the Contractor's Bookkeeping in their free time. They were not hired to be a bookkeeper but as an office person who does a little data entry. This method not too bad if the employee stays a long time and grows with the company from owner working solo to gradually adding a few employees one at a time because as Randal says: Growing By The Inch Is A Cinch; Growing By The Yard Is Hard! The Term Is Commonly Known As “Grow Your Own.” This trusted employee ends up learning: How To Do Payroll For Construction Contractors How To Do Quarterly Payroll Reports For A Construction Company How To Do W-2’s For Construction Company Field And Office Workers How To Do annual 1099’s For Construction Company Subcontractors How To create Customer Invoices For Construction Contractor's Clients How To Call The Contractor's Customer And Ask For The Payment How To Choose What Are The Most Critical Bills To Pay. (Nasty Phones Calls Are The First To Be Paid!) Over the course of time, the in-house Contractor's bookkeeper / office manager develops new skills. They keep adding them as each new crisis occurs. Every day someone calls upset, dazed and confused spouses, girlfriends and overwhelmed Contractor's Bookkeepers asking for me to “Please Help – I am so overloaded and frustrated because QuickBooks is a Mess!!" I recently spoke with someone who wanted to make a few improvements to their business. The company had over 20 employees, and their in-house Bookkeeper was creating payroll Weekly from paper time cards. (which most of the time arrived late). It was Normal for their Bookkeeper to spend hours just trying to read the scribble and make sense of the time cards. The Contractor's Bookkeeper had the added challenge of matching up the hours to the jobs for proper job costing. A frustrating nightmare for the bookkeeper. All of this means The Contractor has been successful in growing the business. This is very good. The bad news is that the in-house Bookkeeper is overloaded and a lot of your profit and hard earned money is going to fall through the cracks. As The Contractor, You Are Paying The Price In The Form Of: Fines Penalties Late Fees Unbilled Change Orders Unsent Invoices Bounced Checks Lost Bidding Opportunities Little Leaks Sink The Big Ship Several Ways You Can Improve In-House Bookkeeper's Life And Grow Your Profits And Your Cash Flow Upgrade Computer to a new and faster box Get new monitors that are larger and with better resolutions Add a second or third monitor for more productivity Upgrade the office chair the in-house Bookkeeper uses Double check the phone – is a new phone needed Would a wireless headset be helpful? Any Investment That Saves Ten Minutes A Day Of Waste Will Pay For Itself And Pay You Ongoing Dividends Ten Minutes Waste Kills Your Construction Company Profits Profit Drain #1 In-House Bookkeeper Until Your Construction Company - Reaches at least $5 million in annual sales you cannot afford to hire a qualified bookkeeper or construction accountant. For Example - You Hire someone with bad habits which is a Cheap Bookkeeper part-time at $15.00 an hour for 10 hours a week thinking you will save money. The problem with that is you may not understand the true cost to have them on your payroll, including overhead, is closer to $25.29 per hour. See the chart below:   Every Ten Minutes Your Bookkeeper Is Costing You $4.21 And Could Cost Your Company $273.93 Every Year At 10% Profit, You Need $2,739.30 More Sales To Maintain Profit Margin In Some Cases - We can do more work for less money by providing you with real construction...