Incompetent Bookkeepers And What To Do To Fix Them

The Answer Is You Can't - My Apologies if the title misleads you into believing I had a better answer because I don't.

Whenever I Feel - Enormously commanding, completely invincible, a man to be reckoned with, The Great and Powerful OZ entrusted with the super-secret answer to keeping incompetent bookkeepers from causing financial harm to construction business owner's QuickBooks files I immediately go next door and order the neighbor’s dog around…he ignores me….how refreshing it is to re-awaken as a mere mortal…again.

You Can Lead An Incompetent Bookkeeper - To the fountain of knowledge if you pay for their time, travel expenses, meals and lodging. Even after all of that most of them will only gargle!

An Incompetent Bookkeeper - Is simply someone who started learning bookkeeping skills and when they reached the level of sophomore and stopped. Construction bookkeeping has Four Levels of Learning:

Level I – (Freshman) I don’t know that I don’t know about a particular subject

Level II – (Sophomore) Now I know that I don’t know about a particular subject

Level III – (Junior) I know it well enough to do it….if I really concentrate hard and pay attention

Level IV – (Senior) I know it well enough to do it in my sleep

All Professional Bookkeepers - Pass through the stage of being an incompetent bookkeeper myself included. I recall achieving that exalted status after a couple of years; the difference is knowing that feeling is an illusion and exercising the self-discipline to continue practicing, drilling, rehearsing and learning. It takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a trade.

Ten Easy Steps To Achieve Incompetent Bookkeeper Status:

1. Attend a seminar selling you on how easy it is to make money in your own bookkeeping business

2. Buy the book, CD, DVD, Workbook Get-R-Done-In-No-Time package for $1995.00 more or less

3. Watch some of the videos, do a few lessons in the book and quit that nonsense

4. Take an bookkeeping class online and get bored with it quickly

5. Enroll in a community college course to learn accounting and discover it is worse than watching paint dry because it moves at the pace of the slowest person there who cannot quite understand why debits are on the left.

6. Take on a customer, get their paperwork, stare at it for two weeks accomplishing nothing

7. Get fired because they figured out you do not have a clue what you are doing

8. Write a resume' and get hired at an accounting firm as a bookkeeping trainee

9. Argue with the staff, the accountants and let the clients know you are the smartest person in the room

10. Get fired within six months because you cannot and will not learn bookkeeping.

I Saved The Best For Last

Our All-Time Favorite - Incompetent Bookkeeper, the "I am a whiz at finance because I have experience as bank teller, insurance / bonding / loan underwriter, auditor, loan officer, CFO of a manufacturing plant, bother / mother / sister / aunt / uncle of the world's greatest C.P.A.

No Doubt They Are Highly Skilled - And competent at what they do; however, what do you think they would say if a Strategic Construction Bookkeeping Services Professional said "I can do your job as well or better than you because I have over 10,000 hours of practice working with QuickBooks For Contractors.

When They Stopped Laughing - And could breathe again perhaps they would explain in detail how complex their profession is and that just because someone has skills in a focused niche of construction accounting there is no way on earth they could step into their shoes and do their job. On that we agree!

If I Seem A Little Harsh -On the subject of incompetent bookkeepers I offer no apologies because of the monumental damages Bad Bookkeepers, Cheap Bookkeepers and Incompetent Bookkeeper have done to contractors, their families, employees and outside suppliers.

Here Are Twenty Things To Consider That Can Reduce Your Stress

#01 Don't Hire A Cheap or Bad Bookkeeper Click Here For More...

#02 - Be Aware Of The Employee Theft 10-10-80 Rule - Discovered over many years of experience and first hand observation by auditors, accountants, fraud examiners, anyone involved in detecting employee theft.

Ten Percent - Of all employees including bookkeepers will steal in a variety of ways from office supplies, petty cash, graft, kickbacks and payoffs from your suppliers, vendors and sub-contractors and even hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. They will do it regardless of how many security systems are in place because they lack integrity and have an "taker's" entitlement paradigm that states: "It Is Better To Take Than To Make". They cannot be stopped, only caught! And only then if you have systems in place and if you can convince the criminal justice system to take action, good luck with that!

Ten Percent - Of all employees including bookkeepers will never steal because they have integrity and a "Producer's" paradigm that states: "It Is Better To Make Than To Take". In the end these are the people who will add so much value to your company you cannot help but reward them with more money, benefits and recognition. Because if you do not they will be recruited by your competitors. This is another example of Leveling, click here to learn more.

Eighty Percent - Of all employees including bookkeepers will steal if they feel certain they can get away with it and if circumstances allow for it due to weak integrity and a sense of "Redistributing The Wealth, But Not The Work Or The Responsibility"

#03 - Your Bookkeeper - Asks for signature authority on your checking / savings / payroll accounts

#04 - Your Bookkeeper - Has a lifestyle that seems above what they are earning

#05 - Your Bookkeeper - Takes Records Home to work on or they want to work in the office when no one is around (Fraudulent activities are easier when nobody is around).

#06 - Your Bookkeeper - Refuses to take a vacation.

#07 - Your Bookkeeper - Gets defensive when you or your CPA asks questions.

#08 - Your Bookkeeper - Has access to your credit/debit cards.

#09 - Your Bookkeeper - Receives mail-order packages at work.

#10 - Your Bookkeeper - Has QuickBooks in a complete mess and you cannot understand any of it.

#11 - You Bookkeeper - Tries to explain away delinquency tax notices.

#12 - Your Bookkeeper - Insists on picking up the daily mail.

#13 - Your Bookkeeper - Is the primary contact for your company's banks, auditors, creditors, etc.

#14 - Your Bookkeeper - Misplaces payroll receipts, deposit records, supplier letters and estimates.

#15 - Your Bookkeeper - Makes the bank deposits and they seem to be too small.

#16 - Your Bookkeeper - Show signs of a drinking, drug, or gambling problem or family financial problems.

#17 - Your Bookkeeper - Suggested they could save money by getting rid of the outside accounting firm.

#18 - Your Bookkeeper - Gets angry when you ask for a QuickBooks report

#19 - Your Bookkeeper - Tries to blame the previous Bookkeeper or outside accounting firm for messy QuickBooks

#20 - Your Bookkeeper - Does not get along well with other employees and staff members.

 

There Are More Warning Signs - To be aware of and action steps you can take.

Outsource To A Professional Bookkeeping Service - That has a Bookkeeping System in place:

1. They Do Not - Collect your money, make bank deposits or pay any bills or taxes.

2. They Do - The Bookkeeping including Payroll Processing, Quarterly Tax Reports, Invoicing, Pay Applications, and bank reconciliations and provide you with online access to your QuickBooks so you can generate Job Costing and Financial reports anytime you want too.

Profitable Construction - Companies have known about the value of outsourced bookkeeping services for a long time and now you know about it too!

We Scan Your Receipts And Invoices link them to QuickBooks transactions where it is appropriate and give you back a CPA-ready packet for your tax return and we provide ongoing Cloud Based Contractors Bookkeeping Services by accountants who understand construction.

Business Process Management (BPM) For Contractors

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Call Sharie 206-361-3950

sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com

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About The Author:

Randal DeHart, PMP, QPA is the co-founder of Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood Washington. He is the leading expert in outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services for small construction companies across the USA. He is experienced as a Contractor, Project Management Professional, Construction Accountant, Intuit ProAdvisor, QuickBooks For Contractors Expert and Xero Accounting Specialist and Bill.Com Certified Guru. This combination of experience and skill sets provides a unique perspective which allows him to see the world through the eyes of a contractor, Project Manager, Accountant and construction accountant. This quadruple understanding is what sets him apart from other Intuit ProAdvisors and Xero accountants to the benefit of all of the construction contractors he serves across the USA. Visit http://www.fasteasyaccounting.com/randal-dehart/ to learn more.

Our Co-Founder Randal DeHart - Is a Certified PMP (Project Management Professional) with several years of construction project management experience. His expertise is construction accounting systems engineering and process development. His exhaustive study of several leading experts including the work of Dr. W. Edward Deming, Michael Gerber, Walter A. Shewhart, James Lewis and dozens of others was the foundation upon which our Construction Bookkeeping System is based and continues to evolve and improve. Follow Randal on Google+