The day-to-day roles of a Melbourne bookkeeper

Numbers, numbers and more numbers! You don’t need to be a bookkeeper yourself to know that we deal primarily with crunching the numbers at your business.

What you may not know however is the nitty-gritty details – how does your bookkeeper keep all of your business’ finances and cash flow in check?

If you’ve ever asked yourself that question, you’re in luck – today, our small business bookkeepers in Melbourne are peeling back the curtain and giving you a look into what our day-to-day work looks like.

A day in the life of your bookkeeping service

9am: get set up for the day

First thing’s first: coffee.

Once that’s done, it’s time to get caught up. Like many people, the first thing we do is check our emails to see if any new messages have come in overnight, whether from clients or businesses who’ve realised they need the help of a small business bookkeeper.

Any that need to be called immediately will be – others will be slotted into our busy timetables.

9:45am: update financial records for clients

Money and cash flow are the lifeblood of any business, regardless of what they do. Tracking sales, expenses, debts and where cash goes are key to any successful business – so it’s little wonder that these are some of the main tasks of the job!

Many business owners who’ve been doing all of their bookkeeping responsibilities since day 1 often find themselves feeling like they’re losing control or falling behind when it comes to their financial activities.

Instead, they entrust it to bookkeepers like us!

• Keeping track of your taxes
• Assessing products and services that contribute to your business growth
• Better financial management
• Transparency of accounts 

These are what the lion’s share of a bookkeeper’s day-to-day work. Luckily, technological developments mean that it’s a much faster and simpler process than it used to be (more on that later).

11am: client meetings

Each business has its own unique challenges and circumstances. The issues your bookkeeping faces differ from everyone else’s – and the only way to make sure that we can address each of them is to talk to you.

When taking on a new client, the first thing we do is talk to them about the bookkeeping issues they have. Only then can we understand the issue, as well as the most suitable solution.

As part of this, we often ask potential clients to supply copies of their current cash flow and other important financial information. This is crucial in helping us create a specific action plan and determine what needs to be done.

12:30pm lunch

What, we’re still human – we need to eat too!

1:15 pm: communicate with staff and suppliers

Transactions happen every day – to track them, a bookkeeper in Melbourne needs to communicate to both staff and suppliers outside the company.

Specifically, to accurately record every single transaction, a bookkeeper needs to communicate with individuals that handle business purchases from suppliers.

They’re also the one responsible for helping staff keep on top of their credit and other company expenditures. Bookkeepers ensure that petty cash is dispersed correctly, and all internal and external financial transactions are well-recorded.

Another part of this is looking over purchase invoices.

In addition to tracking expenditure, we’ll also verify all of your purchase invoices and receipts, ensuring that you’re paying the right price, as well as following up overdue invoices to ensure that you receive all the money you’re owed without having to go to collections.

2pm: check inventory and budgets

All businesses, small or large, need supplies and purchases. To ensure your business doesn’t run out of supplies and that everything is paid for on time, your bookkeeper tracks and maintains inventory items and crunches the numbers.

A bookkeeper in Melbourne can also help by evaluating your spend and identifying areas where you might be paying higher prices than you need to, or if certain suppliers have upped their prices.

We’ll point these areas out to you, helping you stay on top of your costs and allowing you to save a lot on the everyday purchases and services you use on a daily basis.

3pm: getting in touch with an accountant

While bookkeepers play a crucial role in maintaining your business’ financial health, we don’t work alone – often, we partner with an accountant.

Take our word for it: while they sound similar, bookkeepers and accountants actually receive different training, and both specialise in different areas.

The numbers we supply are what accountants use to create all sorts of financial plans and strategies. At the same time, accountants rely on us for the day-to-day data they need to determine whether or not their plans are succeeding.

Throughout the day, we forward reports and summaries to our clients’ accountants – just give us your accountant’s contact details, and we’ll hash out the rest.

3:30pm: reconciling accounts

As Melbourne bookkeepers accurately record invoices, track expenses, monitor cash flow and perform GST reporting, all of which can help small businesses determine their financial condition.

Of course, this all assumes that the information we’re being given by business owners is accurate!

Small business owners are very hands-on types – it’s one of their best traits.

Unfortunately, this often leads to them biting off more than they can chew. Case in point: their bookkeeping.

Often when a business owner hands their bookkeeping over to us, the records are jumbled or incomplete. In other cases, there are transactions missing from their internal bookkeeping.

Reconciliation focuses on checking your records and correcting any errors in outputs or records that we come across, ensuring that your records are as accurate as they can be..

4pm: setting up cloud bookkeeping systems

Our bookkeeping team aren’t just small business bookkeepers – we’re cloud bookkeepers too.

Cloud bookkeeping is the next big thing in bookkeeping, allowing bookkeepers, accountants and business owners to make their bookkeeping:

• Faster
• Easier
• More accurate
• Automated

Using MYOB, Xero, QuickBooks and other online platforms, we can make your bookkeeping all of these things, all while giving you the power to access your records from anywhere.

A lot of our role includes setting small businesses up with cloud bookkeeping solutions. While it’s possible to get set up on your own, we recommend getting with a professional to:

• Set up your system
• Migrate your data over
• Provide training

A lot of or bookkeepers’ time is taken up by setting up cloud bookkeeping solutions for businesses like yours. While it can take a little bit of time, at the end of the day, the benefits are well worth it!

5pm: hometime

After a hard day’s work, it’s time to clock off (don’t worry, we’ll still periodically check our emails throughout the night, just in case any bookkeeping emergencies spring up!)

Find a Melbourne bookkeeper that looks after your business

Good numbers are the key to success in business, no matter what it is that you do. Whether yours is a small, medium or large business, it’s important that your bookkeeping is in good order.

While it’s tempting to do your own bookkeeping, after a while, the amount of work builds up until that’s simply no longer possible. When this happens, it’s time to get in touch with a professional bookkeeper.

Our team eases your bookkeeping headaches by offering the following bookkeeping services:

• Payroll solutions
• Invoicing
• Debt collection
• Balance sheets
• Online bookkeeping
• Advanced bookkeeping

Just tell us what you need, and we’ll craft you a tailored bookkeeping package that addresses each of the problems your business is facing.

Contact our small business bookkeepers now on (03) 9589 0128 or click here to see how we can help you.

You can also visit us for bookkeeping service in Melbourne: pop into our office at 13 North Concourse, Beaumaris 3193.