Congratulations!!  If you are reading this, it means that your business is flying and you are finally starting to see some traction and you need help to get to the next stage, so who should you hire first?

A poor hire will set you back some months and hiring the wrong resource will set you back even further. The best way to answer this question is to think about what your business needs to survive and grow further then hire to fill that gap. Business runs on money, so it’s safe to say that at the very basic level, you need to protect that resource.

If you are managing your own finances, then it’s time to let that go and your first hire should be a bookkeeper.

Given a bookkeeper’s role is to manage your finances, you need to find a bookkeeper that is transparent, reliable, qualified and above all is trustworthy!

Finding the right bookkeeper can be difficult, especially if you don’t know where to start.

Here are some tips to finding the right bookkeeper:-

• Never hire from your ‘gut’ feeling
• Hire a bookkeeper who is qualified
• Has an excellent reputation
• Understands that you are time poor and can implement new effective and efficient financial systems into your business
• Has an excellent track-record and has worked with similar sized businesses who have moved to the next level
• Loves technology
• Shows an understanding of your business and can help streamline your internal processes and knows which platforms and software systems will suit your business

If you have the right person in the job, then you will start to see your resources being freed up so you can concentrate on growth. Cloud based technology is also a must, so hire a bookkeeper who operates with mobile technology.

In the current market we are seeing entrepreneurs, starts up, SMEs and Corporates preferring bookkeepers who operate with cloud technology, mostly because they can access their information from any device and can make decisions for the business quickly and with full visibility and access to their bookkeeper which ensures that cash flow is never a problem.

Xero is a perfect example of cloud based accounting technology, which allows users real time access to financial information for decision-making purposes and frees up resources so owners can focus on their business.

It doesn’t matter which business you are operating, you simply can’t avoid the movement towards cloud-based accounting. Even for those operating in industries where technology isn’t core to what they do are moving across.