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Bookkeeping: Are All Clients Liars?

Guest post by: John Stewart

Article Overview: Often when a client makes contact with a bookkeeping service, they will not always tell the whole story. After all, they maybe concerned are about the financial status of their business, and admitting it to someone that they may not necessarily know can be challenging.

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Bookkeeping: Are All Clients Liars?

There's a well known phrase that's bantered around car showrooms, that "all buyers are liars" - so does this apply to bookkeeping clients? Often when a client makes contact with a bookkeeping service, they will not always tell the whole story. After all, they maybe concerned are about the financial status of their business, and admitting it to someone that they may not necessarily know can be challenging.

Until your bookkeeping client feels comfortable with you they are often hesitant to reveal too much, but that does not mean they are liars.

They may be embarrassed about the fact that their paperwork is in such disorder. They may feel guilty about the fact that they've been late with their tax lodgements.

Some clients don't want to feel pressured into making a commitment with a bookkeeping service having had a bad experience with their previous bookkeeper.

These may be just some of the reasons that your clients are not telling you the truth about the state of their financial affairs.

Recently a potential client contacted our mobile bookkeeping service wanting help to get their personal financials in order. Upon closer inspection, what they regarded as personal was in fact income-generating, and therefore subject to review for taxation.

The client didn't really consider their share portfolio or their investment properties as a business, even though they created income streams for the client. If you'd taken what they told you at face value then you may have come unstuck in your duties as a bookkeeper.

Some bookkeepers get caught up in technical jargon or "accounting-speak". This may be to impress the client, or to boost his or her own self-confidence. Really clients are only interested in getting their bookwork sorted into an easily managed system, without a major outlay in either time or money. And if the bookkeeper can use simple language and be more relatable to the client, then everyone will be happy

To win over potential clients, we need to reassure the clients that they are making the right decision in outsourcing their bookkeeping, and that we will save them any aggravation, unnecessary stress, and headaches.

What's even more important to many small business owners is the knowledge that we will save them money, and help them increase their overall profitability.

How can we guarantee we'll save them money? Well, we can't do that, but experience has shown that by freeing up their time they can focus on the parts of their business that they are good at.

We can produce an accurate set of accounts that are neat and tidy and in a format that will save their accountants time, and so ultimately we can be extremely confident that by utilising our bookkeeping services the client is better off all round.

It's only when you starting digging deeper into the clients paperwork that the true state of their finances is revealed. Does this mean that all clients are liars? Absolutely not. What it shows bookkeepers is that you can never assume the client is telling you the whole story, often through ignorance on their part.

Some clients will try to "hide' information from you, or not tell you the whole truth about some transactions - unaware of exactly what a bookkeeper does - and when questioned they will reveal a whole different perspective of a situation.

When clients feel comfortable with you, and begin to trust you, amazing things start happening. They'll start to share information with you that they may not even reveal to their partners. Its times like this when you realise the extreme importance of client confidentiality, and why many of the best bookkeepers are those who sit quietly in a corner of the office churning through the bookwork hearing everything and saying nothing.

As your bookkeeping experience increases you understand more that clients have a tendency to not give you the whole information and thus increasing your workload - that does not mean that bookkeeping clients are liars.

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Article Tags: bookkeeper, bookkeeping service, bookwork, small business

About the Author: John Stewart
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Why Are You Wasting Money On Bookkeeping Fees? Download our Free report HERE John Stewart has been helping small business owners keep track of their finances for a number of years. As manager of a bookkeeping business, John understands that smart business owners keep their finger on the pulse of their business - cash. Your accountant normally sees figures that are over twelve months old Bookkeeping should be an essential investment in your business. For more articles about bookkeeping see his website www.Bookkeepingteam.Com.au

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