Falling leaves, temps getting colder, and suddenly, business owners start their year-end bookkeeping run.
Every year, I watch entrepreneurs hit “panic mode.” They should be enjoying all the fun the end of the year brings.
Instead, they’re hunting down receipts, chasing past invoices, and trying to cobble together a year’s worth of numbers before the clock strikes tax season.
Real talk: Playing catch-up with your books isn’t just stressful. You risk missed deductions, late fees, inaccurate reports, and maybe an audit you don’t want.
There is another way to exist. What if keeping up with your books all year became as easy as automatic payments and, in the end, made you money?
That is what hiring a bookkeeper can do for you. You get:
✅ Clean up to date records so tax season is a non-event.
✅ Maximize deductions
✅ Total clarity on your cash flow so you can make better decisions – not react to problems
✅ Zero scrambling
And, there’s a good chance it pays for itself as you have more time to generate revenue.
If the year-end scramble feels familiar, don’t wait until it’s crunch time. Let’s build the systems to get ahead and stay ahead.
Ready to spend December focused on growth and not bookkeeping? DM me. Let’s make stress-free books your new normal.
Author: Becker & Ledger
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The Year End Bookkeeper
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Service-based businesses don’t fail because they can’t deliver.
They stall because of admin burdens and cash flow struggles choke growth.
FreshBooks fixes both.
Simple setup means invoice, expenses, and time tracking don’t eat your week.
Professional invoices + automated reminders=faster payments and predictable cash flow.
Built for non-accountants=clean dashboards and reports you can understand.
Scales with you: projects, proposals, integrations. It’s a partner, not just software.
I run Becker & Ledger Precision Bookkeeping on FreshBooks. It keeps ops lean and let’s me serve more clients.
It you’re a service-based entrepreneur, get clarity and momentum. Use or move to FreshBooks.
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Are your numbers lying to you?
If you’re not paying yourself, you’re lying to yourself.
Can’t afford to pay yourself a fair salary? It’s a huge red flag.
I had a client with a thriving business, generating decent revenue. But they weren’t taking a salary. Zero. Profits looked good on paper.
When you skip paying yourself a market salary, your “profit” isn’t profit. It’s a fantasy.
Consider:
↳ Not paying yourself a market salary means the business’s profits are artificially inflated.
↳ Buyers and lenders might add back a realistic salary when valuing your business. Then what?
Real business health means covering the cost of your time. So, I’d like to ask you to please pay yourself first. Like you’re an employee, not a charity case.
If your business can’t afford to pay you what you deserve, it’s time to rethink the numbers.
Not sure if you’re doing this? Ask yourself: What would I have to pay someone to replace me? -
Count It: Cash Flow is The Metric
Profitable but broke all the time?
It’s more common than you think.
I had a client hitting revenue goals.
Yet, every month she struggled to pay bills.
The problem? No one was tracking operating cash flow.
It’s the money flowing in and out daily.
What are the most common reasons small businesses struggle with this?
↳Slow-paying customers
↳Low cash reserves
↳Failure to plan and forecast
Paying attention and planning cash flow is key to staying in business.
Know your cash flow and you’ll be in control of the business.
Grab my 13-week cash flow forecasting template if you need some help.
https://lnkd.in/evRqs2Hi -
Valuation and Your Tech Stack
One way to kill your exit strategy and it’s too common.
If your business runs on desktop software or worse, paper files, you’re already losing value.
Here’s the hard truth: Buyers want businesses that run smoothly and are not hard to value. Not ones needing a full IT team just to see the books.
Valuable businesses 👍 : Modern tech, scalable, recurring revenue
Passed over businesses 👎 : Desktop tech, clunky processes, billing hourly
The fact is, an offer made for your business is dependent on the soundness and transferability of your books.
If you’re still running on desktop bookkeeping software, you’re getting in your own way.
Cloud bookkeeping offers real-time data, instant access, and zero headaches at handover.
Businesses with modern tech systems get better offers. They grow faster. And they exit cleaner.
If you want to get serious about growth and future-proof your business, start with your tech stack today.
Every day stuck in the past is value left on the table.
For most business owners, a sale is when, not if.
Start simple and in the most important place, your bookkeeping.
If the books are behind, get them caught up. If you’re on desktop software, get in the cloud. -
Listening: Them Most Underrated Skill
The smartest person in the room?
Early in my career, I made a concerted effort to master work-related topics.
My goal was to ensure I was (or appeared) to be the most versed person on matters important to clients.
Nothing wrong with knowing your stuff, right?
The mistake I made was being the one doing the talking.
As I gained more experience working with clients, it became obvious that:
↳ The most stable client relationships were the ones in which we hardly spoke about work. It was always personal stories and friendly chats.
↳ The trust was strongest with clients I listened to more than I spoke to.
↳ I seldom had to impart my knowledge to clients as they trusted me and seldom asked hard or deep work-related questions.
Research shows that listening makes us seem more intelligent and trustworthy.
When we give others our attention, it signals respect, curiosity, and confidence.
There is a small twist, too. Studies reveal that sharing our point of view honestly without dominating a conversation boosts likability (even among strangers).
For me, I love getting to know people, and there is no better way to do that than to ask questions where I genuinely care to hear the answer.
In those answers are the gold nuggets upon which you can build both personal and business relationships.
The mark of a great leader (and friend) isn’t having the most to say but making others feel heard. -
Chart of Accounts: The Backbone of Your Financial System
The Chart of Accounts (COA) is the foundation of your financial system.
Customizing it in FreshBooks ensures your books aren’t just accurate for tax work, they’re useful for running and growing your business.
Why it matters:
The COA determines how transactions are classified and summarized.
A clear, well-structured COA makes your P&L and balance sheet meaningful.
Messy COA = messy books
Customizing the COA in FreshBooks is good form.
Out of the box, FreshBooks comes with a COA that you can customize to fit your business. The default COA is not perfect and can use a few tweaks for all businesses. Here are two tweaks I recommend.
Archive (you can’t delete) the Personal Expense Account. For clean bookkeeping, you should not have personal expenses.
Add appropriate accounts under Equity for Owner’s Contributions and Owner’s Distributions. This may vary depending on how many owners you have in your business. Meaning, for a solopreneur, the above suffices. If you have partners, you need a contribution and distribution account for each partner. -
Great v Good Bookkeepers
Good bookkeepers are masters of the numbers.
Great bookkeepers help craft the habits behind those numbers and save you from future pains.
Here’s the thing most business owners miss: bookkeeping isn’t just about catching mistakes and fixing numbers.
It’s about building systems that stop those mistakes from happening in the first place.
That’s where real time and money get saved.
If you want financial clarity that lasts, you need more than a bookkeeper who balances your books.
You need a partner who transforms the way you handle your finances.
Don’t settle for good enough.
Your business and your future self deserve great. -
I’m Not Worried About AI
Clients don’t call their AI when they’re stressed out about cash flow. They call their bookkeeper.
I’ve seen this story play out once already. In wealth management, robo-advisors were supposed to wipe out the industry. Cheap. efficient, “smarter than humans.”
Then, markets tank, or a big life decision arises. Clients aren’t looking to the algos for answers. They wanted someone who understood their goals, their fears, and blind spots.
Bookkeeping, or any other advice-related job, is not much different.
AI can read receipts and punch out a report. Helpful? Definitely!
When a business owner lies awake at night wondering if they can afford to hire, expand, or survive a slow season, a tool won’t cut it.
That’s where judgment, context, and the human touch prevail.
As a bookkeeper, I’m not worried about being replaced by AI. The tools simply help me do my job more effectively.
Helping people make better decisions with clarity and confidence. That’s my job.
Let’s hear it for all the advisors and consultants who add value to others.
Becker & Ledger 