As a mental healthcare professional dedicated to your own practice, you’re probably more familiar with your session notes than financial records.
When growing your own small business, you’ll often hear the importance of hiring financial aid in the form of a bookkeeper or an accountant. As you build and maintain your practice, it’s important to learn the differences between the two to identify which you should hire and when. There are some critical differences in how bookkeepers and accountants operate.
Bookkeepers
A bookkeeper handles various important tasks for your business. Some of these include:
- Keeping a ledger of all monetary transactions
- Tracking your budgeting and spending against quarterly or annual budgets
- Flagging inconsistencies in your financial records
- Reconciling expenses and verifying receipts
While the bulk of a bookkeeper’s role is to maintain the ledger of transactions, they keep track of all the money coming in and walking out the door. These tasks generate your Profit and Loss statements and other financial reports.
Accountants
Meanwhile, accountants typically take the above information, whether put together by you or a bookkeeper, to offer you more of a big-picture or long-term financial view of your practice. They can be immensely helpful for planning your practice’s financial future and should be your go-to for tax filing. An accountant’s tasks can include:
- Preparing financial statements for your practice or small business
- Filling out and filing tax returns
- Evaluating the operational costs of your practice
- Understanding long-term financial decisions
- Making financial suggestions where necessary
With a better understanding of these roles and responsibilities, you can make an informed decision about where you need financial help within your practice. This knowledge empowers you to take control of your practice's financial health and ensures its success.
The benefit of joining Heard is that we offer both bookkeeping and accounting services, providing comprehensive financial guidance. This all-in-one service is designed to relieve the stress of managing your practice's finances, allowing you to stay focused on your clients and your practice's success.