When you are an entrepreneur birthing a new business, it’s easy to get lost in the details. Every day, you find there are countless decisions to be made and important topics begging for your attention. Unlike when you worked for a big company that had a department head and staff for every different function, in the small business world all paths lead to you, the CEO. Unfortunately, getting swamped by fifteen different competing tasks is exactly what you don’t want to happen when you are trying to birth a successful venture.
You have to remember, first and foremost, that you are the captain of the vessel and not the first mate. Launching your new venture requires that you are the visionary, the chief strategist and navigator who clearly sees the path ahead and guides the enterprise across the seas to the fabled promised land. In order to keep your focus at a high level, where it needs to be, you have to learn to outsource key functions to experts who can handle these areas for you.
Retirement Planning and Pension Plans
One of the best things you can do to shelter income from your new business is to work with firm that specializes in retirement planning and pension plan administration. You’ll be able to meet with one of their executive-level advisors, who will take the time to understand your business and your financial goals. They can then put together a proposal that is customized to your needs.
In addition to helping you reduce taxes and build your wealth, pension benefits are a great tool for both employee recruitment and retention. When a startup venture makes these options available to employees, the new hires will understand that you are serious about their financial well-being and have choices that are parallel to the bigger firms. You may also choose to make matching contributions and profit-sharing part of the mix.
Payroll Processing and Related Taxes
It takes a lot of work to process payroll. In addition to recording time and hours accurately, you have to calculate wages for the period, apply any unique union or workplace rules and come up with how much money you owe each employee. From there, there are complex calculations related to withholding, exemptions, state and local taxes and more.
After each payroll processing cycle, you’ll also need detailed reporting that shows how much money must be accrued for the employee deductions and taxes. Employer contribution amounts for social security and Medicare, as well as some state programs, will also need to be generated. At preset times, you’ll need to rely on the payroll service for the reports and forms necessary for government reporting and payroll tax filing.
Bookkeeping
Rather than trying to build an internal accounting staff, you should outsource that function and start by hiring a very capable, full-charge bookkeeper. Ideally, you’ll find an individual who is familiar with your line of business. They will be responsible for taking care of all your financial records and basic accounting needs during the month.
Your bookkeeper will prepare checks for your signature and post income and expenses to the right accounts. They’ll also be able to calculate and accrue depreciation. At the end of the month, they ‘ll take care of closing the books out and generating the month-end reports and financial statements. With their help, you’ll know exactly where you stand financially.
In order to focus on strategy and executive-level tasks, it’s a great idea to outsource different functions within your company. You’ll be able to hire highly skilled specialists who will keep your company’s day to day activities on track while you guide the enterprise to success.