Page 25 - inet magazine nov.2021

Should You Hire An Accountant

Or A Bookkeeper?

By Vanessa Lucey

What is the difference between an accountant and financial health of your company.
a bookkeeper? I get this question a lot so I thought
I would spend some time clarifying this important Having only one of these team members, but not
question so I can make sure everyone understands the other, leaves a hole in the financial side of your
they are both important in the game of accounting. business that would prevent the entire story from being
told. Having an incomplete financial story available
An accountant is a person whose job is to keep, in your business can have negative consequences
inspect, and analyze financial accounts. An accountant when applying for funding, filing taxes correctly, or
is a person who takes a client’s financial statements positioning yourself to sell your company if and when
and reviews them for errors. When reviewing Profit and the time comes.
Loss statement, for example, an accountant will make
sure all of the numbers are in the correct spot, and if
they are not, the accountant will move the revenue and Vanessa Lucey is owner and founder of Lucey Accounting
expenses t the place where they belong to accurately Services, Inc located in Mesa, Arizona. Lucey Accounting
reflect the client’s financial position.
is a QuickBooks Certified company with over 20 years of
In addition, an accountant analyzes the profit and loss accounting and bookkeeping experience. She is a resourceful
for the owner or CEO to understand what the picture and passionate leader and is known to encourage, empower,
of their business is looking for tax purposes and also and coach her clients through the pitfalls and opportunities of
for budgeting. So, an accountant is behind the scenes accounting.
giving the advice that is most important for a business
to move forward or to possibly sell, whatever they
choose. Financial statements are the most important You can reach out to Vanessa at 480-284-2796,
piece of running a business.
www.luceyaccounting.com and vanessa@
On the other hand, a bookkeeper is a person whose job luceyaccounting.com.
is to keep records of the financial affairs of a business.
The bookkeeper is the most important person in
the business because that person is responsible for
entering all of the data per financial records (aka bank
statements). They also make sure everything is given
a code (aka office supplies, meals, dues, etc). They
are data entry experts and have some knowledge of
accounting.

While an accountant and a bookkeeper serve different
roles in your business, it is essential to have each of
them on your team. Having the correct financial data
available is critical for reporting purposes, and it’s even
more important to use the data correctly to assess the

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