Small Business Success: Have an accounting system!

I had a great time today at the Pinellas Park Chamber Lunch and Learn workshop on small business accounting and taxes. We covered a lot of material including: "Do you need an accountant", how to develop an accounting system, financial statements, taxes and considerations for choosing a business organization (S-Corp, C-Corp, LLC?). We had a mix of established businesses (using Quickbooks) and start-up businesses (no process/system yet). I discovered that each topic we covered could have been expanded to more detail but there really is only SO much we can absorb in one sitting! I was impressed that the entire group was engaged and added comments based on their own experience and asked good questions. It is always encouraging to see how much businesses can learn from each other! It's toubh to give your accounting system the time and attention it deserves because you are so busy working ON your business! Keep this in mind -- I found this quote from a NY Times Article Jan 5, 2011: Top Ten Reasons Businesses Fail -- “Reason # 4: Poor accounting. You cannot be in control of a business if you don’t know what is going on. With bad numbers, or no numbers, a company is flying blind, and it happens all of the time. Why? For one thing, it is a common – and disastrous – misconception that an outside accounting firm hired primarily to do the taxes will keep watch over the business. In reality that is the job of the chief financial officer, one of the MANY hats an entrepreneur has to wear until a real one is hired.” I ask you, have you had your financials reviewed recently? Have you considered your upcoming quarter's goals (or yearly goals) and checked-in to see how you are doing financially?