Recently we sorted out a new office. Prior to that we had been huddled in an old caravan in the garden – it was damp, cold and cramped. The reason I’m telling you this is because one of the things we paid for was a proper electrician to come and sort out all the electrical stuff for us. He wasn’t cheap, but he’s good at what he does. We know this because I’ve used him before. It was a relatively simple decision – we winced a bit at the price, thought about the alternative of buying all the kit and trying to do it ourselves… visions of frazzled Phil dangling from the ceiling on the end of a wire came to mind, not to mention that it was probably illegal… and quickly made up our minds to pay a professional.
Did our decision make sense? It did to us and hopefully it does to you too. I’m good at bookkeeping, tax and accounts, not so good at electrical wiring. Maybe I could learn, but I don’t want to – life is too short. It boiled down to three simple things:
- It was safer – the consequences of getting it wrong ranged from the mildly irritating – the light won’t turn on – to the terrifying – death itself.
- It was legal – there are rules about this sort of thing, mainly to protect us from ourselves.
- It saved time, and my time is money.
No prizes for guessing my theme here – we’re the professionals when it comes to your books.
Maybe it’s time you outsourced. I know you won’t electrocute yourself trying to keep your own books in order but the same three rules apply:
- It’s safer – if you don’t know what’s going on in your business because you haven’t “done your books” for three months you are running along in the dark. Much better to know whether you are actually doing well or not.
- It’s legal. You might not think it’s a problem if you don’t keep your records up to date – it’s just bookkeeping, right? Did you know HMRC can charge you a penalty if your records aren’t accurate, complete and readable?
- It saves time, and your time is money.
