Business advice

[struglin]

I'm generally curious what types of businesses you guys are running where you have an accountant doing invoicing, and it's saving time considering you need to provide them with the information anyway? If it's monthly invoicing quickbooks can do it automatically so no need for someone to do it. If OP is running a service truck, they would still need to send details of customer, how many hours, etc to have someone else prepare an invoice, probably what 2 minutes difference between texting it and just filling out an invoice yourself? Maybe 1-2 a day tops? Doesn't really make sense to me. Also the risk of them screwing an amount up and costing you money.

Any operation of decent size lol. Hard to run a company when your busy doing AR/AP.

Sad thing is 90 percent of businesses out there have bad book keepers and don’t even realize it.

As for your comment about people missing billing ect… if you run a tight ship and have proper checks and balances it’s a non issue.

Get a GOOD book keeper and an even better accountant and focus on building your business and making money!!!

 

[lilduke]

Going into buisness is the route to freedom bud.

My dad built a successful company over 40 years and because of that i have a pretty easy life.

It will be a tough go, but one day your kids will beable to sled everyday... lol

 

[SHREK1]

^^^true words right there

 

[Cyle]

Any operation of decent size lol. Hard to run a company when your busy doing AR/AP.

Sad thing is 90 percent of businesses out there have bad book keepers and don’t even realize it.

As for your comment about people missing billing ect… if you run a tight ship and have proper checks and balances it’s a non issue.

Get a GOOD book keeper and an even better accountant and focus on building your business and making money!!!

Actually no one uses an accountant for invoicing, they do use someone for AP/AR though if they are a pretty good size. But last time I checked OP was asking about running a service truck himself so it doesn't apply at all......

Yea I call BS on that. AR/AP is the same person in a ton of companies, and as far as getting invoices paid most of them don't know their head from their a$$ and are totally worthless, it's scary that they are running such an important part of a company.

 

[Cyle]

Going into buisness is the route to freedom bud.

My dad built a successful company over 40 years and because of that i have a pretty easy life.

It will be a tough go, but one day your kids will beable to sled everyday... lol

Agree 100%, but it's not just about how much money you make it's what you do with it. Many people make $200-300k a year and blow it, if you increase your life every time you make more money you won't get anywhere, you got to use that money to make you even more. Also there's been no shortage of people who got blinded by a company and grew massive but didn't do it properly and lost everything. I honestly don't get how people get to 40 or 50 and only have pennies to their name, you should have 7 figures by then. Money don't buy happiness but it buys freedom. The thought of no longer working full-time and only when I want to before i'm 40 is amazing.

 

[struglin]

Actually no one uses an accountant for invoicing, they do use someone for AP/AR though if they are a pretty good size. But last time I checked OP was asking about running a service truck himself so it doesn't apply at all......

Yea I call BS on that. AR/AP is the same person in a ton of companies, and as far as getting invoices paid most of them don't know their head from their a$$ and are totally worthless, it's scary that they are running such an important part of a company.

Your question was who uses someone to invoice my response was any sizeable company… never stated the accountant invoices, that’s a book keepers job….

 

[Caper11]

When I used to work for Pamco or any other contracting company, I filled out my tickets at the end of every job. Had a ticket book, wrote in all customers info, location, a story about what I did, hours charged, Kilometres etc. essentially the same thing no?

I did the same, And I would say no it is not, there is a lot more to it than being an employee, and being a owner operator going out on your own marketing your own company.
Sub contracting to another company that has everything covered that I will mention below is a little different.

Did you keep track of the trucks expenses, And operating costs? When each of your customers payed the company, what insurance was needed to be covered. What safety program was needed to be on a companies hire list.

 

[SUMMIT TREE]

I did the same, And I would say no it is not, there is a lot more to it than being an employee, and being a owner operator going out on your own marketing your own company.
Sub contracting to another company that has everything covered that I will mention below is a little different.

Did you keep track of the trucks expenses, And operating costs? When each of your customers payed the company, what insurance was needed to be covered. What safety program was needed to be on a companies hire list.

I just meant the invoicing portion was similar. Get in the Habit of filling out your “ticket” at the end of each job. I hate letting paper work stack up, it takes FOREVER to catch it up.

 

[Cyle]

I just meant the invoicing portion was similar. Get in the Habit of filling out your “ticket” at the end of each job. I hate letting paper work stack up, it takes FOREVER to catch it up.

Yea it's pretty much exactly the same, whether it's an independent or a dealership honestly never seen a invoice that didn't look like a 5 year old wrote it with atrocious grammar and spelling so no one expects anything crazy just a basic rundown of what you did. Most don't even break down how long each part took just overall number of hours for the job.

Getting paid is the worst part though. For example I am still waiting on 2 jobs from november and 1 from early december, didn't do any jobs from mid dec on or at all in january so basically 0 coming in in the last 3 1/2 months and spending the time doing repairs and maintenance so more money going out. Got to have extra money in the bank to cover when it takes 3-4 months to collect from some people.

 

[Dawizman]

We are in a completely different industry, but have the same challenges. A lot of bigger companies are slow to pay. The worst company we deal with is 180 days from receipt of invoice to issuing payment. Frustrating when it's all digital and ETF. We charge them more accordingly. Most bigger companies are 60-90 days. Smaller companies are usually in the <30 day range.

Once you're big enough, it just becomes a steady cash flow, though we do have our slow patches. A strong consistent revenue stream floats us through quite well between the busy times.

 

[Cyle]

We are in a completely different industry, but have the same challenges. A lot of bigger companies are slow to pay. The worst company we deal with is 180 days from receipt of invoice to issuing payment. Frustrating when it's all digital and ETF. We charge them more accordingly. Most bigger companies are 60-90 days. Smaller companies are usually in the <30 day range.

Once you're big enough, it just becomes a steady cash flow, though we do have our slow patches. A strong consistent revenue stream floats us through quite well between the busy times.

Biggest thing I found was first few years those slow paying customers really hurt, made things more expensive sometimes having to pay interest on credit cards, etc and being way more stressful not knowing if you could pay all your bills. All bigger companies I find it's bill by the 25th pay end of next month but many don't actually pay like that, or "lose" the invoice. But now have enough cash in the bank it doesn't matter, as long as I get paid 3-4 months doesn't cause any cash flow issues, same here if I know they are slow payers I charge more. I think for the OP's type of business I would make it clear on invoices 2% per month after 30 days, and invoice for that interest immediately, I bet you'll find invoices get paid quicker with many wanting to avoid that extra charge. The bigger companies won't pay it, but as long as you know ahead of time what their payment schedule is and charge a bit more hourly to cover it.

 

[Tchetek]

We are in a completely different industry, but have the same challenges. A lot of bigger companies are slow to pay. The worst company we deal with is 180 days from receipt of invoice to issuing payment. Frustrating when it's all digital and ETF. We charge them more accordingly. Most bigger companies are 60-90 days. Smaller companies are usually in the <30 day range.

Once you're big enough, it just becomes a steady cash flow, though we do have our slow patches. A strong consistent revenue stream floats us through quite well between the busy times.

My learn the hard way experience has been that the slow payers have been the ones that have folded.

Your gonna get stiffed! Gotta minimize it. If your busy anyway it’s a good day when they call and ask why your not getting there yet for an issue and you can say that the slowest payer gets prioritized accordingly!

 

[Cyle]

My learn the hard way experience has been that the slow payers have been the ones that have folded.

Your gonna get stiffed! Gotta minimize it. If your busy anyway it’s a good day when they call and ask why your not getting there yet for an issue and you can say that the slowest payer gets prioritized accordingly!

It might be in some cases but in many it's not. A few big companies I do work for don't finance the projects, it's all cash, they just pay slow because they can get away with it.

 

[Tchetek]

It might be in some cases but in many it's not. A few big companies I do work for don't finance the projects, it's all cash, they just pay slow because they can get away with it.

Big or small they all can fall!

 

[JayT]

It might be in some cases but in many it's not. A few big companies I do work for don't finance the projects, it's all cash, they just pay slow because they can get away with it.

Yeah they pay slow because they realize they can Finance the whole project by not paying until it's almost completed. If you run everything on a 60 to 90 day turnaround, you don't pay most of your trades until you've completed the project and got paid for it. It's actually really smart on their part. That's in residential building, I know commercial is different

 

[Cyle]

Big or small they all can fall!

When they have 2-3 30+ million dollar projects on the go that not a penny is financed, they ain't going down, it's clear when the projects have no financing on title. They do it because they can get away with it, and people are lining up to do work for them.

 

[Couch]

We are in a completely different industry, but have the same challenges. A lot of bigger companies are slow to pay. The worst company we deal with is 180 days from receipt of invoice to issuing payment. Frustrating when it's all digital and ETF. We charge them more accordingly. Most bigger companies are 60-90 days. Smaller companies are usually in the
Once you're big enough, it just becomes a steady cash flow, though we do have our slow patches. A strong consistent revenue stream floats us through quite well between the busy times.

It's a relationship with your clients but remember that big ones can fail as can small ones. We deal with a mix of receivables from paid in advance to cod to net 15 upto 90 days. Same for purchases.

While you may not want to do day to day accounting it is imperative that you have an understanding of it and keep an eye on accounts and have strong checks and balances in effect. If you have to spend time passing info along to a bookkeeper or accountant then you should just cut them out. Today's accounting software packages are great and very user friendly. Get a good accountant to start and help set it up if and run through it with you ...you can then do majority of it in house and then get your accountant to do your year end.
It's really important and helpful to know at all times re your accountant balances + receivables and payables. Good accountant will keep you on track re CRA.
Daily bookkeeping is not onerous esp for service type operations where your likely only doing a few items daily. A box of file folders and a cabinet to keep your paper organized is no biggie. For a single person on a truck I'm guessing that average of 15 minutes a day on your bookkeeping will keep you on track + an hour or two tops at the end of the month for bank reconciliations.

Nephew started a small business two years ago with no admin background. Got him set up / organized and using QuickBooks and now does all of his bookkeeping other than year end filing ($500k / year).

You can even do your payroll easily - CRA has online forms - I use HRClub software is which is easy peasy and tracks all the your records too.

Of all of my duties, the accounting is now pretty much the most straight forward and easiest task ($1.5 + mil annual) ....google ads, digital and social media marketing are far more muddling cuz they keep #king with the user interface and adding more layers .....dealing with various levels of Govt oversight can be taxing too (especially Fed) ....

Point is don't think you can't do it - I'm sure you can ....just go into it with eyes open and be prepared to do somethings that may initially be outside of your comfort zone but after a little while they'll become 2nd nature...

 

[S.W.A.T.]

Actually no one uses an accountant for invoicing, they do use someone for AP/AR though if they are a pretty good size. But last time I checked OP was asking about running a service truck himself so it doesn't apply at all......

Yea I call BS on that. AR/AP is the same person in a ton of companies, and as far as getting invoices paid most of them don't know their head from their a$$ and are totally worthless, it's scary that they are running such an important part of a company.

Some of the larger gravel operations around here use the accountant approach while others that are structured properly will us the AP route.

From reading the posts, summit is a mechanic wanting to strike out on his own. Can be a wise move, depending on the person. I don't know him at all or his work ethic but mechanics can be a tricky thing. For most people it comes down to trust, especially when you have a guy working on a 3,4, or $500,000+ piece of equipment. For trucks, if it's something I can't fix myself, or don't trust my own skills in I send them 45min away to the dealership I trust and have a good relationship with. On the equipment side there are only 2 local people I would trust, not that there isn't good other ones it's just my preference, 1 dealer and 1 private guy.

As a 1 man shop you there isn't really much point in having a bookkeeper, I'm sure you already have an accountant, find out if they do small business and what program they prefer and familiarize yourself with it. Invoices is where you get paid so stay current on those. The little things people fail to thinks about like insurance, taxes, wcb, large corporation specific items, safety programs, depending on the size of your service truck will you need a NSC number, then you have a whole other program to deal with.

Starting out is the hard part. You have to hustle, build your business but don't think its easy life. Remember when you own it, you can't tell the boss to eff off