This in today's 'Pete's Weekly'
I can see the reasoning but if you have a small (I mean small) business can you really afford an accountant?

"Accounting, Marketing, and Tax...
December 2, 2015

I am the kind of guy who does not like forms. When a form asks me for my name I break out in a sweat. What do they really want, I worry? All three of my names or just two. But mostly, why do they want it?

I had an interesting life-episode back in the early nineties when every form I ever signed turned out to be a guarantee. And that took a decade to unwind. It kinda stays with you.



And so I do not like doing the accounts for my business. I want the reports, sure. But I do not want to process the data, and then complete the forms that the govt wants so that they can take their share. And worse, punish me for what they perceive to be errors.



Accountants in Norway charge about R4000/month to process 50 entries per month. That kinda hurts.



I discussed this with both the firms I have used in the past year. (One to complete the 2014 work and a new one to do this year's work.) In both cases they gave much the same answer.



They asked how long it might take me to do the work myself. I suck at accounting, and I reckoned I would need about two hours each week to file it neatly and complete and submit the VAT returns and the annual tax return. That's about 100 hours each year of extreme discomfort and stress.



They asked how much I know about Norwegian business rules. For instance, where the shortcuts are or where the hidden savings are. I know almost nothing.



They asked what I could do with those 100 hours if I used them to do work that I enjoyed, like marketing. (These Norwegians are wilier than they look.)



Two hours each week devoted to selling or marketing would bring in at least 100 new clients each year. This would total almost 12 times the fee said accountants were charging. 100 new clients each year would be growing like gangbusters, while a completed tax return, no matter how well I might do it, represents no growth at all.



They suggested I leave the books to them while I get on with other work. I no longer see it as a grudge expense.



I raise this gently because having an accountant in background is like having a marketing team in background. Background support to keep a constant flow of prospects knocking at the door allows each of us to get on with selling - which is our only path to enough growth and enough profit to build reserves to survive the troughs.



I do this kind of work for 160 small business owners and now that my accountant is doing all the real work I have time to help you with your marketing.



Warm regards


Peter Carruthers"