🧾When Doing It Yourself Starts Holding You Back
Most small business owners start out managing their own books Excel sheets, receipts in shoeboxes, and late-night Xero reconciliations. But as your business grows, the cracks start to show. DIY bookkeeping can cost more than it saves: in missed tax deductions, compliance risks, and time taken away from profit-generating work.
In this article, we break down the true cost of DIY bookkeeping and share clear signs it’s time to hand it over to a pro.
💸 1. You’re Losing Money Without Realising It
- DIY often means missing eligible deductions (home office, vehicle expenses, super top-ups).
- Misclassified expenses can trigger ATO red flags or hide profit leaks.
- You don’t know if you’re really making money until tax time and that’s too late.
🧠 Empire tip: A good bookkeeper doesn’t just track your spending they help you interpret the story behind the numbers.
⏳ 2. Bookkeeping is Taking You Away from Growth Work
- The average business owner spends 6–10 hours a week on bookkeeping.
- That’s time you could spend on sales, client experience, or strategy.
- Bookkeeping becomes a “Sunday stress task” and it’s the first thing to slip when you’re busy.
💡 Empire’s approach: We take it off your plate while giving you visibility through simple dashboards and monthly check-ins.
🧾 3. Errors Are Easy—and Expensive
- One mis keyed digit can throw off BAS lodgements, GST claims, or cash flow.
- ATO audits don’t care if it was an honest mistake.
- DIY software still needs training, “automated” doesn’t mean “accurate.”
🚩 Common DIY mistakes we see:
- Incorrect chart of accounts
- Personal vs. business expenses blurred
- GST not applied consistently
⚠️ 4. Signs It’s Time to Outsource
It might be time to let go of DIY bookkeeping if:
- You’re behind on BAS, tax lodgements, or payroll
- You feel unsure about what your reports mean
- You’re growing, hiring, or scaling your services
- You want funding and need reliable records
📈 Growing businesses need proactive financial guidance not just data entry.
🤝 Why Empire Accounting?
We don’t just “do your books.” We:
- Set you up with the right systems from day one
- Flag issues before they become emergencies
- Help you use your numbers to make better business decisions
- Save you hours of stress
Our bookkeeping packages include compliance, reporting, and advisory built-in, so you’re always ahead not catching up.
