Stephen M. Smith: Helping Small Business Clients Automate Bookkeeping Before They Fail

By Lynn Yoffee

 

Typically, when new clients reach out to Stephen M. Smith, CPA, for help getting started in the process of automating their bookkeeping systems for their small businesses, they've already tried and failed.

"I understand that their business is one of the largest and most important investments of their life," Smith says. "Owning and running a business can be a rewarding but also a stressful experience. Most entrepreneurs cite cash flow and unclear finances as a major source of wasted time and aggravation. The ability to have accurate financial records determines the quality of their business experience and the level of success they can achieve."

Smith started his career in auditing at PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York. "I was dealing with large companies like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. But that was not for me," Smith says.

"I then went to work as the controller of a medium sized business in northern New Jersey." But an entrepreneurial bug kept buzzing in his ear and he eventually left to work for an outsourced accounting firm.

"That's when I started taking on my own clients, initially advertising on craigslist.com," he said, adding that after he got his start, the vast majority of his clients have come via word-of-mouth referral and because he's a Microsoft certified provider.

Smith says that he now enjoys being able to see immediate appreciation from clients when he helps them with issues such as becoming current on accounts payables and generally reconciling their accounts.

"With experiences working in Walt Disney World, Yellowstone National Park, London, England and backpacking throughout 20 countries in Europe and Asia, I have developed tremendous insight and appreciation for the art of communicating with diverse people, places and circumstances," he says. "Building business is all about building relationships."

As a result, he has a clientele list that runs the gamut in terms of industries and types of businesses. His services include one-time instructional start-up visits, troubleshooting clean-up assistance and regularly scheduled controllership visits. The controllership service is ideal for small businesses because, he says, it lets owners keep control of their books by having an assistant or clerk maintain daily data entry and check writing chores while using the benefits of a CPA controller for complex tasks. This saves money and assures current and accurate books, customized reports, and reconciled financial statements.

And which Office Accounting features does he value the most? "I tend to agree with my clients on this. You can customize your invoices and easily email them. I also like the bank reconciliation feature. You can search easily by date or amounts."

Even though some of Smith's clients are getting larger now, he still enjoys the work he does for them. "I can play a much larger role and see the value I add," he says. "I remember at PricewaterhouseCoopers, I had such a minute part and had no impact in dealing with millions of dollars."

The success of his clients' businesses is the ultimate objective and Smith prides himself on making many “accountants” out of office assistants and clerks, with help from Microsoft Office Accounting.

 

To contact Stephen Smith, email him at Stephen@S-Smith.net.

 

 

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Microsoft.