There’s a tendency in many businesses to think that the person who keeps your business’ books is automatically your accountant. After all, it’s in the name – the books are your accounts, so the person who takes care of them is your accountant, no?

Well, there’s an element of truth to that, but it’s an important enough distinction that in our opinion it’s worth talking about, since every accountant is a bookkeeper, but a bookkeeper isn’t necessarily an accountant!

At its core, accounting does indeed concern the keeping of financial records and books. Accounting is one of the world’s oldest professions – as long as there have been businesses selling items, there’s been a need to keep track of your sales. As such, any proper accountant will always be able to keep your books and handle the responsibilities that come with it. But a modern accountant can do so much more than that! Accountants nowadays are valuable sources of business advice and procedures that can help you optimise and improve the services you offer, not just keep your sale and return records.

The reason that we bring this up is that too many businesses across the UK think that because they’ve already got someone handling the books, they don’t need an accountant. In our opinion, that’s cutting off your nose to spite your face. Your accountant doesn’t have to replace your bookkeeping – indeed, many accountants are happy to have someone managing the books, so they can focus on the bigger picture with you. A bookkeeper will help keep your records straight and your business in line. But if you really want to thrive, what you need is a proper, qualified accountant!

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