September 30, 2025 • 27 mins
In today's discussion, we delve into the intricacies of bookkeeping, an endeavor that many small business owners find daunting yet essential for financial clarity and growth. Our guest, Terry Bork, a seasoned bookkeeper and profit growth strategist, talks about the critical importance of proper financial management and the common pitfalls that entrepreneurs encounter. We explore the necessity of implementing sound bookkeeping practices from the outset, as well as the value of professional assistance in navigating the complexities of financial reporting. Listen in...
WESA Retail Roundup September 29, 2025:
- Host: Glenn the Geek, Host of Horses in the Morning
- Facebook: Retail Roundup Facebook group
- Guest: Terri Bork of Abacus Gal | Facebook
- Presented By: Western English Sales Association
Time Stamps:
04:42 - Transitioning to QuickBooks Online
13:32 - Inventory Management Mistakes
19:21 - The Importance of Financial Clarity for Business Owners
22:20 - The Benefits of Virtual Bookkeeping
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign.
You are listening to the HorseRadio Network, part of the Equine
Network family.
Well, hey everybody andwelcome back to the Retail Roundup
here for wesa.
I am Glenn the Geek, founderof the Horse Radio Network and host
of Horses in the Morning, oneof the longest running daily podcasts
(00:21):
in the world.
We're approaching 16 yearsactually coming up in November, so
thank you for being here.
The Retail Roundup is your goto virtual hub for all things retail
and a little bit of wholesalethrown in there and manufacturing
as well.
You can join paneldiscussions, learn from webinars,
share your thoughts, askquestions and connect with the community.
(00:42):
The best place to connect withthe community is the Retail Roundup
Facebook page.
Just search for Retail Roundupon Facebook and join that.
Today we're discussing everysmall business owner's least favorite
thing to do.
Okay, maybe it's mine.
That could be just me,bookkeeping and, and how to get the
most out of it.
With me, I have Terry Bourque.
She's a bookkeeper and profitgrowth strategist with Abacus Gal
(01:05):
and she empowers businessowners through financial clarity
and growth and specializes inbookkeeping, catch up, cleanup, and
monthly services.
And she goes beyond thenumbers with cash flow projections,
forecasting, and insights thathelp businesses plan for the future.
Hey there.
Thanks for joining us, Terri.
Hey, Glenn.
I am so excited to be here today.
Thank you so much for having me.
(01:27):
I just learned before westarted that you're right up the
street from me.
Literally.
I am right here inGainesville, so not very far from
your area at all.
Yeah, Gainesville, Florida.
And I am, I'm about 30 minutesoutside of Gainesville here.
We're halfway between Ocalaand Gainesville at the farm here.
So thank you for joining us.
This is an important topic.
I know.
(01:48):
You know, I'm probably not toofar off saying it's every business
owner's least favorite thingto talk about or to do.
Am I wrong with that?
No.
You know, a lot of businessowners, they're very scared when
it comes to their books.
And that's what we're here for.
We're here to make it rightfor them and easy for them to understand.
And we'll talk a lot aboutthat today, I'm sure.
(02:11):
How to make it easy.
We had to.
I sold the horse radio networkthree years ago to equine network
and it was a six monthprocess, you know, 90 documents.
And it was, it was very timeconsuming, as most of those things
are.
And I had a really goodattorney that was, does mergers and
acquisitions.
But I had another guy who waslike you and he dealt with QuickBooks
(02:33):
specifically.
And I could not have sold thenetwork without his help.
He, he went back through yearsof QuickBooks, cleaned it all up,
made it what it was supposedto be, what I didn't, you know, he
fixed.
And he was a miracle workerand spent a lot of time working on
it and we've kept him ever since.
And I'll tell you what, Icould not say enough good things
(02:55):
about having somebody on yourside when it comes the simple.
What sounds like a simple thing.
Bookkeeping.
But it's not.
And you need somebody that's a professional.
Yes.
One of the things that we seea lot is a lot of business owners
hire their significant otherto do them.
And you have to wondersometimes, is that the right decision
(03:18):
for your business just to havesomebody get it done so it's done.
Not always.
You want to make sure that thedecisions, you know, the entries
go in correctly by aprofessional who knows what they're
doing.
So you know, they'reclassified correctly.
So that when it's time to makedecisions about your business or
(03:38):
sell your business, you know,people know what's really going on
in the books.
And especially and for taxesas well.
You want to make sure thatyou're paying what you're supposed
to be paying.
It's one of those cases whereyou don't know what you don't know.
Exactly.
You have no idea what youdon't know and you don't know that
you've been doing it wrong allthis time.
Time by yourself.
It's true.
(03:59):
Right?
Until it really matters.
Exactly.
The attack Simon.
Sales.
When it's time to sell.
Exactly.
Or the IRS comes and knock it.
Oh well, the audit's its own nightmare.
Right.
No one wants to hear thosefive letters that the worst five
letters in the English language.
(04:19):
So let's.
I have a bunch of questionsfor you that really involves retailers,
small to medium sizedretailers along.
And, and we can includemanufacturers in this too because
they're in a similar situation.
They all have POS systems,they all have accounting systems.
If you're in that.
And they all worry aboutinventory and all of that.
Okay, so let's start withaccounting software.
(04:42):
Is there one you recommend forsmall retail operations or small
manufacturers?
Yes.
So for small retail and lightmanufacturing businesses, QuickBooks
Online is our go to.
The reason why is because it'sflexible, it integrates with a lot
of apps, it gives you realtime visibility into your numbers.
(05:04):
The scalability is also great.
You can start simple and thenadd lots of functionality to it as
you grow.
And for manufacturers,sometimes I'll recommend laying something
like inventory or otherspecialty add on apps depending upon
their needs.
But the backbone is QuickBooksOnline and.
(05:26):
I know a lot of businessowners complain because it is a monthly
fee right to have QuickBooks online.
And like any other service,they've been going up under rates
the last several years.
We have it still for myconsulting business, but the reason
I like QuickBooks Online,we've had it for 20 years since they
came out with it and we alwayshad the disks and.
(05:46):
Right.
And then you always had tomanually buy the new disk to update.
The one thing I really likeabout it is the software gets updated
automatically.
You don't have to worry aboutthat part.
That's correct.
And if I have any listenersout there who are on the desktop
version of QuickBooks, excuseme, please know that QuickBooks will
(06:06):
no longer be supporting thatversion of 24.
They're not supporting anyprior version of QuickBooks Desktop.
So you have to get QuickBooks 24.
You can still buy it, but theywill not support it.
And as of May of 2027 theywill, you know, you will not be able
to buy it anymore.
So for those of you who'vebeen holding out doing that conversion
(06:29):
from desktop to QuickBooks,the time to do it is before the actual
end date so that you don't getstuck and you actually get that stuff
taken care of ahead of timeand unfortunately then it's going
to cost you.
So I have a relative I won'tname who, who also has a business
and has had it for 20 yearsand he's on an old disk version of
(06:52):
QuickBooks, probably reallyold, and his big thing is converting
it over.
Is that something you can helppeople with?
Yes, we do conversions all the time.
I'm able to tell somebody thefile that and I can do it on Zoom
with them, the file that wewould need so that we can properly
do the conversion and maintainthe integrity of the entire file
(07:15):
to transfer it into the onlineversion of QuickBooks.
Okay.
He's been scared to do that.
You can still keep it and itwill still work.
Right.
But if you have a problem,QuickBooks will not be supporting
you.
So you make your bestdecisions for your business and just
(07:35):
kind of like.
Windows 10 is not going to be right.
Exactly right.
But yes, we do conversions allthe time.
It's just part of the process.
Now, I don't know if you getinto it, but do you get into POS
Software at all point of sale.
And is there one that you likethe best of all of?
Sure.
So I usually for most of thebusinesses that we work with that
(07:58):
are on the retail side, weusually recommend Stripe or Square
for smaller retailers becauseit's user friendly.
It integrates smoothly withQuickBooks Online.
For businesses that needadvanced services or heavy inventory,
we like to work with Shopifyor Lightspeed because they're great.
(08:18):
They combine everything easilyand seamlessly right into your QuickBooks
file.
So it's fantastic to work with them.
I do know a couple of the verylarge retailers in the horse world
that have converted to Shopify.
Yeah, it's very popular.
You just want to picksomething that's going to integrate
with QuickBooks.
You don't want something athat your bookkeeper or accountant
(08:43):
aren't used to working with.
And we're all very familiarwith working with the big names because
we work with them every single day.
You really don't want, youknow, if you have an in house person
and you want to use a specialsoftware, that's fine.
But you're going to find thatmost bookkeeping firms and accounting
firms are going to want towork with the big, the big names.
(09:04):
So what are the top mistakesyou see people making when they set
up their business either, youknow, in QuickBooks or wherever?
Right, sure.
And what's the one big tip youcan give them?
And I think we've already done it.
Don't get your wife to do the.
Bookkeeping or her husband.
Well, there is that.
Right.
But I think, you know, number one.
(09:25):
I'm guilty of all of this, bythe way.
Oh, that's hilarious.
I think the number one mistakethat I see is not setting up the
chart of accounts correctlyfrom the start.
And if the foundation iswrong, everything down the line is
messy.
Another big one is linkingyour bank feeds without rules or
(09:47):
oversight.
A lot of business ownersassume that the software is going
to categorize everything foryou correctly just right out of the
box.
And it doesn't.
So my biggest tip is to investin the proper setup, either training
or professional help.
So you get it right on day oneso you can save yourself years of
frustration.
I will tell you that thatcomes back to bite you later.
(10:09):
It does.
Again, speaking fromexperience on all of.
This, having owned many businesses.
Right.
So what are the key financialreports that QuickBooks or any other
software for that matter, whatare the key financial reports that
a business owner, especiallyretailer, should be check, say weekly
or monthly?
What are the ones that you,that we all should be looking at
(10:32):
on a regular basis.
Gotcha.
So as a profit and growthstrategist, the report that retail
owners should check, there'sthree big ones that I think you need
to check.
That's your profit and loss statement.
Your profit and loss shows youwhether you're truly making money
after all of your expenses.
(10:53):
So the third thought processis, do I need to cut back on expenses
or adjust my pricing thismonth or this week?
The other report is calledyour cash flow report.
Even if you're profitable,this will tell you if you actually
have the cash to operate.
The thought process is, can Icover my payroll and bills this week
(11:15):
or do I need to slow down onmy spending?
And the third one is the salesby product or category report.
The purpose of this report isit highlights what product or categories
are driving revenue in your business.
And the thought point is,should I reorder the inventory?
Should I run a promotion, orshould I double down on my top selling
(11:38):
item?
So basically, these threereports, the profit and loss shows
if you're making money.
The cash flow shows if you cankeep the doors open.
And the sales by product orcategory shows what's working and
what you can sell more of.
Do you find that mostretailers are over inventoried or
under inventoried or it's, youknow, inventory.
(12:01):
Having run a retail operationand helped with many inventory is
always the one that gives youthe ulcers, right?
Because you're never quite sure.
And I know the reports help,but some of it's gut too, you know,
it's sure.
So one of the things that Ido, you know, in the advisory portion
of my business is I work withmy business owners on their inventory.
(12:25):
We look to see, you know, isyour business seasonal?
Do we need to order morethings for Black Friday?
As we get into the holidayseason, are we slowing down in the
winter or the summer months?
We really need to take a lookto see what kind of inventory we
need for the seasons we'regearing up for and then how much
inventory we need to have onhand for that particular time of
(12:48):
year.
You know, you certainly don'twant to order and have warehouses
full of product that isn'tgoing to sell.
And you don't want to have thewrong product that's, you know, in
your, in your warehouse that'sjust not going to sell, you know,
so it really depends.
You don't want to order awhole bunch of stuff for, you know,
June, July and August.
If, you know, we're gettinginto Black Friday and we need really
(13:11):
things to get us through thesewinter months.
So it's really working withclients to see what is the best way
to handle our inventory situation.
So if we take sales out of it.
Okay.
Or lack of sales for myquestion purpose here.
Okay.
If we take that out of it,what's the one big, the biggest mistake
you see people make that.
(13:31):
That's a business killer.
Is it?
Is it inventory?
It is a lot for a lot ofinventory for a lot of businesses
that are in retail orderingincorrectly, you know, you're leaking
cash that way if you're notgoing to be able to make that money
back fast.
So you want to make sureyou're ordering right and you just
(13:54):
don't want your money lockedinto something if something's not
going to leave soon.
Inventory is a killer for many businesses.
Gotcha.
Okay, so if somebody.
Now let's switch gears alittle bit.
Okay.
Let's say that my wife hasbeen doing the books.
Okay.
And now we get somebody inlike you.
What are your priorities inthe first, let's say quarter, 90
(14:16):
days?
What are your priorities forcleaning things up?
What do you start with?
Is it, Is it the categorization?
Well, actually, the first thing.
Well, the first thing we do iswe take a peek inside a business
and see what's actually goingon with their books.
We look at theircategorization and their structure.
We make the necessaryadjustments to their categorization
(14:41):
and structure, and then wework on cleaning up and reconciling,
depending upon where we are inthe year or how far back we have
to adjust something.
And then we start creatingprocesses for moving forward, standardizing
invoicing, payments andreporting so that you have books
that are very reliable and youcan trust them to make the proper
(15:03):
decisions in your business.
And, you know, as businessowners too, we tend to.
Even if we look at thereports, let's say we're good about
that, we look at the reports,we tend to put our heads in the sand,
too, because, you know, nobodywants people bad news, especially
when it comes to your business.
Do you find that thebusinesses you work with, some of
them are putting their head inthe sand too long?
(15:25):
Is that, you know, I think alot of them do, I think.
Well, a couple things, right.
I don't think that allbusinesses know what they're looking
at on a monthly, quarterly, orannual basis.
So they really don't know howthey're doing.
They wait until they go totheir cpa, and then the CPA will
tell them, you need to goclean this up because it's a mess.
Or they'll give you the reallyawful news that you've underpaid
(15:48):
your taxes and you owe a wholelot of money.
Or you get a nasty visit fromsomeone that you really don't want
knocking on your door.
But being a business ownermeans we need to be responsible and
we really need to make surethat every month we're reconciling
our bank accounts.
And that doesn't just mean,oh, the bank statement came in.
(16:09):
And assuming that the bank isright, it's reviewing your profit
and loss, looking at anyoutstanding invoices and bills, always
on a monthly basis.
Just to, you know, do you havemoney that you can recover from your
clients, that you can be like,hey, let's, let's get this money
in here.
Or maybe you can makenegotiations with creditors and say,
(16:30):
hey, instead of putting me ona net 30, let's put me on a net 10
and reduce my fees.
Another thing we can look atis on a quarterly basis, your tax
estimates are you paying correctly?
You're going to look at yourpayroll to make sure that what's
going on in there and look forany trend analysis that you can do.
And then annually, you want todo your budgeting and your financial
(16:52):
forecasting and all yourstrategic planning so that every
month you can see, how closeam I getting to that goal?
Maybe you want an F450 truck,right, for hauling something, right?
But your bank tells you, like,it would really be hard for you to
do that right now.
So maybe you can only affordthe F150.
(17:12):
You know, talk to your financial.
Well, that's true, but youwant to talk with your, you know,
your people and be like, canwe afford to do this?
Is now the right time?
Or am I going to hurt myselfin the future?
So you don't want that to happen.
You, you want to stay awayfrom crisis mode.
You want to steer withconfidence as you move forward in
(17:34):
your business.
What do you find is kind ofthe line in the sand where people
go, okay, I need to stop doingthis myself and finally get somebody?
And is there a triggerusually, sure.
There'S always a line in the sand.
And for what we see most iswhen the books are keeping you from
running your business effectively.
(17:55):
If you're spending more timewrestling with QuickBooks than serving
your clients, it's time.
Another sign is if yourbusiness has grown past one or two
employees or locations,compliance, payroll and taxes start
getting complex really quickly.
And that's where someone likeus at Abacuscal can step in and keep
you compliant and accurate andfree to focus on growth.
(18:19):
And I can't express.
You should be doing the thingsthat you're good at, you know, and,
you know, and not doing thethings you're not good at, because
doing the things you're notgood at takes you twice as much time.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's worth.
It's worth the money.
I learned this the hard way,but, you know, I learned it now.
I still have somebody that'slooking at my books every month.
(18:43):
And we don't have the, the.
We also don't have the volumeor the inventory that a retailer
is going to have because they have.
They.
As retailers, you have to lookat so many different things, from
loss to, you know, toinventory to profit on product.
Right.
Even into down to individualproduct in many cases.
(19:03):
And you're looking at all that stuff.
And that's a lot to look at byyourself when you're trying to run
the business.
Exactly.
Yeah, very true.
So other than hiring somebody,what other messages and suggestions
do you have for retailers orsmall manufacturers?
When it comes to the bookkeeping?
(19:25):
I always like to remindretailers that bookkeeping isn't
just compliance, it's clarity.
And when your numbers areclean and they're current, you can
see opportunities faster, youcan catch any problem sooner, and
most of all, you can make yourdecisions with confidence and you
don't have to do it alone.
You know, when you partnerwith a professional, it lets you
(19:47):
stay in your zone of geniusand you know that your finances are
handled and, you know, there'sno surprises.
I would say that opportunityyou were talking about, I've seen
with some of the biggercompanies, I worked with bigger retailers,
is they were able to identifythe categories that, okay, we're
doing well in this category.
We need to focus on thiscategory, which increase.
(20:09):
Usually those categories arealso your most profitable, and you're
able to increase inventory orskus in those categories.
And without that knowledge orwithout looking at that on a regular
basis, you lose those opportunities.
So I can agree with you more there.
That's.
That's a critical one.
And it doesn't have to just bea large company.
(20:29):
All companies work that way.
You know, you just want towork with clarity.
Right.
Which is something, again,that, you know, usually sometimes
we don't view.
We don't view that as a necessity.
And we should.
Yeah.
As business owners.
Exactly.
Yeah, I think so, too.
Yeah.
Anything else you want to addto our conversation today for everybody?
(20:53):
All I would like to say, andmy encouragement is simple.
Don't Wait until tax season or crisis.
It's always good to start now.
And if you're ready forclarity and peace of mind, that's
what we do.
That's what bookkeepers do andCPAs do.
They empower your businessthrough financial clarity and growth.
And, you know, I think thatwhen my clients win, I get to win,
(21:15):
and I get to watch them growand super, super exciting for me
as a bookkeeper to reallycheer them on or say, hey, we got
something we need to look at.
So.
And then we can cheer them onfor the win there.
So reports are important.
Know your number.
It's like having a good lawyeron your side, right?
I mean.
Exactly.
It does provide the wor.
(21:35):
Peace of mind.
You said that.
And I would say for me, havingrun some successful businesses and
some that weren't sosuccessful over the years, that just
having somebody there doingthe books and keeping an eye on things,
that peace of mind is so worth it.
It's just worth it.
It.
I don't care what you're paying.
It's worth it.
Exactly.
(21:55):
And, you know, we're stillcheaper than having a bookkeeper
in your office.
Our virtual bookkeepers arecheaper than having someone you pay
because you're not paying fora chair.
Right.
You're paying for the.
You know.
Exactly.
You're not paying any of those things.
You're just, you know, you payyour fee for the work that we do,
and that's it.
(22:16):
So it's actually cheaper andit's much more.
Or at least the bookkeepersthat I know and that I partner, you
know, in my circle, we allkind of work that way.
So we're much cheaper thanactually having an employee.
And it's amazing how actuallyyou're not spent.
It's not a ton of time on your part.
(22:36):
You're keeping.
If it's kept up with everymonth and those reports are done
every month, it's not threedays worth of work for most businesses.
So having somebody that doesit for you and keeps it up to date
for you every month, it's notlike you're working for them every
day for eight hours.
That's not happening.
(22:57):
Right?
Yeah.
Depending upon how large afirm is determines, you know, how
much time we need to spendinside their books any given week.
But, you know, once we getthat all worked out, we know what
we have to do when.
So that we don't get behind sowe can turn those books around timely
for our clients.
Yeah, I. I can't say enoughgood things about it.
(23:18):
Having experienced it recentlyand you know, having successfully
sold a company because of it,I, you know, I just can't say enough
good things about havingsomebody on your side and whether
it's legally, you know,legally and in the bookkeeping department.
And I think most people thinkthey have to hire somebody, you know,
they have to have somebody inoffice to do it.
(23:39):
Right?
But that's not true.
So.
No, no.
We work with clients all over.
We are US based.
So I was gonna ask you ourstation here in Gainesville, Florida,
but I have clients up inWashington, the state of Washington,
in Seattle through California,up to Bain and all in between, so.
So you can work anywhere in the.
U.S. i work everywhere in theU.S. yes, sir.
(24:01):
All right.
I wasn't sure about that.
I wasn't sure because lawyersare somewhat limited.
I wasn't sure.
No, we are not limited.
You know, and, you know, we.
We grow, we educate ourselvesall the time.
We're constantly making surethat we have all our CBEs, and we're
continuing to maintain ourCBEs every year.
So we know what we're doing.
Are you limited to QuickBooksat Abacus Gal, or can you do all
(24:24):
of them?
So Abacus Gal is our mainoffice is here in Gainesville, Florida,
but we service clientsthroughout the United States.
I have clients in Seattle,Washington and Maine, California,
and all sorts of places in the middle.
So, you know, we are a virtualbookkeeping firm, and we just love
(24:47):
working with clients who wantto get clarity in their books and
make smart business choices.
And do you just do QuickBooksor do you do all of them at this?
We know several differentbookkeeping things, but, you know,
myself and my staff, ourspecialty is QuickBooks Online.
So we prefer to, you know,start there and make sure because
(25:09):
it's the most versatile formost businesses.
But you've worked with theconnections to QuickBooks through
Shopify and all those too.
Stripe, Correct.
Square.
Yes, we work with all of those.
That's all part of yourQuickBooks account.
Okay, great.
Well, I appreciate you beinghere talking about a subject again
that, you know, we all want tostick our head in the sand but shouldn't.
(25:30):
So I hope, if nothing else,there's one or two people listening
today that goes okay.
I got to do this.
If we'd done nothing else,that would be a good thing today.
Sure is getting somebody to do that.
Terry, thanks for joining us.
Where can people find you?
Oh, so the best place for usis, you know, you can go check us
out@abacus.com if you click onContact us, you can find our calendar.
(25:53):
We're happy to talk to you atany time.
You can email usadminvocascale.com and my phone number
is an 813-358-8386.
I'm happy to take your callsif you have any questions.
And Glenn, I really appreciateyou having me on your on your podcast
today.
It was wonderful, wonderful.
(26:13):
Abacusgal.com is where you canfind us.
Abacusgal.com Yep.
Thank you, Terry.
Have a wonderful day.
Thank you so much.
See y' all next week, everybody.
We'll be back with another.
Actually, I won't be back next week.
I lied.
I'm on vacation next week.
So we're going to theAlbuquerque Balloon Festival.
That's a bucket list itemwe've always wanted to do.
(26:35):
So we're going to head out anddo that.
Largest hot air balloonfestival in the country.
Might be the world, actually.
So we're going to head out tothat and spend a week in New Mexico
hanging around New Mexico.
We have some listeners therethat we're hopefully going to meet
up with as well.
So I will be back in two weeks.
And you can keep an eye oneverything a couple of different
ways.
You can check out Wisdom by wesa.
(26:57):
That's the podcast that mywife Jennifer hosts.
You can also find the WESATrade show on their YouTube channel.
Just search for wesa tradeshow or wesatradeshow.com we'll be
back, of course, with the nexttrade show in January in Dallas.
And I hope to be there as well.
So check out all thedetails@wesatradeshow.com and look
up Retail Roundup on Facebook.
(27:19):
Bye, Terry.
Thank you.
Bye.
Bye.
Have a great trip.
Foreign.
You are listening to the HorseRadio Network, part of the Equine
Network family.
Well, hey everybody andwelcome back to the Retail Roundup
here for wesa.
I am Glenn the Geek, founderof the Horse Radio Network and host
of Horses in the Morning, oneof the longest running daily podcasts
(00:21):
in the world.
We're approaching 16 yearsactually coming up in November, so
thank you for being here.
The Retail Roundup is your goto virtual hub for all things retail
and a little bit of wholesalethrown in there and manufacturing
as well.
You can join paneldiscussions, learn from webinars,
share your thoughts, askquestions and connect with the community.
(00:42):
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Just search for Retail Roundupon Facebook and join that.
Today we're discussing everysmall business owner's least favorite
thing to do.
Okay, maybe it's mine.
That could be just me,bookkeeping and, and how to get the
most out of it.
With me, I have Terry Bourque.
She's a bookkeeper and profitgrowth strategist with Abacus Gal
(01:05):
and she empowers businessowners through financial clarity
and growth and specializes inbookkeeping, catch up, cleanup, and
monthly services.
And she goes beyond thenumbers with cash flow projections,
forecasting, and insights thathelp businesses plan for the future.
Hey there.
Thanks for joining us, Terri.
Hey, Glenn.
I am so excited to be here today.
Thank you so much for having me.
(01:27):
I just learned before westarted that you're right up the
street from me.
Literally.
I am right here inGainesville, so not very far from
your area at all.
Yeah, Gainesville, Florida.
And I am, I'm about 30 minutesoutside of Gainesville here.
We're halfway between Ocalaand Gainesville at the farm here.
So thank you for joining us.
This is an important topic.
I know.
(01:48):
You know, I'm probably not toofar off saying it's every business
owner's least favorite thingto talk about or to do.
Am I wrong with that?
No.
You know, a lot of businessowners, they're very scared when
it comes to their books.
And that's what we're here for.
We're here to make it rightfor them and easy for them to understand.
And we'll talk a lot aboutthat today, I'm sure.
(02:11):
How to make it easy.
We had to.
I sold the horse radio networkthree years ago to equine network
and it was a six monthprocess, you know, 90 documents.
And it was, it was very timeconsuming, as most of those things
are.
And I had a really goodattorney that was, does mergers and
acquisitions.
But I had another guy who waslike you and he dealt with QuickBooks
(02:33):
specifically.
And I could not have sold thenetwork without his help.
He, he went back through yearsof QuickBooks, cleaned it all up,
made it what it was supposedto be, what I didn't, you know, he
fixed.
And he was a miracle workerand spent a lot of time working on
it and we've kept him ever since.
And I'll tell you what, Icould not say enough good things
(02:55):
about having somebody on yourside when it comes the simple.
What sounds like a simple thing.
Bookkeeping.
But it's not.
And you need somebody that's a professional.
Yes.
One of the things that we seea lot is a lot of business owners
hire their significant otherto do them.
And you have to wondersometimes, is that the right decision
(03:18):
for your business just to havesomebody get it done so it's done.
Not always.
You want to make sure that thedecisions, you know, the entries
go in correctly by aprofessional who knows what they're
doing.
So you know, they'reclassified correctly.
So that when it's time to makedecisions about your business or
(03:38):
sell your business, you know,people know what's really going on
in the books.
And especially and for taxesas well.
You want to make sure thatyou're paying what you're supposed
to be paying.
It's one of those cases whereyou don't know what you don't know.
Exactly.
You have no idea what youdon't know and you don't know that
you've been doing it wrong allthis time.
Time by yourself.
It's true.
(03:59):
Right?
Until it really matters.
Exactly.
The attack Simon.
Sales.
When it's time to sell.
Exactly.
Or the IRS comes and knock it.
Oh well, the audit's its own nightmare.
Right.
No one wants to hear thosefive letters that the worst five
letters in the English language.
(04:19):
So let's.
I have a bunch of questionsfor you that really involves retailers,
small to medium sizedretailers along.
And, and we can includemanufacturers in this too because
they're in a similar situation.
They all have POS systems,they all have accounting systems.
If you're in that.
And they all worry aboutinventory and all of that.
Okay, so let's start withaccounting software.
(04:42):
Is there one you recommend forsmall retail operations or small
manufacturers?
Yes.
So for small retail and lightmanufacturing businesses, QuickBooks
Online is our go to.
The reason why is because it'sflexible, it integrates with a lot
of apps, it gives you realtime visibility into your numbers.
(05:04):
The scalability is also great.
You can start simple and thenadd lots of functionality to it as
you grow.
And for manufacturers,sometimes I'll recommend laying something
like inventory or otherspecialty add on apps depending upon
their needs.
But the backbone is QuickBooksOnline and.
(05:26):
I know a lot of businessowners complain because it is a monthly
fee right to have QuickBooks online.
And like any other service,they've been going up under rates
the last several years.
We have it still for myconsulting business, but the reason
I like QuickBooks Online,we've had it for 20 years since they
came out with it and we alwayshad the disks and.
(05:46):
Right.
And then you always had tomanually buy the new disk to update.
The one thing I really likeabout it is the software gets updated
automatically.
You don't have to worry aboutthat part.
That's correct.
And if I have any listenersout there who are on the desktop
version of QuickBooks, excuseme, please know that QuickBooks will
(06:06):
no longer be supporting thatversion of 24.
They're not supporting anyprior version of QuickBooks Desktop.
So you have to get QuickBooks 24.
You can still buy it, but theywill not support it.
And as of May of 2027 theywill, you know, you will not be able
to buy it anymore.
So for those of you who'vebeen holding out doing that conversion
(06:29):
from desktop to QuickBooks,the time to do it is before the actual
end date so that you don't getstuck and you actually get that stuff
taken care of ahead of timeand unfortunately then it's going
to cost you.
So I have a relative I won'tname who, who also has a business
and has had it for 20 yearsand he's on an old disk version of
(06:52):
QuickBooks, probably reallyold, and his big thing is converting
it over.
Is that something you can helppeople with?
Yes, we do conversions all the time.
I'm able to tell somebody thefile that and I can do it on Zoom
with them, the file that wewould need so that we can properly
do the conversion and maintainthe integrity of the entire file
(07:15):
to transfer it into the onlineversion of QuickBooks.
Okay.
He's been scared to do that.
You can still keep it and itwill still work.
Right.
But if you have a problem,QuickBooks will not be supporting
you.
So you make your bestdecisions for your business and just
(07:35):
kind of like.
Windows 10 is not going to be right.
Exactly right.
But yes, we do conversions allthe time.
It's just part of the process.
Now, I don't know if you getinto it, but do you get into POS
Software at all point of sale.
And is there one that you likethe best of all of?
Sure.
So I usually for most of thebusinesses that we work with that
(07:58):
are on the retail side, weusually recommend Stripe or Square
for smaller retailers becauseit's user friendly.
It integrates smoothly withQuickBooks Online.
For businesses that needadvanced services or heavy inventory,
we like to work with Shopifyor Lightspeed because they're great.
(08:18):
They combine everything easilyand seamlessly right into your QuickBooks
file.
So it's fantastic to work with them.
I do know a couple of the verylarge retailers in the horse world
that have converted to Shopify.
Yeah, it's very popular.
You just want to picksomething that's going to integrate
with QuickBooks.
You don't want something athat your bookkeeper or accountant
(08:43):
aren't used to working with.
And we're all very familiarwith working with the big names because
we work with them every single day.
You really don't want, youknow, if you have an in house person
and you want to use a specialsoftware, that's fine.
But you're going to find thatmost bookkeeping firms and accounting
firms are going to want towork with the big, the big names.
(09:04):
So what are the top mistakesyou see people making when they set
up their business either, youknow, in QuickBooks or wherever?
Right, sure.
And what's the one big tip youcan give them?
And I think we've already done it.
Don't get your wife to do the.
Bookkeeping or her husband.
Well, there is that.
Right.
But I think, you know, number one.
(09:25):
I'm guilty of all of this, bythe way.
Oh, that's hilarious.
I think the number one mistakethat I see is not setting up the
chart of accounts correctlyfrom the start.
And if the foundation iswrong, everything down the line is
messy.
Another big one is linkingyour bank feeds without rules or
(09:47):
oversight.
A lot of business ownersassume that the software is going
to categorize everything foryou correctly just right out of the
box.
And it doesn't.
So my biggest tip is to investin the proper setup, either training
or professional help.
So you get it right on day oneso you can save yourself years of
frustration.
I will tell you that thatcomes back to bite you later.
(10:09):
It does.
Again, speaking fromexperience on all of.
This, having owned many businesses.
Right.
So what are the key financialreports that QuickBooks or any other
software for that matter, whatare the key financial reports that
a business owner, especiallyretailer, should be check, say weekly
or monthly?
What are the ones that you,that we all should be looking at
(10:32):
on a regular basis.
Gotcha.
So as a profit and growthstrategist, the report that retail
owners should check, there'sthree big ones that I think you need
to check.
That's your profit and loss statement.
Your profit and loss shows youwhether you're truly making money
after all of your expenses.
(10:53):
So the third thought processis, do I need to cut back on expenses
or adjust my pricing thismonth or this week?
The other report is calledyour cash flow report.
Even if you're profitable,this will tell you if you actually
have the cash to operate.
The thought process is, can Icover my payroll and bills this week
(11:15):
or do I need to slow down onmy spending?
And the third one is the salesby product or category report.
The purpose of this report isit highlights what product or categories
are driving revenue in your business.
And the thought point is,should I reorder the inventory?
Should I run a promotion, orshould I double down on my top selling
(11:38):
item?
So basically, these threereports, the profit and loss shows
if you're making money.
The cash flow shows if you cankeep the doors open.
And the sales by product orcategory shows what's working and
what you can sell more of.
Do you find that mostretailers are over inventoried or
under inventoried or it's, youknow, inventory.
(12:01):
Having run a retail operationand helped with many inventory is
always the one that gives youthe ulcers, right?
Because you're never quite sure.
And I know the reports help,but some of it's gut too, you know,
it's sure.
So one of the things that Ido, you know, in the advisory portion
of my business is I work withmy business owners on their inventory.
(12:25):
We look to see, you know, isyour business seasonal?
Do we need to order morethings for Black Friday?
As we get into the holidayseason, are we slowing down in the
winter or the summer months?
We really need to take a lookto see what kind of inventory we
need for the seasons we'regearing up for and then how much
inventory we need to have onhand for that particular time of
(12:48):
year.
You know, you certainly don'twant to order and have warehouses
full of product that isn'tgoing to sell.
And you don't want to have thewrong product that's, you know, in
your, in your warehouse that'sjust not going to sell, you know,
so it really depends.
You don't want to order awhole bunch of stuff for, you know,
June, July and August.
If, you know, we're gettinginto Black Friday and we need really
(13:11):
things to get us through thesewinter months.
So it's really working withclients to see what is the best way
to handle our inventory situation.
So if we take sales out of it.
Okay.
Or lack of sales for myquestion purpose here.
Okay.
If we take that out of it,what's the one big, the biggest mistake
you see people make that.
(13:31):
That's a business killer.
Is it?
Is it inventory?
It is a lot for a lot ofinventory for a lot of businesses
that are in retail orderingincorrectly, you know, you're leaking
cash that way if you're notgoing to be able to make that money
back fast.
So you want to make sureyou're ordering right and you just
(13:54):
don't want your money lockedinto something if something's not
going to leave soon.
Inventory is a killer for many businesses.
Gotcha.
Okay, so if somebody.
Now let's switch gears alittle bit.
Okay.
Let's say that my wife hasbeen doing the books.
Okay.
And now we get somebody inlike you.
What are your priorities inthe first, let's say quarter, 90
(14:16):
days?
What are your priorities forcleaning things up?
What do you start with?
Is it, Is it the categorization?
Well, actually, the first thing.
Well, the first thing we do iswe take a peek inside a business
and see what's actually goingon with their books.
We look at theircategorization and their structure.
We make the necessaryadjustments to their categorization
(14:41):
and structure, and then wework on cleaning up and reconciling,
depending upon where we are inthe year or how far back we have
to adjust something.
And then we start creatingprocesses for moving forward, standardizing
invoicing, payments andreporting so that you have books
that are very reliable and youcan trust them to make the proper
(15:03):
decisions in your business.
And, you know, as businessowners too, we tend to.
Even if we look at thereports, let's say we're good about
that, we look at the reports,we tend to put our heads in the sand,
too, because, you know, nobodywants people bad news, especially
when it comes to your business.
Do you find that thebusinesses you work with, some of
them are putting their head inthe sand too long?
(15:25):
Is that, you know, I think alot of them do, I think.
Well, a couple things, right.
I don't think that allbusinesses know what they're looking
at on a monthly, quarterly, orannual basis.
So they really don't know howthey're doing.
They wait until they go totheir cpa, and then the CPA will
tell them, you need to goclean this up because it's a mess.
Or they'll give you the reallyawful news that you've underpaid
(15:48):
your taxes and you owe a wholelot of money.
Or you get a nasty visit fromsomeone that you really don't want
knocking on your door.
But being a business ownermeans we need to be responsible and
we really need to make surethat every month we're reconciling
our bank accounts.
And that doesn't just mean,oh, the bank statement came in.
(16:09):
And assuming that the bank isright, it's reviewing your profit
and loss, looking at anyoutstanding invoices and bills, always
on a monthly basis.
Just to, you know, do you havemoney that you can recover from your
clients, that you can be like,hey, let's, let's get this money
in here.
Or maybe you can makenegotiations with creditors and say,
(16:30):
hey, instead of putting me ona net 30, let's put me on a net 10
and reduce my fees.
Another thing we can look atis on a quarterly basis, your tax
estimates are you paying correctly?
You're going to look at yourpayroll to make sure that what's
going on in there and look forany trend analysis that you can do.
And then annually, you want todo your budgeting and your financial
(16:52):
forecasting and all yourstrategic planning so that every
month you can see, how closeam I getting to that goal?
Maybe you want an F450 truck,right, for hauling something, right?
But your bank tells you, like,it would really be hard for you to
do that right now.
So maybe you can only affordthe F150.
(17:12):
You know, talk to your financial.
Well, that's true, but youwant to talk with your, you know,
your people and be like, canwe afford to do this?
Is now the right time?
Or am I going to hurt myselfin the future?
So you don't want that to happen.
You, you want to stay awayfrom crisis mode.
You want to steer withconfidence as you move forward in
(17:34):
your business.
What do you find is kind ofthe line in the sand where people
go, okay, I need to stop doingthis myself and finally get somebody?
And is there a triggerusually, sure.
There'S always a line in the sand.
And for what we see most iswhen the books are keeping you from
running your business effectively.
(17:55):
If you're spending more timewrestling with QuickBooks than serving
your clients, it's time.
Another sign is if yourbusiness has grown past one or two
employees or locations,compliance, payroll and taxes start
getting complex really quickly.
And that's where someone likeus at Abacuscal can step in and keep
you compliant and accurate andfree to focus on growth.
(18:19):
And I can't express.
You should be doing the thingsthat you're good at, you know, and,
you know, and not doing thethings you're not good at, because
doing the things you're notgood at takes you twice as much time.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's worth.
It's worth the money.
I learned this the hard way,but, you know, I learned it now.
I still have somebody that'slooking at my books every month.
(18:43):
And we don't have the, the.
We also don't have the volumeor the inventory that a retailer
is going to have because they have.
They.
As retailers, you have to lookat so many different things, from
loss to, you know, toinventory to profit on product.
Right.
Even into down to individualproduct in many cases.
(19:03):
And you're looking at all that stuff.
And that's a lot to look at byyourself when you're trying to run
the business.
Exactly.
Yeah, very true.
So other than hiring somebody,what other messages and suggestions
do you have for retailers orsmall manufacturers?
When it comes to the bookkeeping?
(19:25):
I always like to remindretailers that bookkeeping isn't
just compliance, it's clarity.
And when your numbers areclean and they're current, you can
see opportunities faster, youcan catch any problem sooner, and
most of all, you can make yourdecisions with confidence and you
don't have to do it alone.
You know, when you partnerwith a professional, it lets you
(19:47):
stay in your zone of geniusand you know that your finances are
handled and, you know, there'sno surprises.
I would say that opportunityyou were talking about, I've seen
with some of the biggercompanies, I worked with bigger retailers,
is they were able to identifythe categories that, okay, we're
doing well in this category.
We need to focus on thiscategory, which increase.
(20:09):
Usually those categories arealso your most profitable, and you're
able to increase inventory orskus in those categories.
And without that knowledge orwithout looking at that on a regular
basis, you lose those opportunities.
So I can agree with you more there.
That's.
That's a critical one.
And it doesn't have to just bea large company.
(20:29):
All companies work that way.
You know, you just want towork with clarity.
Right.
Which is something, again,that, you know, usually sometimes
we don't view.
We don't view that as a necessity.
And we should.
Yeah.
As business owners.
Exactly.
Yeah, I think so, too.
Yeah.
Anything else you want to addto our conversation today for everybody?
(20:53):
All I would like to say, andmy encouragement is simple.
Don't Wait until tax season or crisis.
It's always good to start now.
And if you're ready forclarity and peace of mind, that's
what we do.
That's what bookkeepers do andCPAs do.
They empower your businessthrough financial clarity and growth.
And, you know, I think thatwhen my clients win, I get to win,
(21:15):
and I get to watch them growand super, super exciting for me
as a bookkeeper to reallycheer them on or say, hey, we got
something we need to look at.
So.
And then we can cheer them onfor the win there.
So reports are important.
Know your number.
It's like having a good lawyeron your side, right?
I mean.
Exactly.
It does provide the wor.
(21:35):
Peace of mind.
You said that.
And I would say for me, havingrun some successful businesses and
some that weren't sosuccessful over the years, that just
having somebody there doingthe books and keeping an eye on things,
that peace of mind is so worth it.
It's just worth it.
It.
I don't care what you're paying.
It's worth it.
Exactly.
(21:55):
And, you know, we're stillcheaper than having a bookkeeper
in your office.
Our virtual bookkeepers arecheaper than having someone you pay
because you're not paying fora chair.
Right.
You're paying for the.
You know.
Exactly.
You're not paying any of those things.
You're just, you know, you payyour fee for the work that we do,
and that's it.
(22:16):
So it's actually cheaper andit's much more.
Or at least the bookkeepersthat I know and that I partner, you
know, in my circle, we allkind of work that way.
So we're much cheaper thanactually having an employee.
And it's amazing how actuallyyou're not spent.
It's not a ton of time on your part.
(22:36):
You're keeping.
If it's kept up with everymonth and those reports are done
every month, it's not threedays worth of work for most businesses.
So having somebody that doesit for you and keeps it up to date
for you every month, it's notlike you're working for them every
day for eight hours.
That's not happening.
(22:57):
Right?
Yeah.
Depending upon how large afirm is determines, you know, how
much time we need to spendinside their books any given week.
But, you know, once we getthat all worked out, we know what
we have to do when.
So that we don't get behind sowe can turn those books around timely
for our clients.
Yeah, I. I can't say enoughgood things about it.
(23:18):
Having experienced it recentlyand you know, having successfully
sold a company because of it,I, you know, I just can't say enough
good things about havingsomebody on your side and whether
it's legally, you know,legally and in the bookkeeping department.
And I think most people thinkthey have to hire somebody, you know,
they have to have somebody inoffice to do it.
(23:39):
Right?
But that's not true.
So.
No, no.
We work with clients all over.
We are US based.
So I was gonna ask you ourstation here in Gainesville, Florida,
but I have clients up inWashington, the state of Washington,
in Seattle through California,up to Bain and all in between, so.
So you can work anywhere in the.
U.S. i work everywhere in theU.S. yes, sir.
(24:01):
All right.
I wasn't sure about that.
I wasn't sure because lawyersare somewhat limited.
I wasn't sure.
No, we are not limited.
You know, and, you know, we.
We grow, we educate ourselvesall the time.
We're constantly making surethat we have all our CBEs, and we're
continuing to maintain ourCBEs every year.
So we know what we're doing.
Are you limited to QuickBooksat Abacus Gal, or can you do all
(24:24):
of them?
So Abacus Gal is our mainoffice is here in Gainesville, Florida,
but we service clientsthroughout the United States.
I have clients in Seattle,Washington and Maine, California,
and all sorts of places in the middle.
So, you know, we are a virtualbookkeeping firm, and we just love
(24:47):
working with clients who wantto get clarity in their books and
make smart business choices.
And do you just do QuickBooksor do you do all of them at this?
We know several differentbookkeeping things, but, you know,
myself and my staff, ourspecialty is QuickBooks Online.
So we prefer to, you know,start there and make sure because
(25:09):
it's the most versatile formost businesses.
But you've worked with theconnections to QuickBooks through
Shopify and all those too.
Stripe, Correct.
Square.
Yes, we work with all of those.
That's all part of yourQuickBooks account.
Okay, great.
Well, I appreciate you beinghere talking about a subject again
that, you know, we all want tostick our head in the sand but shouldn't.
(25:30):
So I hope, if nothing else,there's one or two people listening
today that goes okay.
I got to do this.
If we'd done nothing else,that would be a good thing today.
Sure is getting somebody to do that.
Terry, thanks for joining us.
Where can people find you?
Oh, so the best place for usis, you know, you can go check us
out@abacus.com if you click onContact us, you can find our calendar.
(25:53):
We're happy to talk to you atany time.
You can email usadminvocascale.com and my phone number
is an 813-358-8386.
I'm happy to take your callsif you have any questions.
And Glenn, I really appreciateyou having me on your on your podcast
today.
It was wonderful, wonderful.
(26:13):
Abacusgal.com is where you canfind us.
Abacusgal.com Yep.
Thank you, Terry.
Have a wonderful day.
Thank you so much.
See y' all next week, everybody.
We'll be back with another.
Actually, I won't be back next week.
I lied.
I'm on vacation next week.
So we're going to theAlbuquerque Balloon Festival.
That's a bucket list itemwe've always wanted to do.
(26:35):
So we're going to head out anddo that.
Largest hot air balloonfestival in the country.
Might be the world, actually.
So we're going to head out tothat and spend a week in New Mexico
hanging around New Mexico.
We have some listeners therethat we're hopefully going to meet
up with as well.
So I will be back in two weeks.
And you can keep an eye oneverything a couple of different
ways.
You can check out Wisdom by wesa.
(26:57):
That's the podcast that mywife Jennifer hosts.
You can also find the WESATrade show on their YouTube channel.
Just search for wesa tradeshow or wesatradeshow.com we'll be
back, of course, with the nexttrade show in January in Dallas.
And I hope to be there as well.
So check out all thedetails@wesatradeshow.com and look
up Retail Roundup on Facebook.
(27:19):
Bye, Terry.
Thank you.
Bye.
Bye.
Have a great trip.
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