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Delegate Your Business Finances

What it Means to Delegate the Bean$

Dec 05, 2022

Delegating your business finances can be a little bit scary.

If you're anything like me and you like to be in control of all the moving parts of your business, the idea of handing the books over to somebody else can be a little concerning.

Who is the right person for this?

Who am I going to delegate it to?

It could be a family member or a friend, or you might decide to hire a bookkeeper, but what does it really look like? 

If we've got huge reservations about delegating our business finances, we might need to sit down, have a cup of coffee, and think about what this is going to look like before we act. 

I'm as guilty as the next person of being a touch reactive. If I have an idea of delegating or outsourcing or getting someone to help me with something then I want to take action. I want it to happen, and what we often overlook is the process of actually making the change. 

When you have that realization of, I can get someone else’s help, I can actually get on with other things in my business. It gets really exciting and it's easy to hop onto Google and start looking for someone to help us. 

But what will it look like?

Who can we trust?

Who's going to treat our business finances as carefully as we do?

This is the harsh reality of delegating things in our business.

So first we need to decide if we are okay with outsourcing the finances.

What are we going to let go of the control?

Will we be able to communicate to the person exactly what we require?

You may also not want to give someone access to all that private information.

And you might have to decide how much access you want them to have.

For example, do you want them to have access to your bank account and make payments on your behalf? So we really need to explore what it looks like before we run out and find someone to take this off our plate. 

If you haven't heard me say this before, I'm going to say it now. Finances are as private as your underwear. Our finances can be one of the hardest things to give someone else access to. And the next part is finding the right person that we can trust to have that access. 

But maybe we are ready to give someone else control and maybe we do really want this off our plate. Numbers just may not be your thing and you recognize that they are far too important to neglect. 

Thinking about trusting someone with finances is a completely different scenario. If we are going to get a bookkeeper or someone in the financial professional space, we need to know their credentials. We need to understand what experience they've got and how they're going to help us. 

Just like when you look for an accountant for your end-of-year tax and finances. It's the same with a bookkeeper. You might need to discuss it with more than one person. You might need to have to a conversation with a few people. Make sure you have your list of expectations that you can go through with them. 

When you think you've found the person, the one you can delegate the finances to. The next thing to do is to set it up for success. What are your expectations? What do you want them to do? What are the tasks that they're going to complete, whether it's weekly or monthly? 

Make sure you are communicating what tasks they need to achieve and, most importantly, that they understand exactly what you want them to do. Once it's actually delegated and everything is starting to move in the right direction, you will need to give it a little time to work. Bringing someone new into your business finances will, I guarantee it, have initial teething issues.  

Make sure to keep the lines of communication flowing. If something isn't working or something needs to change, perhaps one of the systems or processes that are in place, maybe needs to change. So have those open conversations. Make sure that you are including them in your thoughts.  

And sometimes just sometimes we need to trust our tummy. Our tummy tells us so many good things so make sure that if your tummy's going, red flag, red flag. Make sure that you are paying attention. Don't dismiss those thoughts. 

Sometimes you may need to try a couple of people before you find the right fit for your business. If it doesn't work out, don't give up. It doesn’t mean the right person isn’t out there. When it comes to delegating your business finances, be mindful of the process you are putting in place, what your expectations are, and is the person meeting those expectations. 

And lastly, I want you to remember that everyone is human. 

If we are bringing anyone into our business for any task, we always need to remember that humans are involved. If you find a problem and ask them about it, just pay attention to the response that you get. Don't be aggressive, don't attack, but at the same time, make sure you're communicating that you've found an issue and see what they say. Your business finances are far too important. So having someone that cares and takes responsibility for them is a high priority. 

It's important to remember that they may do things differently than you would. If you do find a unicorn that treats your finances exactly as you would hang onto them, they will become a huge asset in your business. The right person can take away a lot of stress and pressure you may have been feeling. Hence why you wanted to delegate in the first place.