In this transcript from a video by Steven J Wick & Associates PC, Steve Wick discusses the realities of business accounting — from basic debits and credits to more advanced forecasting and financial analysis. He explains how the accounting cycle works, how tools like QuickBooks Online can help (and where they fall short), and why many owners eventually face bookkeeping challenges as businesses grow. Steve highlights how categorization mistakes, missed billings, payroll vs. subcontractor errors, and audits can create IRS issues and operational stress — often leading business owners to finally seek professional help.
To learn more about bookkeeping challenges as businesses grow and how to stay ahead of them, check out our detailed article on small-business accounting strategies in Fort Collins.
This video is for educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal or tax advice, and we strongly recommend contacting a licensed CPA to review your specific situation before making decisions.
Transcript (Organized by Sections & Timestamps)
00:00 — Opening & Big Picture Perspective
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Functionally, if you think about it it’s still debits and credits and what we in the industry call the accounting cycle which is basically getting a payable buying a product paying for that product selling it to somebody else and collecting the money back from that customer that’s the accounting cycle as we talk about it and so functionally that idea of it is the same it really is but when you scale it up and how you look at it it gets obviously much bigger and much more complex
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00:53 — Using QuickBooks & Basic Bookkeeping Tools
They might be able to use a product like quickbooks online it’s a very popular product and what they’ll do a lot of times is they’ll bank fees that’ll come in and it’ll spit out whatever they put in to the bank and whatever they pay out again and then you can allocate things pretty quickly and easily and it’s a great program for those types of people but as you get bigger you get behind and you start forgetting about things and you’re not looking at stuff it’s just it’s kind of almost like looking in the rear view mirror all the time hopefully with accounting and what we we do is we try and and we use the historical stuff that we have in order to predict the future and to move forward and to try and help you and say hey look your materials costs are really getting out of line your labor costs or why did you do this or that or do you want to buy this new machine well is it going to save you x dollars all those types of things
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01:51 — “Garbage In, Garbage Out” & Why Categorization Matters
Garbage in garbage out whatever goes in and then did you categorize it right a lot of times people don’t fully understand there’s you know in a basic financial statements there’s a balance sheet and there’s an income statement why do i have a balance sheet why do i have an income statement money and money out in my world do i have any money left over well there’s hopefully more to it than that and um categorizing things to you understanding what a job is and what it costs for you and all those additional things so it yes you’re right it is a tool but it is just a tool i would say probably 70 to 90 of it is correct but the rest of it needs some assistance and some analysis to be able to put it into correct categories and stuff
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02:41 — IRS Notices, Audits & Payroll Issues
Oftentimes when i’ll see a lot of clients it’s either paying because they do have irs notices or maybe it’s state or audit something along those lines subcontractor versus payroll and so colorado environmental labors come in and audited them happens a lot these days and all of those things come into play that pain sort of understanding you know when you when you start your business you’re really kind of small and and so you can do all all the phases of your business fairly easy but then as you grow and you get busier and busier it becomes harder to juggle all those things in the air and it takes so much time and sometimes they understand that they’re not getting to their billings or they start realizing that they’re not billing everything that they should be billing and so that’s when they start trying to hire people and either somebody comes internally or they hire it out or pain and fear of the present are probably they’re fairly big drivers of what’s going on and why they say seek additional professional help
03:46 — Why Business Owners Struggle to Hire the Right Help
Probably because they think they know what they need and yet they need something else or they can’t find the right person to fit the job that they want so they find a person to fit a job that’s why
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Bookkeeping Challenges as Businesses Grow — Conclusion
As Steve highlights, small-business accounting often works fine at the beginning — until growth introduces complexity, deadlines, compliance rules, and decisions that require accurate financial data. Tools like QuickBooks are helpful, but they can’t replace trained oversight, thoughtful analysis, and correct categorization. Many IRS problems and audit triggers come from innocent bookkeeping mistakes that compound over time. If your business is growing, it may be time to have a CPA review your systems and help you stay ahead — instead of constantly looking in the rear-view mirror.
