As a counsellor and career coach who owns her own business focused on personal and professional development, Lou Lugsdin, founder of MyY, started out doing her own bookkeeping. After meeting Philippa Rickards of My Bookkeeping Buddy at a weekly networking group and hearing Philippa speak about the same pain points she was experiencing, Lou decided to hire Philippa to manage her books.
“Bookkeeping is not my skill set. I believe it’s better to outsource what you don’t enjoy or aren’t good at and spend your time doing what you like. Philippa can do it much more quickly than I can. I tried to do the bookkeeping myself but I could only do it at a basic level. It was okay, but basic.”
In late 2021, Lou started working with My Bookkeeping Buddy, and found that Philippa was quickly able to streamline her processes, audit her coding and update her books. She also addressed gaps in Lou’s bookkeeping, which Lou hadn’t identified before, and set up new systems so as MyY grows, its financial processes adapt organically.
Moving her bookkeeping to Philippa and My Bookkeeping Buddy was an easy process, with Philippa guiding her and offering step-by-step instruction and feedback to ensure set up was smooth and easily understood. Additionally, Philippa is able to quickly understand the needs of her clients and find solutions to address their bookkeeping challenges.
Additionally, Philippa’s bookkeeping processes make use of technology to keep Lou’s books current, with very little time or energy on her part. Using a Hubdoc app, Lou takes photos of her receipts and adds them to Hubdoc. Everything is uploaded quickly and is synched between MyY, bookkeeping and accounting through Xero. Lou doesn’t have to hold onto receipts once the photo is taken, and reconciliations are much easier and more accurate.
“Working with Philippa gave me back time. It’s so quick to do and everything is set up for me. I don’t have to do anything. I get an email from Philippa saying that we’re up-to-date. I can’t fall too far behind, because Philippa can tell when I am. She’ll send me an email asking for receipts when she notices something is missing. It’ll be quick at end-of-year because I won’t have to do anything.”
In addition to the accurate and efficient bookkeeping, Lou says Philippa herself is a fantastic bookkeeper who makes the process more enjoyable.
“I pick professionals who are good at what they do and are efficient. She has very high integrity, is knowledgeable and picks up mistakes quickly. She does what she says she’ll do and she has an eye for detail. She’s awesome.
“I recommend her to businesses that need sorting. Since hiring her, I spend more time working with clients. I’m actually making money instead of spending money.”