Who's minding the books when your bookkeeper is away?

In a lot of small businesses, one person quietly holds the admin together. They pay the bills, run payroll, send the invoices, and know which supplier needs chasing and which customer always pays late.

Now imagine they don't come in tomorrow. Not because they've booked a holiday, but because of an accident, an illness or a family emergency. There's no handover, no notes, and no chance to ask where anything is. Would your business keep running?

For many businesses, the honest answer is "not very well". The good news is that being ready doesn't take much, as long as you do it before you need it.

The absence nobody plans for

We tend to think about cover in terms of holidays, where there's plenty of warning and time to write a handover. But the absences that cause real problems are the sudden ones. Nobody should be writing handover notes from a hospital bed.

So the question isn't "do we have a good handover process?" It's "would we be okay if there was no handover at all?"

What can't wait

When someone is suddenly away, some things can sit in a pile for a while. These can't:

•  Staff still need paying on time, and each payday still needs to be filed with Inland Revenue.
• Tax payments and returns. PAYE and GST deadlines don't move because someone is unwell.
• Supplier bills. Especially anyone who'll stop supplying you, or charge a late fee, if they're not paid.
•  If invoices don't go out, money doesn't come in. A two week gap in invoicing can show up as a cashflow pinch a month later.

Be ready before you need it

Being prepared for a sudden absence comes down to having a few things in place all the time, not just when someone's about to go on leave:

• A list of what's due and when. Paydays, regular bills, tax deadlines, and direct debits that need money in the account. Keep it somewhere others can find it.
• Processes that are written down. Not just what's due, but how things are done: how payroll is run, how bills are approved, how the month is closed off. If it only exists in one person's head, it's at risk.
• A second person who can actually do it. They need their own logins to your accounting software and online banking, set up and tested ahead of time. Avoid sharing one person's password; it makes it impossible to tell who did what, and it can breach your bank's terms. Better still, have them run payroll or do the GST return every so often while the usual person is there to help.
• The right people authorised on the bank account. If only one person can approve payments, a sudden absence can stop them altogether. Adding a new authorised person takes paperwork and time, so do it now.
• Clear approval rules. Ideally one person sets up a payment and another approves it, whoever is in the office.
• Who to call. Your accountant, your bank and your IT person, written down where others can find them.

When it's months, not weeks

Some absences are short. Others, like a serious illness, an injury or parental leave, can last months, and sometimes the person doesn't come back to the role at all. If you've done the groundwork above, you're in a much better position, but a few extra questions are worth thinking about:

• What would cover look like? For a few weeks, a colleague might manage. For months, you may need a temporary bookkeeper, outside help, or to recruit. Knowing your options in advance means you're not making big decisions in a crisis.
• What if it's you? In many small businesses the person doing the books is the owner. If you're the sole director and you're suddenly unable to act, your business may not be able to either. It's worth talking to your lawyer about an enduring power of attorney and what happens to the company if you can't make decisions.
• Your obligations to your staff member. If someone is off long-term, you still have employment obligations to them, so get proper employment advice before making any decisions about their role.
• Key person cover. If one person is truly critical to your business, it may be worth asking your insurance adviser whether key person cover makes sense for you.

Review your arrangements once a year. Businesses change, people change roles, and a plan that's two years out of date isn't much of a plan.

Planned leave is the easy version

If you're ready for a sudden absence, a holiday takes care of itself. The warning is still worth using, though: check the list and notes are up to date, let key suppliers and customers know who to contact, and agree what counts as a genuine emergency worth interrupting someone's break for.

Whoever's covering only needs to do the essentials; everything else can be parked with a note. And one rule applies whenever someone is away, planned or not: never change a supplier's bank details because of an email. Scammers know when businesses are short-staffed. Always phone the supplier on a number you already have to confirm.

A gentle health check

An absence is also a good test of how much your business depends on one person. That's not a question of trust. It's about resilience.

When someone new looks at the books, they sometimes spot things: an old mistake that's been repeating, a workaround nobody else knew about, and very occasionally something more serious. That's one reason many larger organisations make sure people in finance roles take a proper block of leave and that someone else handles the books from time to time.

Good processes protect your staff too. Clear records and shared access mean nothing rests on one person's shoulders, and if something does go wrong, it's easy to show what happened.

When they get back

Whether they've been away two weeks or six months, set aside time for a catch up: what was paid, what's outstanding, and anything that came up. Then update your notes while it's all fresh.

We're here to help

You don't have to work this out on your own. If you're not sure how your business would cope if your bookkeeper or office manager didn't come in tomorrow, for a fortnight or for six months, we're happy to talk it through.

Depending on what you need, that might mean helping you document how your books are run, reviewing who has access to your accounting software and bank accounts, or working through what cover would look like for your business.

And if the worst happens, we can jump in. Whether it's running payroll, keeping your bookkeeping up to date, or making sure your GST return goes in on time, we can keep things ticking over for as long as you need, whether that's a couple of weeks or a few months.

Give us a call or send us an email. A quick conversation now is much easier than a scramble later.