Accounting Articles
QuickBooks Up in Rollers
Using QuickBooks for Beauty Parlors, Salons, Barbershops, and Spas
By: Scott Cytron, ABC
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The business of beauty is stronger than ever, thanks to our culture's ever-present desire to look younger and feel better. But owners of great salons and spas, often fabulous stylists themselves, can be a drab mess with their own accounting systems, controls and procedures. Scott Cytron interviews CPA Raffaele B. Mari, a savvy practitioner who works with salons and QuickBooks to keep the beauty salons' books looking marvelous.
Concentrating on Hair, not Finances
While right-brain people who make their living on being "creative" often leave the left-brain activities up to others, there's no getting around some of the operational issues associated with maintaining a small business. Unless a company is large enough to afford an on-site bookkeeper, ledger entries, deposits and reconciliations must be conducted on a regular basis.
It's not unusual, then, to find accountants who specialize in serving these more creative clients and ventures. One such niche is "beauty," with hair salons, day spas and other similar businesses as clients. In an industry whose majority of hair salons employs only one to four people (U.S. Census Bureau), it's easy to see why many owners work with outside experts.
"Some business owners in this industry have been involved for many years," says Raffaele B. Mari, CPA, owner of his own firm in Corona del Mar, Calif. "However, working in a salon or renting a station is different from owning and managing a salon. Some clients find this transition challenging and more difficult than originally thought. As a result, they see a need to develop other skills to be successful."
Several of these competencies, says Raffaele, include many of the tried-and-true issues associated with running a business, including marketing, supervising staff, managing finances and business planning. His firm provides tax, accounting and consulting services to individuals, corporations and partnerships with a full range of services to small businesses. These services include helping structure loan packages, offering advice and expertise on computerized accounting systems, tax planning and other small business consulting services.
"The traits of the business owners of this industry are very similar in many respects to other small businesses. Owners of this industry have the same accounting and business needs that small businesses in other industries have," Raffaele says.
Why QuickBooks?
Raffaele finds QuickBooks particularly appealing to the salon/beauty client. First and foremost, he calls attention to the program's ease of use and understanding - a reflection, again, of the creative persona associated with the industry.
"Simplicity is the single most important reason for recommending QuickBooks to clients," he says. "Next, the inventory module provides a great way of keeping track of inventory for those salons that sell products in addition to providing a full range of services."
Raffaele says QuickBooks' payroll module also is very helpful because it provides a low-cost alternative for salons that are not large or robust enough to warrant a system such as ADP or Paychex.
"I also like the financial reports because the financial statements and inventory reports allow the owners to make more informed decisions. Finally, the program's merchant services/credit card processing functions offer a great marketing advantage for some salons due to ease of payment."
Raffaele says one task that QuickBooks could perform that would be helpful to this industry is customer relationship management/contact management module.
"For example, it would be helpful if the software could assist in making appointments, sending out mailers, allow employees or workers to note customers needs and preferences, and other contact management features."
Providing Personalized Services is Key
Raffaele believes the key to making the software hum and the business soar is closely intertwined with the CPA-client relationship.
"We treat all clients as business partners and provide personalized value-added CPA services in an effort to help our clients grow their businesses to meet their goals, and ensure financial and personal success."
Obtaining most of his clients through referrals from family, friends and existing clients, Raffaele says one client worked in a hair salon and later managed the salon. Another purchased the hair salon where she worked, while another client owns a full service hair salon. In addition to providing tax and accounting services for this business, Raffaele assisted another client in the purchase of her salon, helped her obtain financing, and set up the accounting and payroll systems.
"Three things I enjoy about this industry include the people, the services the industry provides, and need the industry has for financial and tax assistance," he says. "The people are entrepreneurs, friendly, enthusiastic and have great personalities. The services the industry provides are always in demand and help customers look good and feel good."
Next: See also our companion article, Former CPA Becomes Salon Owner.
Scott H. Cytron, ABC, is a frequent contributor to industry publications covering professional services industries, including accounting, healthcare, financial planning, collections and debt, and high-tech. A senior vice president at Pierpont Communications , Inc., in Dallas, he can be reached at scytron@piercom.com
Last Updated: 05/15/2008