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Steamboat Springs — Small-business owners can use their financial records to better manage their companies, accountants will tell seminar participants this week.

Thursday's Success Steps lunch is titled "Good Business/Good Financial Records, Small Business Accounting." Certified public accountants Dan Bonner and Genevieve Dice will lead the talk. They work for Tredway, Henion, Palmquist and Kusy.

Colorado Mountain College and Yampa Valley SCORE put on the seminars. Thursday's topics include how often to prepare financial statements, common mistakes, pitfalls of do-it-yourself payroll, and pros and cons of QuickBooks.

"Ten years ago, people didn't have all these computerized accounting systems," Bonner said. "And now, everybody's doing it themselves, and everyone has different skill levels in terms of accounting."

Randy Rudasics, manager of the Bogue Enterprise Center at CMC and a SCORE counselor, said the seminar would help business owners get organized.

"Many small businesses do not use their financial records as a tool for self-improvement, business improvement," Rudasics said. "I think that if they maintained records more often and their financial statements were organized better, they'd be making better decisions with their money and their assets."

Bonner said he and Dice also plan to talk about the value of accountants. Business owners should work closely year-round with their accountant, he said.

"For the most part, we see small-business owners once a year for tax preparation," Bonner said. "The more financially astute ones, we see on a much more regular basis, and that's what we like to see."

Visiting an accountant is easier when your records already are in order, Rudasics said. It can cost a business owner more if the accountant must rifle through piles of disorganized and confusing papers.

Business owners who are interested in selling also would do well to be financially prepared, Rudasics said.

"Over the years, I've seen a lot of folks that would come to us : looking to acquire a small business, and the financials for the small business they were looking to buy were really confusing and sometimes included things like personal expenses," he said.

That doesn't look good to a would-be buyer.

"It's hard to buy a business that you're questioning whether the financials are real or not, so it adds value to the business if you have good records," Rudasics said.

Also, he said, business owners must retain records in case the Internal Revenue Service comes calling. Participants at Thursday's talk will get information about what to keep for the IRS, Rudasics said.

He encouraged people to attend so they can explore how they're managing and recording their finances.

"We think people can do better if they spend a very minimal amount of energy to do that," Rudasics said.