Every entrepreneur has his or her weaknesses, and I certainly have mine -
bookkeeping.  You would never have known that I hold an MBA by looking at my company's books in the first couple of years of my business.  I'm lucky I am married to an accountant, or I might have ended up in serious trouble with the IRS, not out of deceit, but confusion.  It was a no-brainer who would handle keeping my books and filing our taxes in the early years of our marriage, since my husband is a highly skilled accountant.  I gladly handed the whole mess over to him - and I mean, mess.

It would be an understatement to say that the way that we used to handle my business bookkeeping put a strain on our marriage - it's a miracle we
survived it.  My advice to you on this topic comes from experience in the
trenches, and frankly, from doing just about everything wrong in the
beginning.  Here's an illustration of what not to do if one of you in the
marriage handles the books and taxes, and how we fixed it:

The first year of my business, a few weeks before taxes were due, I did the equivalent of handing over to my husband a big bag filled with receipts and checking account statements and saying "good luck and thanks, dear." What followed were probably the worst fights of our marriage to date.  Since I didn't understand bookkeeping and it was Stephen's expertise, I made too little an effort to care for the components that I could have handled.  Stephen is a precise, detail-oriented man who likes his bookkeeping meticulous.  I was the client from hell.  Not only did I give him a disorganized mess, but I dissolved into tears when he lashed out at me in frustration.   I was so intimidated by him, and so anxious about it, I reacted to his criticism by trying to invalidate it - "You're the accountant not me, you are expecting too much from me." Stephen wasn't expecting too much, but we learned, he was  expecting too much without teaching me.

Because of my MBA degree Stephen erroneously assumed that I knew more than I did.  As an employee in my previous career, I hadn't needed to know any of this.  Prior to marrying Stephen and starting my business, taxes were very simple for me, and it didn't matter if my checking account was sloppy.

We had to start from scratch and teach me bookkeeping and taxes 101.
Lesson number one: Just because Stephen was the accountant for my business, I still had to be trained on how to handle daily business transactions and record-keeping throughout the year.   Lesson number two: Don't wait until a week before taxes are due to start getting the records together.  Keep the books current throughout the year to lessen the strain before tax time, and to allow questions to be resolved throughout the year.

Years two and three were better, but we still ended up in turmoil at the
beginning of every April.  Now that I was trained, I organized my
bookkeeping paperwork into months, wrote more legibly in the checkbook, and did better about holding on to receipts - better, but still not good enough.  Missing any receipts was completely unacceptable to Stephen, (where are they, with the socks missing from the dryer?) and my idea of legible handwriting was still indecipherable to Stephen on too many occasions.  After another stormy fight, we mutually agreed to change the way we do bookkeeping for my business.

Even though Stephen is an accountant, his skills are only required at tax
time when the tax forms are filed and summary reports are generated for my business.  It wasn't worth the strain on our marriage for Stephen to do all of my monthly bookkeeping, so I took it back, and he gladly handed it over.  He taught me how to do everything, including how to use the computer software we use to manage it.  I hate bookkeeping, it's my least favorite job, and Stephen would do it much better and faster.  Lesson number four:  Just because one of you does something better than the other, doesn't mean that it should automatically become your job.  Our marriage is more important to me than escaping some unpleasant entrepreneurial tasks.

Now I work at my books throughout the year and since the amount of time it takes falls more on my shoulders now, Stephen's mood at tax time has shifted from enraged to frustrated, which we can both handle easier.  I
still get a pit in my stomach when he is doing the taxes, and when he calls
out my name because he's found an error or has a question, I hold my breath until it's resolved.  But I know that the books are in better shape every year, and Stephen more often keeps his voice even-toned and calm.  Lesson number five:  Stephen learned how to respond to me as a patient teacher, instead of an angry supervisor or parent.  He also came to understand that my lack of compliance was largely confusion, not willful disregard.

If you are reading this column before tax time, perhaps you can learn from
our experience.  If tax time has passed, it's not too late, since bookkeeping is a year-round activity.  If something about your system isn't working and you are fighting with your spouse, change it for next year.  Get out of the rut of finger-pointing, and figure out how to work together more harmoniously.  Taxes are stressful enough without creating a rift in your marriage.

Stephen is working on our taxes right now.  I think I'll go bring him lunch, a big hug, and thank him for putting up with me.  It's a good thing I decided to become a writer in this lifetime, and not an accountant.