by Women Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan Inc.

Good friends Linda Ball and Lana Sheppard met while working together a few years ago. It was inevitable that a business would be started when Linda phoned Lana one day and asked “what type of business can we start?”. Lana was working out of her home at the time and the idea of a bookkeeping and business consulting business came to them. And the partnership, Checks’n'Balances Business Services was born.

In the beginning the partners conducted their business activities from home-based offices in Saskatoon. Not long after the partnership quickly grew and in October 2008 the business was moved to a centralized location at Saskatoon Ideas Inc. In March 2009 they added extra space to their office and now have one full time employee and 5 part time bookkeeping contractors working for them.

Testimony to their extensive knowledge and experience, Linda and Lana have identified the need for affordable point of sale equipment sales and training, document management systems and direct deposit payroll services. They offer these exact services now.

True entrepreneurs, Linda and Lana were nominees for the 2008 YWCA Women of Distinction Awards in the Entrepreneurship category.

BY SCOTT LARSON, THE STARPHOENIX

When Linda Ball and Lana Sheppard crunched the numbers, the bottom line told them it was time to open an office for their company, Checks n Balances. The all-in-one bookkeeping service is located in the Sask. Ideas building at River Landing. The firm offers bookkeeping, software training and business consulting to small- and medium-sized businesses. Services include bookkeeping, year-end preparation, payroll, software systems and consulting. They also offer a point-of-sale system geared toward small- and medium-sized businesses, a deposit system and a document management system that is meant to take the place of a filing cabinet.

Ball and Sheppard, who both have many years of experience in the field, met while working at the Prairie Swine Centre and they hit it off right away. ”She is an entrepreneur at heart and has taken me out of my box,” Ball said of Sheppard. ”My weaknesses are her strengths and vice versa,” Sheppard added. They began the venture in 2006 as a home-based business before eventually moving into their own offices. The pair say they can create a personalized package for each client that is accountant-ready. Having worked in the public service for many years, Ball said she knows what is needed.

The business began with just the two of them as employees and has already grown to include another two full-time and four part-time employees. They have also added different services. ”The tree trunk is the bookkeeping, and the other services are the branches,” Ball said. Both love their location at River Landing. ”This is a happening place here,” Ball said of the Sask. Ideas building, which acts as an incubator for new ventures. “Everybody feeds off each other.”

Checks n Balances is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.