When I was a banker, I could tell within about 90 seconds whether a business had its bookkeeping together — not from the revenue, but from the books themselves. Here's the real checklist, including the credit card mistake that trips up almost every DIY bookkeeper.

Your books are clean — but do you actually know what they mean? If you're making big decisions without financial guidance, getting surprised at tax time, or running your growing business on the same basic bookkeeping setup you started with, it may be time to go further. Here are five signs your business has outgrown basic bookkeeping.