I agree. I'm not particularly worried about mistrusting an accountant with my business's money, but I absolutely think that understanding where my money goes is really important. I am not sure how many small businesses really die by a thousand cuts but a lot of them still bleed unnecessarily.

I simply know my cash flow much better because I do my own books. When my business is bigger and I outsource the bookkeeping, I will still have a more detailed understanding of where the money goes and why. This really creates opportunities to find out where to save money, and the money I save will be my own.

Additionally, understanding how expenses are classified is really important for drafting budgets for things like proposals, projects, tax strategies, buying/selling companies and assets, and of course being audited.

And in general, I think for many small businesses, it's pretty important that the owner/CEO/general manager has the ability to step in and do as many jobs as possible. It's part of managing well and being able to put out fires. Just about any business or institution I have ever worked for (from bike shops to restaurants to rafting companies to research labs to small energy companies) has had emergency situations where this is necessary.