How to Hire the Right Bookkeeper for Your Small Business Bench Accounting

A firm may employ a range of bookkeepers, from beginners to experts. It’s important to ask if they guarantee a certain level of quality, so the accuracy doesn’t change from person to person. Typically, it’s 4 inventory costing methods for small businesses more expensive to hire a firm than a freelance bookkeeper, since firms have higher overhead to cover.

Assign Transactions to Specific Accounts

In this case, it’s important to see what the firm’s internal review and quality control procedures are. Bookkeeping covers many different industries, so it’s important to make sure that the person you hire is familiar with the industry your business operates in. Look into the industry-specific expertise they have to get a better idea. You may also want to see if they’ve handled bookkeeping for other businesses that are around the same size and structure as yours. Since bookkeeping is a more straightforward process than accounting, it is something that many people can (and do) opt to take care of themselves.

1. Merchant processors, loans, and lines of credit may also be taken into account.
2. Learn more in our guide Why you need to get an accountant or bookkeeper.
3. When you fall behind on bookkeeping, your books stop reflecting the actual state of your finances.
4. Posting debits and credits to the correct accounts makes reporting more accurate.
5. Bookkeepers are expected to do the day-to-day recording of receipts, invoices and other transactions.
6. Robert Half recruiters look for bookkeeping candidates who are self-starters with solid communication, organizational and customer service skills.

This may vary depending on if the prospective bookkeeper is working solo or with a bookkeeping firm. Knowing this gives helpful insight into what they can handle so you can take full advantage of their services. You might also want to think about what you really need as a business to see if their services are in line with your needs. You may know that payments will come from your clients or whomever you’re working with, but you don’t have a clear idea of when or how much it will be. Hiring a bookkeeper will allow you to become more organized with your cash flow statements to get a better view of your financial situation. Start by deciding on the system you want to use, whether it’s an online program, paid software or a spreadsheet.

Bookkeeping is the ongoing recording and organization of the daily financial transactions of a business and is part of a business’s overall accounting processes. The skills needed to become a successful bookkeeper are often acquired through working in a career in the finance industry or even by balancing your personal budgets. Many bookkeepers hone and develop their expertise over time while others opt to complete seminars, read books or take online classes.

Learn how QuickBooks Live Expert Assisted can help you streamline your bookkeeping and free up time spent on finances. The best bookkeeper in the world is totally useless if their computer—and your business’s financial data—is taken offline by an attack. Your bookkeeper should be able to confirm they have security essentials in place.

Save time with verified expertise for your books

Accountants have higher education requirements and may have training in bookkeeping roles. There are key differences between bookkeepers and accountants that you want to know before hiring a financial professional. You know what a bookkeeper does and what their day-to-day responsibilities look like. But how do these job duties translate as benefits for your business? A bookkeeper can help ensure your business finances are organized and lets you focus on running and growing your small business. Having your accountant file your taxes should feel like a quick hand-off, not a prolonged arm wrestling match.

Finding a good freelancer

Your bookkeeper may not be able to devote as much attention to your business during this time of year as they normally would. A freelancer may or may not have experience working directly with CPAs. Ask about this during the consultation process, to determine their capacity for helping an accountant file your taxes on time. Maybe you’re not feeling confident enough with your bookkeeping skills and are unsure of where to credit risk begin—after all, you can’t be an expert on everything! Not having strong bookkeeping skills can also allow errors to occur. Hiring a bookkeeper can reduce the chances of errors in your books and give you more peace of mind.

Your cash flow is unpredictable

To get the best possible experience please use the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge to view this website. Bookkeepers in the United States are not legally required to obtain a license, but they can participate in several voluntary certification programs. See website for more details.1 QuickBooks Live Expert Assisted2 QuickBooks Live Expert Assisted requires QuickBooks Online subscription. If it detects malware, it’s a sign that you either need to beef up your security measures, or hand off the days sales of inventory dsi burden of bookkeeping security to a pro. But research from MalwareBytes also reports that over 90% of home computers have been infected by spyware at one point or another. Suppose you just found out that, since your home is more than 50 miles from your place of work, you’re allowed to deduct some of the cost of commuting.

The service you decide to use depends on the needs of your business and may include extra features such as payroll or tax documents. At the end of every pay period, the bookkeeper will accumulate employee payroll details that include hours worked and rates. From there, the total pay is determined with the applicable taxes and withholdings. In the accounting software, the primary journal entry for total payroll is a debit to the compensation account and credits cash. Broadly, a bookkeeper’s job is to manage the books by keeping track of day-to-day business finances.