Finding the right bookkeeping service is essential for small businesses and startups. A professional bookkeeper will help you be on top of your business expenses, manage your invoices, and keep track of your company’s finances. For a small business, a bookkeeper brings immense value to the table and hence, is one of the most important parts of running your company.
If you have just started your business, making sense of all those numbers can be time-consuming and exhausting. Especially when you already have too much on your plate. And this is where professional bookkeeping services come into the picture.
By handing over the number crunching jobs to the experts, you can free up some of your time and use it for growing your businesses. Not only this, but a bookkeeper will also spot the errors and minimize them effectively.
But the question still remains: “how can you find the right bookkeeping service for your business?” Read this piece till the end to get your answer!
Tips and Tricks for Finding The Right Bookkeeping Service for Your Business
1. Consider Hiring a Part-time or Freelance Bookkeeper
The internet is the goldmine for not only information but also for finding the right employees and freelancers. Today, freelancing is becoming increasingly popular, and you can find highly competent people for almost any kind of job online.
Freelance or part-time bookkeepers will help you handle your finances, manage invoices, and do all other necessary financial tasks. Freelance bookkeepers generally charge fees on a per hour or per-project basis. You can post your projects or jobs on various freelancing platforms and then select the candidate you find the most suitable.
You can also hire part-time bookkeepers on a contract basis. It is a great choice if you do not want to hire a full-time employee but need the insights and expertise of an experienced bookkeeper.
2. Hire Internally
Another excellent way to find a good bookkeeper is to hire someone from your team for the job. Do you have any team member who has expertise in managing finances and whom you can fully trust? If yes, then considering them for the job can be a good idea for a short while.
However, remember that hiring a bookkeeper internally can also be risky. It can also open doors to fraud, questionable practices like window-dressing, or even errors in preparing and analyzing accounts. Only go this route when you are one-hundred percent sure the team member you plan on hiring as your bookkeeper is competent and trustworthy.
3. Do a Thorough Background Check
While this may sound like obvious advice, many people overlook it. Doing a thorough background check before hiring any employee is essential. However, its importance increases several times when you are hiring a bookkeeper or an accountant.
Due to the nature of the job, you will not want to end up hiring someone who does not have a clean and trustworthy professional record. Along with this background checks also ensure that your potential bookkeeper has the necessary education, professional certifications, and anything else that is required. You may also want to analyze their previous track records and overall experience before extending the offer letter.
4. Always Prioritize Certifications and License
One of the most common mistakes that new business owners make is hiring an unlicensed bookkeeper to save costs. It is a shortsighted mistake that can cost you a lot in the long run. Unlicensed individuals often do not possess the necessary knowledge and skills to maintain books in the right manner. Their errors and mistakes can cost you huge financial or reputational losses in the future.
If someone has told you that bookkeeping licenses and certifications do not matter, they haven’t been truthful. They do matter!
While licensed bookkeepers will naturally ask for higher charges, their experiences, expertise, and knowledge are worth every buck you’ll spend. They will bring a lot of value to the table and ensure that your books are properly maintained and completely error-free.
So, business owners should always prioritize hiring someone with all the necessary bookkeeping certifications and licenses. There is no harm if hiring a fresher too. As long as they possess all the knowledge, skills, and necessary certificates, everything will be just fine.
5. Choose Someone Who Possesses the Right Technical Knowledge
We are living in the technological era! So, if your bookkeeper doesn’t know how to use the latest accounting and billing software, they aren’t the right fit for your growing business.
The bookkeeper you choose should have expertise in handling all advanced bookkeeping software. They should know the ins and outs of Microsoft Excel and all other industry-related tools. They should also be able to process payments, generate invoices and take care of bills, do bank reconciliation, and more.
As the dependency on technology increases, it will become more and more essential to hire a bookkeeper who possesses the right technical knowledge to take your business to the next level.
6. Get in Touch with Online Bookkeeping Services
In the modern-day digital world, you can find almost everything online including bookkeeping services. There are a large number of experienced and highly-rated online bookkeeping services that you can consider getting in touch with.
These bookkeeping services are similar to traditional agencies where several bookkeepers work under one roof. However, online bookkeeping services are faster and much more tech-friendly than your regular firms. These services leverage cloud-based software to help you get in touch with the right bookkeeper who can advise and guide you with financial matters. The bookkeepers will manage our books for you and you will have to pay the fees or subscription amount to the online bookkeeping service.
The biggest benefit of these types of services is that they are highly affordable. Since they leverage the power of automation and technology, it cuts the cost of manual work. So, online bookkeeping services are an excellent choice for startups that do not have a lot of financial resources and are looking for affordable services.
Conclusion
A bookkeeper will handle the most important and confidential information of your business: your finances. So, it is natural to want to hire someone who you can completely trust and rely upon. Make sure to use the above-mentioned tips and tricks to shortlist the right candidates. Carefully analyze their competencies, and give enough time and thoughts before making your final call.
