Do you want to increase efficiency and reduce time spent on bookkeeping? If you said yes to any of these questions, hiring a bookkeeper is something you must consider.
We understand that keeping track of all the financial transactions in your business can sometimes be tedious.
But you are on the right informational page to dig out your questions! Bookkeeping requires a real passion for numbers and accounting procedures.
Bookkeeping is an important part of a business. Without bookkeeping, your business may face challenges in keeping track of its finances or making informed business decisions.
Therefore, finding and hiring a great bookkeeper comes with many important considerations.
To do it perfectly, let us help you hire the perfect bookkeeper for your company by outlining some important factors you need to keep in mind before making that final hire: – Keep Reading…
What Does A Bookkeeper Do?
A good bookkeeper plays a major role in the story of a successful business. They keep track of all the financial information and ensure that it is accurate and up-to-date.
Bookkeepers also ensure that all the taxes are filed within the prescribed time and that all the expenses are documented properly.
A good bookkeeper also helps you manage your expenses and finances and keep your business running effortlessly.
If you are searching for someone to help you with your accounting needs, contact a professional bookkeeper who can fulfill your accounting needs.
Why Hire A Bookkeeper?
Tired of manually tracking the financial information of your business? Hiring a bookkeeper can be very beneficial for you.
Bookkeeping is extremely detail-focused work. If you are a high-volume business owner, you will need someone great at multitasking.
Hiring a bookkeeper provides wise assistance when it comes to making business decisions. It also gives you access to the expertise and guidance that you must have.
A bookkeeper saves your precious time and money to take advantage of other business opportunities. Additional benefits of hiring a bookkeeper are as follows:
• A bookkeeper helps you for entering and posting the daily financial transactions to the correct ledger accounts
• Invoicing clients and applying for customer payments
• Handling your monthly, quarterly, and yearly financial reporting/financial statements
Why Hire A Virtual Bookkeeper?
Cost savings: Virtual bookkeepers typically charge lower rates than in-house bookkeepers and don’t require office space or benefits.
Access to expertise: Virtual bookkeepers often have a broad range of experience across multiple industries, allowing them to bring a unique perspective to your business.
Flexibility: Virtual bookkeepers can work remotely and adjust their schedules to meet your needs, making it easier to manage your finances without disrupting your day-to-day operations.
Technology: Virtual bookkeepers have access to the latest technology and tools, which can streamline your accounting processes and provide real-time financial information.
Scalability: Virtual bookkeepers can be easily scaled up or down depending on your business needs, giving you more control over your finances.
Reduced workload: By outsourcing bookkeeping tasks to a virtual bookkeeper, you free up time and resources that can be better spent on other aspects of your business.
Which Bookkeeper Should You Hire For Your Business?
There are many good bookkeepers out there & choosing the perfect one for your needs can be a hard nut to crack. But do not worry more.
We will show you a few things to remember so you can identify which bookkeepers are the best fit for your small business.
You probably don’t need to hire a bookkeeper that is full-time, or in-house if you have a small business.
But a business with thirty or more employees and heavy revenue needs a bookkeeper who can manage your account and expenses smoothly.
However, when it comes to hiring, you might get perplexed among the following options: should you hire a freelancer or work with a bookkeeping firm? All these questions will be answered in the following article.
It is worth noting that all the available options have their pros and cons, which will result in good or bad the performance of your business. Thus, before hiring, it is wise to understand your requirements properly.
Hiring Freelancer
Hiring a freelance bookkeeper is the most under-the-budget option if your finances are not over your head.
This fits you more if you are not looking for your bookkeeper to be available for twenty-four hours of the business day.
Cost
Freelance bookkeepers generally charge lower rates than firms do. In Addition, a freelance bookkeeper generally charges either based on hours or a flat rate.
A freelance bookkeeper puts his/her time into your business & determines the price depending on how many transactions you process per month.
Moreover, the number of employees you have, including complex projects in your industry, plays a role in setting a price for freelancers.
As you continue working with them, they can be ready for a flat rate that may be possible and offer the benefit of a predictable bookkeeping expense in your monthly budget.
Process
If your business has a paperless working process with digitized documents, then finding a freelancer online will be more comfortable hiring for you.
On the other hand, hiring a local bookkeeper should be capable of physically visiting your business to collect and organize your paperwork.
In both cases, if you use dedicated software, you should ensure that your bookkeeper also uses the same brand. They can import expenses remotely and stop email threads or trips to the office.
Make sure while hiring a freelancer about their experience as a freelancer might have experience working directly with CPAs (Certified Public Accountants) or maybe not.
Ask about this during the consultation to determine how to handle bookkeeping tasks.
Schedule
The schedule of freelancers can be a bit focal point for you. Working with a solo freelancer may be a drawback as they may leave you hanging if there is a vacation or you get sick unexpectedly.
Additionally, bookkeeping is a seasoned work that generally comes at the end of the financial year.
A huge number of clients whose books need to be “closed” for tax season.
However, your freelance bookkeeper may not be able to dedicate as much attention as you might need to your business during this time as they normally would.
Therefore, confirm certain essential things about it in advance, so there are no surprises that hit you in the year.
Experience
The incorrect books may affect your misinformed business decisions on your business part to misreported taxes (which may attract IRS penalties) on the part of your business.
Therefore, it is crucial to find a bookkeeper who knows their t-shaped skills and what they are doing.
Here, it is worth noting that a bookkeeper’s expertise is measured by years of operation and third-party certifications.
Try to find a bookkeeper who has worked with the same businesses as you own and has enough experience in your domain.
Finding Freelancer
There are plenty of sources today to find an experienced or skilled bookkeeper freelancer you are looking for.
Some of them are fiver.com, upwork.com, or truelencer.com to start.
Consider looking for a bookkeeper who has quality ratings & high reviews from other customers like you.
Working With Firm
A bookkeeping firm engages with multiple bookkeepers. Working with the firm can be beneficial in the context of not being worried.
Having someone you can keep an eye on every day, a bookkeeping firm is always a smart choice working with.
Cost
Hiring a firm is more expensive than a solo freelancer bookkeeper since firms provide higher coverage to manage all your tasks.
A bookkeeping firm may either charge you depending on an hourly or monthly rate.
The cost of hiring will be affected similarly to a solo bookkeeper freelancer.
How much you will be charged will depend on how much time it bears for someone to do your bookkeeping tasks.
Process
In the era of growing cloud-based services, many firms prefer mostly working remotely with their clients.
Pertaining to this, you will be required to be familiar with and deal with similar bookkeeping services.
This may present a learning to take a step towards building a paperless office.
Some bookkeeping firms also keep accountants, so they may be able to handle your tax filing as well as other accountant duties very well in-house.
It would be great if you confirm this in your initial meeting with the firms.
Schedule
Because a firm is a blend of the work of multiple employees, it is unlikely that you encounter the same service interludes as you might expect from a single freelance bookkeeper.
You do not have to worry about your bookkeeper going on vacation or leaving off sick as your books can be picked up by other bookkeepers available in the firm.
Experience
A firm may generally have various levels of bookkeepers from beginners to experts level.
While hiring a bookkeeping firm, it is great to ask if they ensure a certain level of quality that you are looking for so the result does not get affected from person to person.
How To Find A Good bookkeeping Firm?
A good way to find a bookkeeping firm is to have a recommendation first from your trusted vicinity.
Looking for a local bookkeeping firm is a matter of Googling to get which firms are available in your area.
You can either google or ask people to recommend one. Once you do it, you need to determine the best fit for your business.
You can usually ask for references from customers like you, so you can get an honest picture of what it is like working with that firm.
How To Find Bookkeepers?
There are multiple ways to find the right bookkeeper for your business. Consider trying out a few below-mentioned strategies:
Hire From Inside
Before looking outside to hire a bookkeeper, it is always better to go through your company. There may be already someone who is looking to come to into the accounting field.
Try to know whether s/he is willing to make a move to an entry-level position or not. Get them to interview to determine their level of skills and interest in the job.
Posting Signs
There is a saying, “More visibility, more feasibility .” Try to advertise your accounting positions in the most visible area in your area.
By Hanging flyers about the position around the community. Doing so will help to spread the word, which will attract potential applicants.
Build Relationships With Local Schools/Universities
Maintaining relationships with near located schools/universities can fulfill accounting positions in your company.
Your business may get some recent graduates who might be looking for this opportunity.
Post Your Job Online
In the growing digital era, you have multiple platforms available. You can post your bookkeeper job on those platforms to find and attract good-fit bookkeepers.
Bookkeepers Interview Questions To Ask
When interviewing applicants, you need to make sure that candidates have suitable skills for the job.
In order to start a conversation with an applicant, open-ended questions and icebreakers are great ways.
However, these questions may not completely determine the applicant’s skills, but most of them will do.
You have to determine the applicant’s skill level and command by providing bookkeeping tasks.
After having a better sense of the applicant, move further for more specific and detail-oriented questions.
We have mentioned some questions below to ask when interviewing for financial positions:
- What types of financial reports have you regularly created, and how was the data used?
- What’s the biggest financial blunder you’ve experienced?
- How do you deal with angry customers about an invoice/bill?
- Under what possibilities would you go for posting an adjusting entry?
- How will you understand that someone has posted an adjusting journal entry to accounts receivable and what will be your approach to correct it?
Conclusion
Summing it up, No business can run without having someone who is responsible for its daily operations.
As your business grows, you might need more help to keep track of your finances and financial records.
If you are looking for a bookkeeper or a similar type of professional to maintain your company’s financial records, then you should hire a good bookkeeper.
They will help you analyze existing data, create systems to manage your financial records, ensure that your company is fully compliant with the relevant regulations, and, most importantly, save your company time and money.
Not only will a good bookkeeper help save you time and money, but he will also boost your company’s efficiency and business growth.
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Business, marketing, and blogging – these three words describe me the best. I am the founder of Burban Branding and Media, and a self-taught marketer with 10 years of experience. My passion lies in helping startups enhance their business through marketing, HR, leadership, and finance. I am on a mission to assist businesses in achieving their goals.