How to hire a bookkeeper for your small business

The most common mistakes are mixing personal and business finances, leaving taxes to the last minute, missing out on deductions, and not retaining records for long enough. Companies that have a solid understanding of their financials are well-positioned to compete, grow, and respond quickly to a changing market. Unfortunately, tracking and reporting those financials is a complex process that many organizations struggle with.

The cost of bookkeeping services can vary depending on the size of your business and the features you need. Some bookkeeping services charge a monthly fee while others charge by the hour. You can find services for as little as $20 per month while others run thousands per month. A Live bookkeeper cannot begin cleaning up your past books until they receive the required supporting documentation, which your bookkeeper will request from you after your first meeting. Once your bookkeeper receives all the necessary documentation, they’ll typically complete your cleanup within 30 days. In some cases, your cleanup may take longer depending on timeliness of documentation and the complexity of your books.

What Are Online Bookkeeping Services?

Some bookkeeping services can provide a full suite of bookkeeping, accounting and tax services. Examples include bookkeeping journal entries, bookkeeping ledger, bookkeeping reconciliation and bookkeeping trial balance. It’s also ideal for brand-new businesses because FinancePal can help with entity formation.

However, as with any in-person accounting professionals you’d trust with your financial data, you should always verify a bookkeeping firm’s credentials before committing to a monthly plan. However, Merritt can still recommend a solid payroll provider or tax consultant who meets your needs. But there’s more than one virtual accounting company in the world, and solutions range from on-demand CFO services to simple pay-by-the-hour book balancing.

Both are easy to navigate for bookkeepers and accountants alike but require some learning for the typical small business bookkeeping 101: a beginners guide on where to start owner. When a virtual bookkeeper uses software you’re comfortable with, you have a smoother onboarding experience and can hit the ground running. Bookkeepers help solo entrepreneurs and small business owners take care of recurring financial tasks. This allows owners to spend more time doing the things they love and get paid for. Smaller or less complex businesses might only need a few hours of bookkeeping services per month, so you aren’t onboarding a full-time employee.

Spend More Time on Your Main Business

Every entrepreneur knows that their most stretched resource is the number of hours in a day. Keeping the books up to date is one of the easiest business tasks to delegate effectively. For startups that have a lot of customers or a lot of bills, virtual bookkeepers can save many hours every month. Online bookkeeping services typically range from around $200 per month to well over $500 per month if you opt for more frequent reports or back-office add-ons. Depending on the bookkeeping service, costs also rise when your business’s monthly expenses exceed a particular threshold. The decision comes down to whether the time saved is worth the expense.

You’re our first priority.Every time.

If they are using different software and tools, you should figure out why and use that to determine if you really want to work with them. Some of the apps might be different, but if your prospective virtual bookkeeping service can cover these five bases, then there is a good chance you’re covered. This is the “ecosystem” that I use to remote bookkeeping services run my virtual bookkeeping service.

1. Check out our list of the year’s best accounting software for small businesses to get started.
2. Keeping the books up to date is one of the easiest business tasks to delegate effectively.
3. With Live Expert Full-Service Bookkeeping, your dedicated bookkeeper will work with you to get to know your business, bring your past books up to date, and manage your bookkeeping for you, start to finish.
4. The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence.
5. If you want your business to save time and money, then you should consider hiring a bookkeeping service.

The Premium plan ($399 a month if billed annually or $499 billed monthly) adds tax advising services, end-of-year tax filing, and financial strategy planning. It’s common for owners of small businesses to attempt bookkeeping on their own, but it’s easy for bookkeeping to become an afterthought until tax time approaches. Choosing the right bookkeeping services for your small business will also free up time for you to focus what is accelerated depreciation on your company, easing a lot of stress. “Virtual bookkeeping” refers to online bookkeeping services that perform these tasks remotely.

Equivity offers a range of virtual services for businesses—from administrative assistants to paralegals. After you’ve pared down the options to find a qualified, trustworthy bookkeeper who’s a good fit for your business, it’s time to sign the deal. The bookkeeper should have an agreement that clarifies exactly what services they’re providing, what you’re responsible for, and the terms of the relationship. Be sure to note what information you need to provide the bookkeeper and by when, as well as how you can terminate the agreement if needed. Search out bookkeepers with several years in the field and positive reviews from clients and accountants, who look over bookkeepers’ work.