If your firm is growing to new heights but you’re having trouble keeping up with your finances, then you know it’s time to hire a bookkeeper. Similarly, you might want to have immaculate, accurate books, which is also when a bookkeeper will be helpful.
But how do you find a bookkeeper that is ideal for your business size? Is it a good idea to hire a freelance bookkeeper instead of having a full-time employee? What benefits will you get from hiring a freelance bookkeeper?
And are you ready for a bookkeeper that will handle all of your requirements online rather than taking up office space as a time when we are struggling to even sit alongside our regular colleagues?
Read on to find out more.
What is a bookkeeper?
A bookkeeper is an individual or company employed by a small or midsize firm for tasks such as processing and recording large amounts of transactions involving payment of bills, sales, collection of accounts receivables, payroll, and purchases. The recorded transactions are then used by accountants to make the necessary adjustments to entries before the firm’s financial statements are finalized.
A bookkeeper isn’t expected to have a four-year accounting college degree. However, they must have the ability to work accurately and quickly. They should also be comfortable using modern accounting software like electronic worksheets and QuickBooks. An adept bookkeeper will add value to your business.
How to hire a bookkeeper
When it comes to selecting a bookkeeper or third party, the process shouldn’t be too different to the hiring of any other professional. Just ensure that before looking at candidates you understand your own requirements. Once you do, you can then work on identifying people for the role.
Some factors you should think about include:
What type of business are you?
The niche and type of your business determine the sort of bookkeeper you’ll need. For instance, retail and service companies have different bookkeeping requirements than manufacturing businesses. We, at LedgersOnline have years of experience with businesses from different areas, so you can feel confident that we can virtually manage your books for you.
How many transactions do you handle?
How many transactions you make on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis helps determine the required bookkeeping time. Whether you’re a small business or a large one with a plethora of monthly transactions, we can handle it all online.
What’s your accounting software package?
The accounting software you use also determines the qualities you should look for in a bookkeeper. For instance, if you use online accounting software, you’ll need to hire someone who is adept at modern accounting software programs. This way, your bookkeeper can share accounts and transactions securely at any time. At LedgersOnline, our bookkeepers are familiar with different accounting software programs, including QuickBooks and FreshBooks, so they can work seamlessly with your preferred accounting system.
What specific services do you require?
The bookkeeper or bookkeeping service you choose to enlist will be determined by the services you need. As an example, if you need debt collection, payroll and credit control services, you’ll want to hire someone proficient in all these things. We provide a number of digitally managed services, including tax returns and managing tax flow, so once you hire LedgersOnline, you can rest assured that we’ll take care of all your bookkeeping-related activities – all without taking up your office space.
What makes a bookkeeper worth hiring?
Hiring a bookkeeper can be one of the most important decisions you make for your company. While a good bookkeeper can you meet your business goals and improve your business reputation, the errors of an incompetent hire may take years to rectify.
To ensure you only get the best of the best, read on to discover the attributes and skills guaranteed with a LedgersOnline bookkeeper:
Experience with an organization similar to yours
It can be said that a good bookkeeper serves as the glue holding the whole organization together. Therefore, it’s important to have previous bookkeeping experience with a company that has a complexity and size similar to yours. Similarly, you should look for someone who has worked with a firm that is at a similar point as your firm in a business lifecycle. For instance, a high-growth start-up would have different bookkeeping needs compared to a 30-year-old automobile company.
In addition, a competent bookkeeper should display the natural ability to think and plan ahead and anticipate the business needs even before they arise. Also, they should have experience with working in your niche and understand its unique bookkeeping requirements.
With our years of experience working with businesses both big and small and in various niches, LedgersOnline can manage your books.
Education and additional training
While it is true that an accounting degree is not necessary, a good bookkeeper must have sufficient education and training. Your perfect bookkeeper has the ability to make quick business decisions, alongside a solid understanding of basic finance and business accounting. Meanwhile, ongoing training is needed to be aware of the changes to accounting procedures and rules.
At LedgersOnline, all our bookkeepers are fully qualified with years of experience, so you can rest easy.
Adept with technology
To survive in today’s fast-moving financial environment, it’s important that you use a software system to manage your books and keep the company’s finances updated. The right bookkeeper should have sufficient training and experience with accounting and bookkeeping software.
In addition, they should know how to use common tools like Microsoft Excel as well as other industry-specific systems, such as billing and estimating set-ups. It’s also beneficial if they’re familiar with performing bank reconciliations and processing online transactions.
Our team at LedgersOnline is comfortable with different accounting systems, such as Sage 50 and QuickBooks. This helps us to help you stay on track towards your financial goals.
A keen eye for details
Given the nature of the job, it’s essential for the bookkeeper to pay attention to detail. They should be able to identify errors and balance accounts quickly, as well as knowing how to generate accurate, concise, clear and timely financial reports. Even though they may not be physically sitting by your side, with our experienced team of bookkeepers, you’ll get all that and more.
Familiar with cash flow and credit management
It’s essential for your bookkeeper to keep on top of the cash flow and anticipate the cash flow requirements. Factors like recurring annual events, bonuses, taxes and business seasonality must be considered when determining cash flow needs. Your hired bookkeeper must have the ability to balance all these requirements so that business stability is maintained.
In addition, the bookkeeper should know the right way of using credits when the cash flow is low. Controlling debt expenses must also be accounted for and an adept bookkeeper will know how to find the most favorable terms and rates for credit. LedgersOnline ensures that all of this is taken care of so that you can focus on growing your business.
Tax planning and preparation
When tax season is on the horizon, you’ll want a bookkeeper that is prepared and aware of the applicable tax deadlines for events such as the quarterly tax estimates. They should also be able to keep receipts and books well-organized for tax seasons and audits. With over 1700 tax returns filed, you can trust LedgersOnline to handle your taxes for you.
Benefits of hiring LedgersOnline
As someone just starting out or someone with the habit of managing books themselves, you might think that there’s no need to hire a third party to look after your books. In fact, you might even believe that just letting your accountant sort out the numbers once or twice a year will do the job. However, there are good reasons for hiring us for your bookkeeping tasks, such as:
We save you time
Until or unless you’re proficient and adept at bookkeeping, why take on the task yourself? Bookkeeping is not just processing payments, expenses and receipts. It’s also about how to assign the right expenses to a particular client.
When you choose LedgersOnline, a bookkeeper will keep track of your numbers, input them into the accounting software you prefer, such as Xero, QuickBooks, and FreshBooks and understand them.
A proficient bookkeeper is well-versed in how to treat a transaction to make useful business reports. Since it’s a skilled and time-consuming job, think about hiring a bookkeeper who can perform it more efficiently.
We understand your business and give sound advice
Since we deal with day-to-day accounts, we quickly build the knowledge to understand and nurture your company’s as well as you do. With this insight, we’ll help you determine the next steps to grow your business. We’ll also use our eye for detail to find and flag issues before they become a potential problem. With us looking after your finances, you can concentrate on the work you enjoy .
You can get help with managing your cash flow
While accountants do a good job of giving strategic advice, solving tax issues and filing for annual returns, they don’t overlook your accounts on a regular basis. However, a good bookkeeper keeps a close eye on your accounts every day. As a result, your cash flow is kept under control, which is crucial for business growth.
We can help prevent errors
Even if you are a seasoned business owner, there’s still a chance you may mess up your books without the proper experience. These mistakes could be anything ranging from mixing up types of expenses and double entries to missing entries and or making a simple data entry error. However, our professional bookkeepers are experts in accuracy and will make sure your books are error-free.
We’ll ensure all your bills are paid on time
A part of the bookkeeper’s job is to pay bills, and we can help you with that. We keep your spending within budget and ensure all payments are made on time.
When running your own business, it’s quite easy to miss deadlines and overlook getting accounts receivable on time. With LedgersOnline on your side, you won’t have to face issues like late fees and you’ll get all your receivables on time too.
You get time for other tasks
It’s worth reiterating that a great bookkeeper helps free up your time for many other tasks. By letting us handle your books, you can turn your attention to communication strategy, sales, supply chain, purchasing, networking and marketing.
Let us take care of the bookkeeping details, let yourself focus on elevating business.
You know where your company’s financial position
By hiring a bookkeeper you’ll know where your company stands financially. This can help you determine where you’re able to spend more money or where you need to cut expenses. We can also simplify confusion and concepts.
Why hire us?
For most small to mid-sized companies, deciding when to outsource bookkeeping tasks can be difficult. While hiring a freelance bookkeeper will be expensive compared to doing all the bookkeeping tasks yourself, allowing an expert to manage all those tasks gives you the chance to focus more on your daily activities and take your business to new heights.
Still not sure whether hiring a freelance bookkeeper is the right choice for your business? Have a look at how LedgersOnline can help you once you hire us:
Experienced staff to help you out
We’re an online service and our knowledgeable and experienced team of accountants and bookkeepers offer customized, unique services to meet your requirements.
Our professional bookkeepers, CGAs, and CAs virtually partner with you and get to know your business, ensuring a personalized, tailored experience.
Better Communication
With more than a decade’s experience in the accounting and bookkeeping industry, we’re familiar with the process and workflow involved in ensuring full cycle accounting and bookkeeping services to our clients. For this reason, we created LedgerDocs where you can upload documents directly to your assigned bookkeeper using a scanner or even a smartphone. By adding tags and detailed notes, you can increase communication around your accounting and bookkeeping documents.
In Summary
While you might be tempted to continue being the bookkeeper for your business, if you want yours to bloom and grow bigger, it may be the perfect time to hire an exceptional service provider to take care of your books for you. When you hire LedgersOnline, we won’t just balance the books – you’ll get guidance on the next business steps to take and how to get your cash flow running more efficiently.
Schedule a call today to know more about getting online with LedgersOnline.
