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How to find the perfect bookkeeper for your small to medium business

If you're thinking about hiring a bookkeeper, then it's going to be one of the best decisions you'll ever make for your small business. Besides the obvious benefit of having much more free time to enjoy your life, instead of being stuck filling out paperwork and balancing numbers, there's also going to be a definite financial advantage - hiring out these kinds of tasks will free up your time to work on the sales and marketing areas of your business. Remember, sales and marketing generates cashflow, doing the books does not.

First things first - when you're trying to decide which bookkeeping service to hire, you need to make sure they're good at what they do and they can give you a number of good testimonials from their clients. If they say they don't have any, they can always get some within days by asking their clients. If they butt heads with you on this, find someone else. But if their clients say they're good, you can usually bank on that.

Secondly, check their accreditation and qualifications. Some questions to ask:

1. Are they a member of a registered body such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants, CPA or NIA?

2. What university or other tertiary qualifications do they have? These courses and membership in an organisation will mean they are legally qualified to perform bookkeeping services.

3. What experience to they have? How long have they been in business? You don't want to be someone's very first client, although it shouldn't really be a deal breaker.

4. If they haven't been in business for at least 5 years, have they ever worked in an accounting or bookkeeping company before they became a bookkeeper? Again, this shouldn't be a deal breaker but should give you some idea of their experience level.

And there are some less tangible factors you should consider -

Location - It's usually best to look for a local bookkeeper, rather than one from interstate. If your business is on the Gold Coast for example, it's probably best to look for a Gold Coast Bookkeeper. Sure, with skype video calls, email, you can keep in touch with someone in another area, and send documents in the mail. But if you're like most people, you'll want to meet these people at least once when you first get started, and maybe save money by dropping in documents and receipts yourself. So your first step is to find a Gold Coast Bookkeeper, depending on how far you are willing to travel to meet with them.

Client testimonials, as we talked about before. As illegal as it is, some people do still insist on 'fudging' testimonials, if not faking them altogether. Although I do believe that most businesses are doing the right thing, and so you can be reasonably confident that the 'testimonials' page on their website can be trusted.

Ask the bookkeeper for the contact details of at least a couple of their testimonials. (They should be right there as part of the testimonial anyway...) Give the person a call or email, most people will be happy to say a quick word about the bookkeeper, especially if they're happy with them.

if the bookkeeper has video testimonials, then so much the better.

How do the fit with you and your business? Once you meet the firm, you'll be able to gauge how well you are going to get along, and if they are right for you, and vice versa. The type of client they usually have is important too. For instance, if you run a 300-employee manufacturing plant, you may not want to work with a firm whose largest client has 12 staff.

In short, don't start a relationship based on price, when you know there could be issues in the future.

Franchise vs non-franchise - with the explosion in franchising, there are many of these kinds of bookkeeping firms around, as well as the non-franchised kind. Now, I have nothing bad to say about these franchises, however with their higher overheads and operating costs, they may be forced to focus more on finding new clients instead of satisfying the ones they already have.

On the other hand, the 'one-man-shop' won't always be ideal for you. They will often quote lower fees, but here your background checks are even more important. A half day MYOB course does not make someone qualified to manage your business's paperwork. Also, what happens to your books if they get sick? Or pregnant? Or if they go get a job somewhere? These are important questions to ask.

The ATO has placed a heavy burden on small business, and if you're trying to cobble all this together yourself you're in for some late nights. A good bookkeeper can take some of the load for you, their fee can be tax deductible, and you're free to work on marketing, spend time with your loved ones, whatever you like.

 

About the Author

GoldCoastBookkeeper.com is where you can find a Gold Coast Bookkeeper to match your small to medium business.

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