Do you need to hire a Bookkeeper?

This article may help you address some issues and/or questions in your overall decision to hire a bookkeeper to assist with your small business financial reporting needs.

In my opinion, there are two main reasons why a small business owner could consider hiring an outsourced bookkeeper to provide ongoing maintenance of the books:

1. The owner historically has maintained the bookkeeping, but now does not have the time for some or all of the ongoing bookkeeping tasks any longer.
2. The owner simply does not understand how to maintain more complex bookkeeping systems such as:
   1. Job-costing
   2. Rental properties
   3. Inventory
   4. Works in progress
   5. E-commerce
   6. Retainage
   7. Payroll
   8. Accounts payables or receivables

Before hiring a bookkeeper to assist with your small business needs, consider answering the following questions:

1. How many hours of work do you want to pay for each month?
2. What is the hourly rate you think is worth paying for the specific tasks you are needing?
3. What is your deadline each week or month to have the tasks accomplished by?
4. Which bookkeeper or bookkeeping firm would be a good fit for you and your business?
5. How fast will the response time be if you should have any questions or additional tasks?

Overall, it is usually best to conduct interviews of at least three different bookkeepers and firms before deciding on who you would like to work with.

Note: AccuraBooks is a bookkeeping firm only, so please consult with your C.P.A. for verification and clarification about the contents of this article.