A good bookkeeper or bookkeeping service will help your business to stay on track with its growth. Hiring a professional for bookkeeping helps take your mind away from accounting and auditing responsibilities and focus on more critical business issues.
When professional bookkeepers are used, there will be much accuracy in the process. But not all bookkeepers are made equal, and not all can satisfy the unique requirements of your business.
Unless your business has 30 or more employees or several million rupees of annual revenue, you may possibly not need to hire an in-house, full-time bookkeeper.
This leaves you with 3 alternatives: hire a freelancer, work with a bookkeeping firm or use a remote bookkeeping solution. Each of these has its own pros and cons, which will help determine which is the right one for you.
Following
are some tips to hire the best bookkeeping services:
Consider
experience
A
great bookkeeper can serve as glue that keeps the organization in one piece. It
is vital that he or she should have experience in the bookkeeping of a firm of
similar complexity and size as yours. You must seek someone who has worked in a
firm at the same point in the lifecycle of your business.
For
instance, the bookkeeping requirements of a 20-year-old construction company
differ widely from a fast-growing start-up. Experienced bookkeepers will be
able to think long-term and anticipate any requirements before they arise. They
will be familiar with your industry and understand its distinctive bookkeeping
needs.
Ensure
education and training.
A
great bookkeeper will be adequately trained and educated and possess much
business acumen. Though a master’s degree may not always be wanted, it is
important that he or she understands the basic finance and accounting of the
business. Bookkeepers must be well trained and keep track of changes to
accounting procedures and rules that directly impact their role.
Ascertain
technical skills.
Without
being stuck in the 20th century, you need to use a software system to maintain
the financials of the company and manage the books of the business. The best
bookkeeper must be trained and experienced in using accounting/ bookkeeping
software.
They should be experts at using common technical tools like Microsoft Excel or any other systems suited to the industry. They will be able to conduct bank reconciliations and process online payments.
Consider
attention to detail.
Bookkeepers
must have high detail orientation. They should be able to balance accounts and
identify errors. They will have the ability to generate accurate and timely
financial reports which are concise and clear.
High
experience in cashflow and credit management
One
important skill possessed by a bookkeeper is the capacity to stay on top of
cashflow and to anticipate cashflow needs. Factors like recurring annual
events, bonuses, taxes, and business seasonality should be considered while
determining the needs of cashflow. The bookkeeper needs to balance all these
needs for maintaining the stability of the business.
Tax
planning and preparation
Your
bookkeeper must know how to prepare and plan for tax season. They need to be
aware of applicable tax deadlines for items like tax estimates for the quarter.
They must know how to keep receipts and books well organized for audits and tax
seasons.
In sum, the right bookkeeper for your business is one that has the right acumen and expertise in your specific industry. One can hire the right bookkeeper by ascertaining their skills in the above factors.
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