Do you have the right info for hiring the right company to outsource your bookkeeping?
If you’re ready to find the right company to outsource your bookkeeping, don’t just hand it over to someone who posted a compelling ad on Craigslist. There is a right and a wrong way to hire a bookkeeper. What’s the secret? Let’s take a look at the lowdown on outsourced bookkeepers.
Why Outsource Your Bookkeeping?
When you do your books in-house, either by doing them yourself or by hiring an employee to do them for you, you are taking on a huge amount of work. That work isn’t just monthly or weekly, but daily. It takes time to keep up with all the transactions and financial information that are vital to your business.
When you outsource the books and financial management you open up a huge chunk of time for you to focus on your business. If you employ a bookkeeper, outsourcing will free up valuable desk space. It’ll also save you money by not having to pay a salary, provide benefits, or allow for sick time. Outsourcing will also help avoid any possible fraud that might occur as a result of only one set of eyes on your books at any given time.
Why Is the Right Bookkeeper so Important?
Cooking the books? Go to jail. Books out of whack? Go out of business. Balancing the books is the age-old trick to keeping your business afloat, and finding the right bookkeeper is the trick to having the books done right. A knowledgeable and trustworthy bookkeeper will help you maintain the financial data for your company, advise you on ways to improve your process and provide valuable insight when it comes to budgeting, inventory, staffing, and purchasing. They will also create reports and high-level overviews of your financial situation, both now and for future forecasting, to help you make critical decisions regarding the growth of your business.
So What’s the Secret to Finding a Good Outsourced Bookkeeper?
Licensing is not required for a bookkeeper to work in most states, including Georgia. That means you can’t rely on a license status to determine their merit. Hiring a bookkeeper is like hiring any other employee that you need to trust with the most important details of your business. You need to do your due diligence. Follow this guide:
- Get referrals – referrals from friends and associates can be a great place to start when hiring a bookkeeper. People you trust will often refer you to trustworthy sources. They can give you a list of names and firms to get your search started.
- Look at relevant industry experience – if you work within a specific niche industry, hiring someone with experience in that industry can save you a lot of time in training and educating them.
- Consider software and technology – does the potential candidate use software that is compatible with what you’ve been using? Are they using the latest technology and resources available to make it easy for you to communicate information? Anyone you hire should be using software that is accessible to you at any time, from anywhere. Nothing they do should be a secret.
- Consider a firm vs. an individual – there are benefits to having a team on your side. If you think you only need an individual because you’re a small company, think again. A firm can offer you greater availability and continued oversight by more than one individual. The right firm provides greater security and fraud prevention, and a wide range of expertise and guidance when it comes to your bookkeeping and accounting needs.
If you’re ready to lighten the load so you can focus on your business, make sure you take the steps needed to hire the right company. Click or call 678-990-0924 for a free consultation to learn how outsourcing your bookkeeping can help your business.
