Should You Trust An Off-site Bookkeeper?
Lets face it. Financial records are a deeply personal thing. Is it a good idea to trust them to a faceless stranger you have never met, or a firm that periodically receives your bills, receipts and other pieces of financial paper? It would be best to leave the accounting tasks to someone you know and absolutely trust. The best person to fit that requirement would be you. However, you do not have the skills necessary to do this and your time needs to be spent on making money and managing your business. You are forced to try to find someone else to do it. Whether that is a person sitting at a desk in your office on certain days and hours or a remote person working on his own schedule, the risk is the same. Methodology does not matter as much as an assessment of the character and work habits of the person you engage.
You need to speak to the other companies using this person or firm. What do they think? We have many clients of various sizes and various requirements from simple to complex. Some we have never met. We have been doing business for months/years. Our personal ethics and methodology work so well for them. We insist on a good, tight, up-to-date set of books. More importantly, we have years of expertise, and our full-time jobs are to remain knowledgeable about every aspect of bookkeeping and accounting, and every legal and regulatory change that will affect our clients. Have you ever jokingly referred to your bookkeeper as anal? That just means he is doing his job right! That is what you need. It is amazing the story that a good set of books will tell you that you may not even realize is possible!
Consider these points:
The bank needs a current set of financial statements from you. How much notice do you need? 5 minutes or 5 days?
I need to see a copy of that bill. Oh. It is in that stack of filing over there somewhere.
How much do we have in the bank?
How are we doing right now?
Has that check cleared the bank yet? So-and-so says he never received it.
Does your balance sheet make sense?
Do you understand and trust the accuracy of your profit and loss statement?
Do your books say that you have uncollected invoices going back to the big bang?
Do your books really correctly show what bills you have not paid yet?
What will happen to your financial documents and records if the building burns to the ground tonight?
Dont forget to ask the bookkeeper when he comes in next week.
Any financial consultant is bound by legal expectations of confidentiality and privacy for their clients. You should always expect a signed confidentiality statement or clause in your contract.
There are no formulas for working with an accounting consultant and much depends on the relationship you are able to build together. The best measure of whether you've made a good hire is whether your consultant is completing the work contracted and doing the job well.
The books have to be done every three months for the Business Activity Statement. Someone has to do them. Either you do them, someone does them in-house, or you outsource. There's no other option. If they aren't done correctly, it costs time and money to fix. Every time. So get someone with training and experience. It really will be quicker and cheaper in the long run, and avoid a lot of problems before they occur. And it frees you up to concentrate on your business.
You need to speak to the other companies using this person or firm. What do they think? We have many clients of various sizes and various requirements from simple to complex. Some we have never met. We have been doing business for months/years. Our personal ethics and methodology work so well for them. We insist on a good, tight, up-to-date set of books. More importantly, we have years of expertise, and our full-time jobs are to remain knowledgeable about every aspect of bookkeeping and accounting, and every legal and regulatory change that will affect our clients. Have you ever jokingly referred to your bookkeeper as anal? That just means he is doing his job right! That is what you need. It is amazing the story that a good set of books will tell you that you may not even realize is possible!
Consider these points:
The bank needs a current set of financial statements from you. How much notice do you need? 5 minutes or 5 days?
I need to see a copy of that bill. Oh. It is in that stack of filing over there somewhere.
How much do we have in the bank?
How are we doing right now?
Has that check cleared the bank yet? So-and-so says he never received it.
Does your balance sheet make sense?
Do you understand and trust the accuracy of your profit and loss statement?
Do your books say that you have uncollected invoices going back to the big bang?
Do your books really correctly show what bills you have not paid yet?
What will happen to your financial documents and records if the building burns to the ground tonight?
Dont forget to ask the bookkeeper when he comes in next week.
Any financial consultant is bound by legal expectations of confidentiality and privacy for their clients. You should always expect a signed confidentiality statement or clause in your contract.
There are no formulas for working with an accounting consultant and much depends on the relationship you are able to build together. The best measure of whether you've made a good hire is whether your consultant is completing the work contracted and doing the job well.
The books have to be done every three months for the Business Activity Statement. Someone has to do them. Either you do them, someone does them in-house, or you outsource. There's no other option. If they aren't done correctly, it costs time and money to fix. Every time. So get someone with training and experience. It really will be quicker and cheaper in the long run, and avoid a lot of problems before they occur. And it frees you up to concentrate on your business.