5 Important Questions to Ask When You Look For a Bookkeeper
In this post, I want to cover five questions you should ask when meeting with a potential bookkeeper.
If you’re like most people I’ve worked with, outsourcing your bookkeeping may be new to you. You may have years of experience doing your own books, or you may be just getting started and want to hire a professional the first time around.
Asking these questions and implementing the action items will help you make a confident and informed purchase decision when meeting with potential bookkeepers.
What services do you offer?
Not all bookkeepers offer the same service — some bookkeepers do simply data entry, whereas others can act as financial advisors and do excellent data entry in addition to providing financial projections and advisory services.
Typically, most bookkeepers will start by doing an audit of your current accounting software or system. This will sometimes require a clean up or catch-up to make sure that your business financials are up to date. After that, there are monthly or weekly tasks to keep your books in order.
Consider who will do the following:
Bank reconciliation
Paying bills
Creating invoices
Checking the coding of transactions to ensure they have been coded to the correct account and with the correct tax account
Filing sales tax
Preparing statements on a monthly basis
Help interpreting reports and telling the story behind the numbers
Payroll
Tax planning and filing
Here at Dogwood Digital, we offer all of the services mentioned above except for tax planning and filing.
Action item: Create a list of what services your business would need and ask your bookkeeper if they offer those services.
2. How familiar are you with my industry?
Many established bookkeepers have a niche or specialize in serving a specific industry. Make sure that the bookkeeper you choose to partner with understands your industry. This will ensure that they make strategic decisions that align with your business goals.
For example, here at Dogwood Digital Bookkeeping, we have experience with a variety of industries, but specialize in service-based creative small businesses. We do not offer bookkeeping for non-profit organizations, but can certainly refer you to some great non-profit bookkeepers, if you need one!
Action item: Make a prioritized list of the top things you are looking for in a bookkeeper.
3. How do you communicate with clients?
How responsive are they to messages? What is their preferred method of communication? Do they have a communication policy on responding within a certain time frame?
How do they communicate monthly reports and questions? Do they explain things in laymen terms, or in a bunch of accounting jargon? Do we have to have a lot of meetings a month? How much work is required of you as the client each month?
For example, here at Dogwood Digital, we typically like to send all of our transaction questions in one email, as opposed to multiple throughout the month, and respond to any questions or messages within one business day. Each month we send Loom videos explaining monthly report so that our clients can view them at their leisure and avoid yet another meeting on their busy calendar. But if a client ever needs to call or schedule a virtual visit, that is at their convenience at any time.
Action item: Get clear on your communication goals. What is your preferred work style and what would make you feel the most comfortable in finding out your bookkeeping status?
4. How do you protect client data?
You will be sharing sensitive and financial information with your bookkeeper, so you need to be able to trust them. This starts by asking questions about how they protect their clients’ accounts, their internal controls and segregation of duties.
For instance, here at Dogwood Digital, we keep all of our client data confidential and in highly-secure software. We recommend that you create a segregation of duties between the role of the bookkeeper completing bank reconciliations and an accountant filing your taxes.
Action item: Start rounding up all of your financial account and login information now. This includes any bank accounts, credit cards, business loans, sales accounts, invoicing and billing software, and processes or sales pages. Having this information ready from the start will help.
5. How they price their services?
Does the bookkeeper charge by the hour or is there a monthly fixed rate? If it is a monthly fixed rate, what is included in that rate and what is not? Do they have price increases on a regular basis, or can you cancel at any time?
For example, here at Dogwood Digital, we just offer fixed rates and it is customized specific to your business needs. The price agreed upon is reevaluated at 90 days to make sure we are still in the scope of work, and then at 12 months. All of our clients may cancel with a 30-days notice.
Action item: Do a time-audit of how much you are currently spending on your bookkeeping each month (or year) and decide what that time is worth to you for outsourcing. How much would that time save you each month? How much is that time worth for you, and looking at your finances, how much are you willing to spend to outsource your bookkeeping?
I hope this list helps as you shop for a bookkeeper! If you are ready to get your books in order, our team can help! Schedule a free consultation here.