In my professional career since 2004 in the field of accountancy,
bookkeeping, auditing, consultancy, finance, from scratch to handling
teams of professionals both in Asia and Middle East. During this span of
time have attended many conferences, workshops, public seminars,
trainings and met many Small Business Owners who are not aware whether
they should be having any accountant or professional accounting
services. Even if they know that they should be having accountant/
bookkeeper they don’t know or they’re not sure what characteristics to
look for in an accountant/ bookkeeper in order to get their financial
affairs organized, especially in 21 century.
Here I didn’t mean that they’re not good businessmen or good
entrepreneur(s), no doubt they are the best at what they do. As a matter
of fact, they know what they are doing and they know what they are
capable of doing, they know the costing of products, profit margins,
risk of loss and pretty much everything.
It would be very much relevant to mention “Mark Merenda’s” definition of an entrepreneur “someone who will jump out of an airplane, figuring he will build a parachute on the way down.”
I’ve been in contact with a lot of them of this type. It’s really
difficult to build this kind of stuff keeping in view that everything is
fast moving.
Now coming back to the topic. When business owners lack the
idea of what to look in an accountant/ bookkeeper, they feel insecure
and think that this is not their way of doing stuff, so hiring
professionally qualified bookkeeper or accountant can be a bit creepy.
Mainly the business owners decide solely on fees, and the lowest bidder
wins the race. Truly speaking you get what you pay for. If your decision
is based merely on how low the fee is? You will likely make the wrong
decision. So take your decision in wake of following benefits: –
5 Benefits of hiring a Professional Bookkeeper:
- Reduce Costs – No need to pay salary, visa cost, medical for full time accountant where you can comparatively pay less to a professional bookkeeper.
- Effective Reporting – Ensure accurate & timely reporting, true and fair view of business affairs.
- Accountability – Double check of quality of work as it is in the hands of professionals.
- More Focus on Business – Hiring a professional consulting firm enables Owner/Business Individuals to focus on growth instead of other problems.
- Launching new ventures – With all their hassle of accountancy in right hands, Entrepreneurs can seriously think about launching new ventures.
QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN HIRING A BOOKKEEPER OR ACCOUNTANT
Before you begin the search, it’s really important to determine the
level of experience and skill set you’re looking for. Do you need
someone for financial analysis and create a budget or are you looking
for someone to enter data. If you are sure that the data/numbers you
have is accurate then you only need someone with experience of
accountancy and experience of accounting software you’re using or intent
to use. On the other hand if you’re not sure about data/numbers you
have or you doubt them of being incorrect, the data entry
operator/bookkeeper is not the right option. Here you’ll be looking for
with total experience of bookkeeping and financial management because
typical bookkeepers do not have the ability or skill set to perform
bookkeeping/accounting with accurate financial reports.
- Here are questions to ask your potential accountant/bookkeeper:
- Do you think accrual or cash basis accounting is better for business management?
- What is the accounting equation?
- The bank account is showing less balance as compared to bank ledger, what would be the reason and vice versa?
- Do you have expertise in accounting software we’re using or intent to use?
- What set of services will be provided?
- How you will be billed for the services?
- Give an example of how you helped a client of yours to get business records organized?
QUESTIONS NOT TO ASK
The following questions should not be asked, because the answer will always be Yes.
- Can you do it?
- Do you know accounting software?
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