How to hire a bookkeeper for your small business

In collaboration with Bench (more on them later), we offer expert virtual bookkeeping systems and tax services support. The two platforms work together seamlessly, allowing you to effortlessly bill and invoice with FreshBooks, and automatically see that income reflected virtual bookkeeping services in your bookkeeping. Pilot did receive strong user reviews, and it scored higher than average for its bookkeeping and tax services. While it doesn’t offer full-service payroll, it can invoice your customers, pay bills, and generate financial statements.

Reconciliation and Review

• Sunrise is a good bookkeeping services solution for sole proprietors and freelancers without employees, and it’s good for invoicing customers, income and expense tracking, and basic reporting capabilities.
• If you sign up for Equivity, your virtual bookkeeper will use QuickBooks, or another off-the-shelf accounting app, to manage your bookkeeping for you.
• The best online bookkeeping services are affordable and easy to use, offer a wide range of bookkeeping solutions, and provide easy access to dedicated bookkeepers.
• It’s especially true of virtual bookkeepers, however, because this will determine if the apps they use to do business are relevant to and compatible with your business.
• Additionally, you’ll have access to bookkeepers, tax and financial advisors, payroll specialists, and a dedicated accountant who is an expert in your state and industry.
• The Essential Plan offers cash-basis accounting and starts at $300 a month.

Although it offers a dedicated bookkeeper and a number to call, it doesn’t offer video meetings or unlimited meetings, which is why it scored lower in the personal bookkeeper category. A good alternative is QuickBooks Live, which provides video meetings and unlimited meetings in general. It also offers catch-up bookkeeping services, which are $140 for each month you’re behind. QuickBooks is a popular accounting software that is increasingly used to automate many accounting processes. With QuickBooks, businesses can automate invoicing, bill payment, and financial reporting tasks. If your small business needs financing, whether it’s business credit cards or small business loans, you may need up-to-date financial statements and/or business bank account statements.

Trusted experts. Added peace of mind.

In addition to being one of the best online bookkeeping services around, FreshBooks offers 100% compliant tax preparation, taking the stress out of this important but time-consuming process. A virtual bookkeeper handles your bookkeeping remotely, and all communication and storage of financial documents are handled within the bookkeeping software. They will categorize your transactions and prepare financial statements for your review. Depending on the service you select, they may also pay bills, invoice clients, process payroll, and prepare your income taxes. The virtual bookkeeper begins by entering financial transactions into the accounting software. This includes accurately recording sales, purchases, expenses, payments, and receipts and categorizing them according to the client’s accounts.

Merritt Bookkeeping: Best Value for Basic Bookkeeping Services

Bookkeeper.com assigns you a dedicated account manager and bookkeeper as part of its bookkeeping service. They will manage your books, send invoices, process bills and track your cash flow. They will also generate financial reports, explain these reports to you and provide expert insights on how you can improve your financial position.

Besides that, Bookkeeper360 offers an exclusive KPI analytics app that uses your accounting data to provide insights about your business’ performance. By integrating Bookkeeper360 with QuickBooks or Xero, it extracts data from your accounting software and converts it into useful data visualizations to help you see how your business is doing. More questions about accounting software, online tax and payroll services, or anything else to do with bookkeeping services? Virtual and outsourced bookkeeping and accounting services are a happy medium between do-it-yourself software and pricey in-house bookkeeping. If that description fits what you’re looking for, one of the nine best virtual bookkeeping providers can save you time, money, and stress.

If you’re a startup, we highly recommend Pilot for its expertise and experience in handling startups. Although the plans are billed annually, Pilot’s pricing is still more affordable than most of the providers in this guide, especially if you consider the $200 discount. You’ll likely need off-the-shelf accounting software in order to check your books and help your virtual bookkeeper categorize any transactions they’re unsure of. Be prepared to communicate mainly through email or messaging apps like Slack. Traditionally, local bookkeepers have been the first choice for small businesses.

Wave Advisors: Best for Users of Wave Accounting

Digital bookkeeping uses digital tools and technologies to electronically manage financial records and transactions. It involves leveraging cloud-based accounting software, automation, and online communication platforms to streamline bookkeeping processes and improve efficiency. As technology advances, many businesses are transitioning from traditional bookkeeping to virtual bookkeeping, which offers greater efficiency, accessibility, and scalability. However, traditional bookkeepers remain essential to many businesses, particularly those with unique requirements or preferences for on-site financial management.

They must offer flat rate pricing — a monthly fee in exchange for a well-defined set of deliverables. At my company, one of the specific things we teach accountants and bookkeepers who want to run a virtual bookkeeping service is that they should specialize in a https://www.bookstime.com/ few industries. This is true of any bookkeeper — in person or virtual — that you would hire. It’s especially true of virtual bookkeepers, however, because this will determine if the apps they use to do business are relevant to and compatible with your business.

• Thankfully, online bookkeeping services have lowered the financial barrier to getting bookkeeping and tax-related help.
• Yes, virtual and outsourced bookkeeping is just as legitimate as in-house bookkeeping and accounting.
• Check out our list of the year’s best accounting software for small businesses to get started.
• Our article on business bookkeeping basics gives you more information on how to do bookkeeping and why.
• An expert can guide you through QBO setup and answer questions based on the information you provide; some bookkeeping services may not be included and determined by the expert.
• It means that your virtual bookkeeping service has missed the biggest boat of all when it comes to being a “cloud-based” bookkeeping service.