Your virtual bookkeeper categorizes your transactions and prepares financial statements for your business. A bookkeeper provides critical services to keep your business finances in order. Small business owners and solo entrepreneurs may take on bookkeeping tasks themselves, but it can cost a lot in effort and time away from the heart of their business. Bench is a popular small business choice because it’s an affordable bookkeeping service with an intuitive, easy-to-use platform. Bench gives you at-a-glance visual reports, which provide you with actionable insight that’ll help grow your small business. Another bonus is that you get to communicate with your bookkeeping service team via chat easily.
Yes, you’re free to switch QuickBooks Online plans or cancel at any time. 250+ small-business products reviewed and rated by our team of experts. Kelly Main is a Marketing Editor and Writer specializing in digital marketing, online advertising and web design and development. Before joining the team, she was a Content Producer at Fit Small Business where she served as an editor and strategist covering small business marketing content.
A downside of Bench is that it specializes in cash-basis accounting, although there is a custom accrual accounting plan on the Pro plan. Traditionally, at least for small businesses, that often meant driving to a local bookkeeper’s office with a box of invoices and receipts at the end of each month. The bookkeeper would sort through them and enter that information into spreadsheets or bookkeeping software. Not all bookkeepers can prepare taxes, for example, which requires an IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN), and many tax filing professionals the risks and rewards of international bonds have only limited rights. Also, while any CPA can be a bookkeeper, there are far more bookkeepers than there are CPAs. In fact, many bookkeepers are trained in bookkeeping right after high school.
AccountingDepartment.com: Best in-house support
Bookkeepers often specialize or are certified in using specific software programs. Search for local or virtual bookkeepers who know how to navigate trusted technology. If you use QuickBooks Online, you can get easy access to QuickBooks Live Expert Assisted to help with your books. Virtual bookkeeping services can also save you money through tax preparation services and tax filing, providing peace of mind that you’re 100% compliant with all tax rules. In-house teams use it to streamline their processes — data entry, bill payment, budget management, and more. Virtual bookkeepers use it to expand their offerings and provide even better service to their clients.
Ask about pricing
Virtual, outsourced, and online are often used interchangeably when referring to bookkeeping and accounting. However, a virtual bookkeeper or virtual accountant can sometimes refer to accountants or CPAs who work out of their homes and contract out their services individually. In contrast, outsourced bookkeeping and accounting nearly always refers to accountants with an accounting firm who handle your books from their own office. Bookkeeper360 offers a pay-as-you-go plan that costs $125 per hour of on-demand bookkeeping support. It’s an ideal plan for businesses that need minimal monthly support, though if you want more than two hours of help a month, you’ll save more money simply going with a service like inDinero or Bench.co. With Bookkeeper360, you’ll get a dedicated virtual accountant who sends detailed reports on a monthly basis.
Best for Small Businesses
With these five apps alone I can manage every aspect of my clients’ needs. If a virtual bookkeeper has no website, form 1099-int accrued interest no online profile, and no social media, that may be a sign they’re inexperienced or unreliable. Look at their LinkedIn to see if their past experience suits your business needs. But the top-tier businesses rely on up-to-date books to help maximize profits, minimize costs, and make smart investments. Full-Service Bookkeeping offers dedicated bookkeeping support including cleanup of your past books and ongoing bookkeeping, all done for you.
- 95+ years of combined experience covering small business and personal finance.
- For virtual bookkeeping businesses, these tools can make the process more efficient and make the workload steadier throughout the month.
- Most services touch base monthly, but in some cases, you can pay extra to receive weekly reports.
- If you don’t have an accountant, you can opt to add tax filing to your subscription, and let Bench take care of taxes for you.
This is made possible through accounting software that allows you and your bookkeeper to share an account. In this arrangement, the accountant and business must utilize the same accounting software to ensure the proper transfer and communication of files. While Equivity offers a fairly robust bookkeeping package, they don’t use their own software. 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.
When you trust someone to reconcile credits and debits or categorize transactions, you want them to be detail-oriented, organized, and communicative. Look for signs of these traits, like a clean website or an efficient email response. There are several key rules of bookkeeping to keep in mind, but one of the most important is regarding debits and credits. In other words, debit is all incoming money, while credit is all outgoing money. Because every client and their needs vary so widely, we provide flexible, unique pricing for every client. Get in touch with one of our specialists today to get your quote or click here to get started.
What is virtual bookkeeping?
Most other virtual bookkeeping services give you basic financial what is cash flow forecast reports only, like income statements and balance sheets. In contrast, Merritt gives you more detailed reports like forecasting and quarterly comparisons. Bookkeepers would enter a company’s financial transactions after they had already happened.